Sometimes I wonder if there's a single person out there with a taste in music as bad as mine. Sure there are people with a similarly eclectic approach but I never met someone who likes exactly what I like. Is that even possible? Two people liking exactly the same bands while their likes are spread far and wide? But then again... Who cares?
Yes, I do think about it at times but actually I don't give a damn so here we go again with yet something completely different from what I've posted so far after the 10 month hiatus.
And again it is one of my favorite bands. Formed in 1976 in New York they never disbanded until their vocalist Erick Lee Purkhiser died on feb. 4th 2009. Him and his wife Kristy Wallace pretty much were the band. Everybody else had been replaced more than once in the 33 years of their existance....
I'm asking myself right now if there was any other band associated with Punk that went this long without ever breaking up? Hm, did Social Distortion exist between 1998 and 2004? Did Agnostic Front ever break up after I lost interest in the music they went on to make? What about Bad Religion? No Fx? Anyone have an answer instead of more questions?
Anyway. The Cramps are certainly one of the most influential bands in the history of Punk. They might even have launched a whole subgenre. Although they never thought of themselves as a Psychobilly act as far as I know I can sure see why people would put them there. I'm not too well travelled in that regard but don't The Meteors claim to have coined the term and being the only true Psychobilly band? When they formed in 1980 it is very well possible they had already listened to The Cramps whose Major Label debut 'Gravest Hits' was already out by then.
At a time when everybody wanted to progress. Get away from the same old boring drab. Erick and Kristy better known as Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, who were immersed in NY's Punk scene surrounding CBGB's and Max's Kansas City, took a step back only to get at the world with a sound that wasn't just their own brand of Punk. What they unleashed was so far ahead of their time that even by today's standards their mix of 50s Rockabilly with the raw sound of 70s Punk / 60s Garage topped off with elements of glam, horror movie themes, burlesque and drag is pretty wild. Imagine what an effect it must have had on people seeing them in the '70s.
In 1984 they released the 2nd (or 3rd depending on how you look at it) compilation of previously recorded and released material called 'Bad Music For Bad People' and this is the one I finally got my hands on. Unfortunately though I'm not too sure what I got.
The front cover is the same on all the releases I know of
The back cover of the US pressing is different from the canadian pressing of the same year and early pressings come without a barcode. So it's safe to say it's not the canadian or a later official pressing.
But the record is in such a good shape I'm afraid it is the 2010 bootleg which was released on yellow, white and black vinyl. I couldn't find any info on how to tell the black vinyl boot from the OG pressing or even a picture showing the backcover of the unofficial release. Usually those 'fanclub editions' tend to use the same artwork as the 1st press. Thus it cannot be ruled out that this is one of them.
The labels are grey with black text and maroon I.R.S. logo and info. Just in case you can't tell from these high quality pictures.
Of course there is also no picture of the labels to be found that are used for the latest reissue. Leaving me with only the matrix as a possible way to tell wrong from right. Bootleggers hardly ever use matrix etchings at all or scratch them out. Which is what tipped the scale towards buying the record because my copy does have the same matrix etchings as listed for the canadian pressing. I guess they did a one time press of the LP and only had different covers made.
Still, with everything pointing towards an original US 1st press I'm not totally sure. Is it possible that a bootleg features the same matrix etchings as the original? If so how the fuck do you tell the two apart? Did the OG use thicker cardboard with a glued on cover? I have no idea.
If you know... PLEASE chip in. I'm going crazy over this.
Thanks.
UPDATE:
The info I gathered so far points towards this being a bootleg. Very, very well made but still no original. Damn! Silver instead of grey labels seem to be the difference and probably the color of the I.R.S. info is rather purple on the OG instead of the maroon on my copy. Somehow though I'm still not really sure about it. Probably because I want it to be an original. On with the inquiries.
UPDATE #2:
Now I'm sure I got a bootleg. The info on discogs was updated by a guy from London after I asked him about how to identify a 1st press. Thank you very much to that dude and FU to the bootlegger for making it that hard to distinguish between OG and boot.
Differences are silver instead of grey labels on the official release and additional info etched into the runout grooves as opposed to just the catalogue number in the dead wax of the unofficial release.
