The Cramps music was familiar, elemental: Nicks pounding toms, Bryans bleating rhythm guitar, Ivys prickly rockabilly attack, Luxs impassioned moan. Their references were clearly on purpose, a breadcrumb trail for fellow record fanatics to follow: The Mad Daddy (a tribute to Luxs childhood hero, madcap Cleveland radio jockey Pete Mad Daddy Myers) was reminscent of their cover of Surfin Bird, the unhinged garage-rock classic by the Trashmen, who nicked it from doo-wop quartet the Rivingtons, whom the Cramps also covered.

Even the bands new compositions often adapted a lyric or a saxophone part from a film or a classic 45 recordsometimes three or four at a time. Yet to critics, Songs the Lord Taught Us sounded like nothing else. It unleash