Songs The Lord Taught Us
by The Cramps

Album
Songs The Lord Taught Us by The Cramps
Year: 1980
Release date: 1980-03-07
Overall rank: 2,831st   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 187 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1980 (55th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (423rd)
Award Best albums of all time (2,831st)

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The Cramps bestography

Songs The Lord Taught Us is ranked as the best album by The Cramps.

The Cramps album bestography « Higher ranked
- This album (2,831st)
Songs The Lord Taught Us Lower ranked (5,587th) »
Psychedelic Jungle

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Songs The Lord Taught Us rankings

Songs The Lord Taught Us rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,831st | 1980s rank: 423rd | 1980 rank: 55th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)

Songs The Lord Taught Us collection

Songs The Lord Taught Us ratings

Average Rating: 
72/100 (from 187 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 187 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 !		09/08/2026 16:07 Mrump  Ratings distribution  53375/100
 
85/100
 !		09/06/2026 13:57 LedZep  Ratings distribution  5,13479/100
 
50/100
 !		06/20/2026 08:44 brent13  Ratings distribution  2,17966/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album has a Bayesian average rating of 72.2/100, a mean average of 70.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 72.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 19.6.


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Songs The Lord Taught Us favourites

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Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 47 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 08/22/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5412): By BraddlesHendo
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by BraddlesHendo () 1. by (1986) 2. by (1987) 3. (1977) 4. (1975) 5. (1989) 6. (1989) 7. by (1979) 8. by by (1967) 10. (1982) 11. by (1988) 12. by by (1982) 14. by (1985) 15. (1994) 16. (1986) 17. by (1974) 18. by (2002) 19. by (1995) 20. by…”
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From matterhornrider 10/31/2025 14:47 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
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From Johnnyo 08/30/2025 20:24 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“Nice pick! I was fortunate enough to see them play with the Clash and Dead Kennedys back in 1979 in S.F. That’s a pretty awesome line up for a gig. Nice one”
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Songs The Lord Taught Us comments

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Rating:  
80/100
From 03/20/2026 14:45 | #313594 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Actually a lot of fun?? Could see this growing on me. Good stuff. (Edited)
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Rating:  
10/100
From 11/04/2021 18:24 | #275854 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
thumpy thumpy bump bump. somehow i don't think a divinity was involved here
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Rating:  
70/100
From 07/19/2020 02:27 | #255794 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Raw Punk album driven by Rockabilly riffs, a vocal clearly influenced by Iggy Pop, dark lyrics with some kind of sex appeal and a simple, but precise drums. Sometimes less is more.
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Rating:  
80/100
From 10/19/2014 15:48 | #124823 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Pretty raw compared to their later work, but very morbid garage rock that delivers the goods most of the time. TV Set, Teenage Werewolf, Garbageman and Mystery Plane are the best songs. The absence of a bass gives the early Cramps albums a unique sound. (Edited)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Rating:  
15/100
From 05/09/2014 19:33 | #111309
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -4 votes (1 helpful | 5 unhelpful)
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Best Albums of  1980
1. Remain In Light by Talking Heads
2. Closer by Joy Division
3. Back In Black by AC/DC
4. Scary Monsters by David Bowie
5. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys
6. Peter Gabriel (1980) by Peter Gabriel
7. The River by Bruce Springsteen
8. Permanent Waves by Rush
9. Pretenders by Pretenders
10. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure