PUMPKIN SEED MUSIC

If you represent acts looking for meaningful songs to record, listen to the songs on this CD and contact Pumpkin Seed Music for our complete catalog of songs by Shawn Casey O'Brien.

For more information contact:
PumpkinSeedMusic@sbcglobal.net

The Music of Shawn Casey O'Brien

This page features 10 Shawn Casey O'Brien-penned songs as originally performed by the legendary 1980s Los Angeles band, The Cripples. While these songs have not been performed in over 15 years, the lyrics and music still resonate today.

Who are Shawn Casey O'Brien and The Cripples?

From 1977 through the 1980s, Shawn Casey O'Brien was the lead singer for The Cripples, one of the most popular punk rock bands playing in and around Los Angeles at the time. During its 12-year run, the band performed songs that touched upon life, love, and injustice.

O'Brien, born with cerebral palsy, wrote all of the songs for The Cripples, and is often remembered as much for his music as for the iconic poster promoting The Cripples' concerts featuring him nude, leaning on his crutches, with one fist raised forward in a power salute. This was also the cover photo for The Cripples' What's In a Name EP.

Besides that album, The Cripples performed two songs on the Jack Nitzsche-produced soundtrack for the 1980 William Friedkin film "Cruising," starring Al Pacino, and released their full-length LP, Unfaithful Legends, in 1987.

Of that album, legendary music critic Ann Powers wrote that "O'Brien's gritty barroom slur evokes the best of the punk singers (including Mick Jagger), but the songs are far from sloppy. In fact the musicianship verges on slick at times and the depth of O'Brien's writing shines through the studio sound. O'Brien's is a sensible mind ruled by passion: with compositions like "Female Christ" and "Heart Like A Boxer," he makes such old-fashioned ideas as love and justice seem reasonable. If Springsteen is our favored hero, then Shawn Casey O'Brien is one of our least glamorous and most deserving heroes. He, and the music he makes, are the real thing."

O'Brien is now a writer, radio-show host and community activist in Los Angeles. But he still meets people all the time who remember The Cripples and his powerful songs.

Listen to :20 - :30 sample mp3 cuts

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Die Young		.99 cents
Easy Access		.99 cents
Female Christ		.99 cents
A Shame		.99 cents
Idiot Savant		.99 cents
LittleAffections		.99 cents
Real to Real		.99 cents
Unfaithful_Legends		.99 cents
A Women is a Crutch		.99 cents
I'm Your Cripple		.99 cents