Rocktrospectiva: The Irrepressible "Stay Sick!" Turns 35

Released on 12 February 1990 "Stay Sick!" was the fourth studio album by The Cramps, it was self-produced by guitarist Poison Ivy and engineered by Steve McMillan. It was the last made in studio with long-time drummer Nick Knox. The album spawned the singles "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns", "Jackyard Backoff", "All Women Are Bad", "Teenage Rage", & "The Creature Of The Black Lagoon" and "Jailhouse Rock". The singles "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns" was the band's only UK Top 40 single, peaking at No. 35 in 1990.

The album opener "Bop Pills" proved the Cramps ramped up the excitement considerably. Interior sounded joyously demented, launched into outer space by Poison Ivy’s propulsive guitar intro. Interior snarls in the aptly-named "God Damn Rock "n" Roll." Then "The Creature From the Black Leather Lagoon" and the super creep "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns", that were the key part of the album.

There are vintage treasures, unearthed from storied record collections, a sound like Jimmi Rodgers in "Mulertskinner Blues", and Carl Perkins's "Her Love Rubbed Off".

"Shortnin’ Bread," is the folk song that was a staple of children's cartoons for decades. In the Cramps’ hands, the number starts out slowly, with Interior bawling out the opening lyrics, each line echoed by a lingering strum on Ivy’s guitar. Stay Sick! celebrates the  sex, and the more lascivious the better. In "All Women Are Bad," Interior laments the sorrows the fairer sex has inflicted on men from the days of Adam and Eve, even as he confesses he’ll be forever lured and other forbidden delights. He flirts with S&M in "Mama Oo Pow Pow", and "Journey to the Center of a Girl” just leaves the boy all undone. 

Stay Sick!, is arguably their most accomplished record. Ivy had become a superlative guitarist, bassist Candy del Mar added just the right dose of menace, and drummer Nick Knox could hold it all together no matter how much caterwauling Interior was doing down front. It’s a thrillingly wild ride designed to leave you all hot and bothered — and fully satisfied. 

 

Stay Sick! Track List: 

 

1. Bop Pills 

2. God Damn Rock & Roll

3. Bikini Girls With Machine Guns

4. All Women Are Bad

5. The Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon

6. Shortnin' Bread

7. Daisys Yp Your Butterfly

8. Everything Goes

9. Journey To The Center Of A Girl

10. Mama Oo Pow Pow 

11. Saddle Up A Buzz Buzz

12. Muleskinner Blues