#Poison ivy 2 full series#

The RiptidesвЂ™ Machine Gun and Bo DiddleyвЂ™s Dancing Girl went through the blender and were squirted out as Call of the Wighat. On their first single, Human Fly, Ivy makes her guitar sound like the buzzing of a fly, in the same manner as the Tune RockersвЂ™ 1958 novelty hit The Green Mosquito. In a method that prefigured sampling, throughout their career the Cramps borrowed bits and pieces from obscure tracks to make their own material. вЂњWe were 24-hours-a-day rock вЂ™nвЂ™ rollers.вЂќ вЂњLux and Ivy were rock вЂ™nвЂ™ roll names,вЂќ she says. Sex and danger were there from the beginning. Her band was named after period pains вЂ“ and she was named after VD. вЂњSheвЂ™s pretty as a daisy,вЂќ go the Poison Ivy lyrics, вЂњbut look out, man, sheвЂ™s crazy / SheвЂ™ll really do you in / If you let her get under your skin.вЂќ Seemingly about a dangerous female, and therefore befitting Poison IvyвЂ™s tough-gal schtick, Jerry Lieber later admitted the song was вЂњa metaphor for a sexually transmitted disease вЂ“ the clap.вЂќ The name came from the Leiber and Stoller-penned 1959 Coasters hit. Kristy had already become Poison Ivy in 1973. In an age when band names were getting more abstract вЂ“ Iron Butterfly, Aerosmith, Grand Funk Railroad вЂ“В they wanted an old-school name like the Kinks, and they came up with one that referenced menstrual cramps. He was as batshit crazy about rock вЂ™nвЂ™ roll as she was, and they set about forming the Cramps. Maybe itвЂ™s harder for someone who fits in to do that. вЂњI didnвЂ™t even think of that вЂ™til you said it, but maybe that made it easier for me to consider playing guitar because I was such a misfit anyway. (Was it IvyвЂ™s outsider status that led her to guitar playing? вЂњMaybe it was,вЂќ she says. That just burned through my brain permanently.вЂќД«y the time she met Lux, then called Erick Lee Purkhiser, she was an outsider and confirmed rock вЂ™nвЂ™ roll obsessive. вЂњThey did all this synchronized box-step dancing, and she was in gold lamГ©. вЂњThat did it,вЂќ Ivy later told an interviewer. Whoever she saw, the powerful woman onstage playing rock вЂ™nвЂ™ roll and oozing sex and style made an impact.

#Poison ivy 2 full series#

Bo apparently replaced her with a series of women he called the Duchess, but itвЂ™s possible that the woman Ivy saw that night in Sacramento was actually Lady Bo, who had returned to the touring band that year. When Jones left to go solo, Bo replaced her with another female player, the Duchess, aka Norma-Jean Wofford. From 1957 to 1962 he had Lady Bo, aka Peggy Jones вЂ“ aka вЂњthe Queen Mother of GuitarвЂќ вЂ“ who played on classic singles like Hey! Bo Diddley, Mona and Road Runner. It was a lightbulb moment.Дiddley had long included a female guitar player in his band. Her life changed on ValentineвЂ™s Day 1970 вЂ“ the day she went to the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium to see Quicksilver Messenger Service, supported by Eric BurdonвЂ™s War and Bo Diddley. I would trick them into teaching me things.вЂќ вЂњI had boyfriends that played guitar, and I was more interested in the guitar than I was in them. вЂњThen when I was a teenager, I got even more interested,вЂќ she says. If you see pictures, he has these really long fingers and huge hands wrapped around a skinny Stratocaster neck.вЂќДЄ fascination with Jack NitzscheвЂ™s 1963 hit The Lonely Surfer led Ivy вЂ“ or Kristy Marlana Wallace, as she was known then вЂ“ to pester her older brother Jerry into showing her the basics of guitar playing. He musta got a Stratocaster the day it came out and he went nuts with the vibrato bar. вЂњHe produced a lot, and he considered himself more of a piano player, but his guitar playing was totally unique. вЂњAnother guitarist I love is Ike Turner,вЂќ she says. It didnвЂ™t matter: Lux and Ivy were the Cramps.ДЄnd once youвЂ™ve got The Note and The Chord, the final ingredient in this hoodlum gumbo is. She tookВ reverb, tremolo, sustain and fuzz вЂ“В those bad, bad boys вЂ“ and whipped вЂ™em into shape, handcuffing them to licks sharper than stilettos. She took the mannerisms of Duane Eddy, Link Wray and Dick Dale and turned them up a notch. Equally, Ivy made her guitar squawk like a chicken or buzz like a fly. Lux took the vocal tics of rock вЂ™nвЂ™ roll and exaggerated and amplified them: stuttering, hiccupping, yelping and gulping for air. For all the drugs, deviance and delirium, the story of the Cramps is a love story вЂ“В the story of Lux Interior (vocals, words) and Poison Ivy Rorschach (guitars, music). But, man, they were funny.ДЄnd at their heart was a couple. Their songs were about drugs and sex, monsters and perverts. The Cramps, you see, were born bad and stayed sick. They made other rock вЂ™nвЂ™ roll revivalists вЂ“ with their songs about drive-ins and hot rods вЂ“ look lame. They were an influence on grunge, pioneered psychobilly and they spilled over into goth.