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01-12 W.A.S.P Announce US Tour
05-30 Bob Kulick dies at 70
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One of the heavier bands to come out of the early-'80s L.A. metal scene, W.A.S.P. quickly rose to national infamy thanks to theirshock rockimage,lyrics, and live concerts. Unfortunately, once the novelty and scandal began to wear off, the band found itdifficult to expand, or evenmaintain, theiraudience by relying only on their music.Leader Blackie Lawless (bass/vocals) was already a rock & roll veteran when he relocated to the West Coast and foundedW.A.S.P. with guitaristsChrisHolmes and Randy Piper and drummer Tony Richards. The band soon established a reputation as aferocious live act, thank ...read more
One of the heavier bands to come out of the early-'80s L.A. metal scene, W.A.S.P. quickly rose to national infamy thanks to theirshock rockimage,lyrics, and live concerts. Unfortunately, once the novelty and scandal began to wear off, the band found itdifficult to expand, or evenmaintain, theiraudience by relying only on their music.Leader Blackie Lawless (bass/vocals) was already a rock & roll veteran when he relocated to the West Coast and foundedW.A.S.P. with guitaristsChrisHolmes and Randy Piper and drummer Tony Richards. The band soon established a reputation as aferocious live act, thanks in large part toLawless'habits of tying a semi-naked model to a torture rack and throwing raw meat intothe audience. And with the release of their self-explanatoryindependent EP, Animal (F**k Like a Beast), W.A.S.P. becameimpossible to ignore.They signed to Capitol Records, and with songs like "I Wanna Be Somebody" (an absolute anthem to blind ambition) and"L.O.V.E. Machine" leadingtheway, their self-titled 1984 debut was an instant success. W.A.S.P. took their horror show on theroad, and their momentum continued to buildwith thefollowing year's The Last Command, which featured new drummer StevenRiley and the band's biggest hit, "Blind in Texas." Later thatyear, the bandgained even more prominence as one of the biggesttargets of Tipper Gore and the P.M.R.C. (Parents' Music Resource Center), agroup of Washingtonhousewives leading a crusadeagainst violent, sexist song lyrics. Though the incident (which included Senate hearings on theissue with guest speakersasdisparate as Frank Zappa, John Denver, and Dee Snider from Twisted Sister) would cause more publicity than actualresults, itserved to makeW.A.S.P. a household name -- for good and for worse.Ironically, the band toned down their act for 1986's Inside the Electric Circus, a lackluster, repetitive album which saw Lawlessswitch toguitar(replacing the departed Piper) and the hiring of bassist Johnny Rod. The blood and guts were largely gone (aswere the good songs), anddespitereleasing a strong live album entitled Live...In the Raw the following year, the band's popularitybegan to plummet. The all-time low arrivedwiththe release of Penelope Spheeris' heavy metal "rockumentary" The Decline ofWestern Civilization 2: The Metal Years. An expose about theL.A.metal scene, the film's most dramatic and depressing sequenceshowed an inebriated Chris Holmes drinking himself into a stupor in full stagegearwhile lying on a float in his mom's swimmingpool. In a movie filled with debauchery and decadence, this scene was by far the scariest.1989's Headless Children (featuring ex-Quiet Riot sticksman Frankie Banali) was a return to form, but it couldn't revert theband's slump andW.A.S.P.disbanded soon after. Lawless eventually returned as a one-man show for 1993's The Crimson Idol, anambitious rock opera/conceptalbum billed asBlackie Lawless & W.A.S.P. Resurrecting the band's old shock rock antics, but alas,not fame and fortune, the album flopped, andthe following year'sgreatest-hits set, First Blood...Last Cuts, seemed like their lastchapter.But the resilient Lawless returned once again, luring guitarist Chris Holmes back into the fold and recruiting bassist Mike Dudaand drummerStetHowland for 1996's Still Not Black Enough. This lineup has continued to tour and record for a number ofindependent labels, with theiralbumsincluding 1997's K.F.D., 1999's Helldorado, and 2001's Unholy Terror. The band releasedDying for the World in 2002, an exceptional collectionofunusually serious material inspired by the terrorist attacks of September11, 2001. It was followed in 2004 by the conceptual Neon God, Pt. 1 andPt.2, with Dominator arriving in 2006. « hide |
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