This Rolling Stone appreciation, written by Kory Grow, celebrates the Cramps as one of the great "pure" rock and roll bands, framing their music and legendary live shows as an unfiltered continuation of Fifties rockabilly, surf rock, R&B and B-movie horror rather than a product of the British Invasion. It uses the writer's own memory of a chaotic New Year's Eve 2000 concert in Denver, featuring singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy Rorshach, to illustrate the band's kitschy, theatrical, sex-and-horror-obsessed aesthetic and its enduring influence on later rock acts.

The piece recalls Lux Interior's outrageous stage antics, including climbing and dismantling stage monitors during a rendition of "Surfin' Bird", and cites Kurt Loder's 1984 review praising the band's raw, uninhibited sound. It notes that artists including the White Stripes, White Zombie, Babes in Toyland, My Bloody Valentine, Faith No More and the Black Keys have cited the Cramps as an inspiration, particularly Poison Ivy's role as a rare female guitarist in the Seventies and Eighties. The article also references a newly released archival compilation, Gravest Gravy, overseen by Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye; the Cramps disbanded following Lux Interior's death in 2009.