EP · The Cramps
Gravest Hits by The Cramps
Gravest Hits is an EP by The Cramps, released in 1979. 2 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 6 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Human Fly”, on 5 lists with a best position of #154.
Gravest Hits, the Cramps' first 12-inch EP, crawled out in July 1979 on Illegal Records and I.R.S., rounding up both sides of the band's 2 Vengeance singles from 1978, "Surfin' Bird" and "Human Fly", plus a spooky, slow-dripping "Lonesome Town" as a fifth track. Alex Chilton produced the lot at Ardent Studios in Memphis back in 1977, and you can practically smell the formaldehyde.
This is rockabilly dug up and zapped back to life with punk voltage: Lux Interior hiccupping and howling, Poison Ivy and Bryan Gregory scraping out fuzzy, twangy guitar, Nick Knox thumping the drums like a caveman at a sock hop. It stands among the very first records of the rockabilly revival and of the psychobilly mutation the Cramps would get credit for starting. Even the liner notes are a gag, signed by a "Professor of Rockology", and the back-sleeve photo catches the band onstage at CBGB's 2nd Avenue Theatre in New York.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Gravest Hits on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Human Fly | 5 | #154 | – | 2002–2023 | |
| 2 | Surfin' Bird | 1 | #1664 | – | 2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.