Neither punk nor rockabilly has been the same since that fateful day when a fella soon to be known as Lux Interior picked up the future Poison Ivy Rorscach on the side of an Ohio road.
Almost 30 years later, the duo and errant cast of musicians known as The Cramps are still bringing their vinyl-and-spikes live show to the masses, backing a release of rarities and demos called How To Make A Monster.
The Cramps kick off their latest trek September 22 at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Ariz.
Twenty-nine dates are penciled in so far, including gigs in Houston, Atlanta, Nashville, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Denver and Las Vegas, before winding down in Anaheim, Calif., November 6.
The Cramps have come a long way from Akron, Ohio - first settling in the grimy punk palaces of New York City like CBGB and Max's Kansas City, and eventually winding up on then-fledgling I.R.S. Records label.
There, they issued a string of cult hits like Songs The Lord Taught Us and Gravest Hits. As budding punk stars were wont to do in those days, they also battled it out with their record label -- in The Cramps' case, no less a figure than Miles Copeland.
Those kind of battles aren't generally meant to be won, though, and the ensuing legal tangles kept the band from recording for two years, just as they were hitting their stride.
Despite that setback and a revolving door of guitarists and bass players, The Cramps soldiered on, eventually signing with Enigma records in 1990. The band later revived their own Vengeance label and have releasing their own albums for some time.