W.A.S.P.

Anyone ever hear that Blackie Lawless was Sheena's dad?

I'm enjoying the idea of the Stingray operation being purely a front for this.

W.A.S.P., loading into First Avenue nightclub, Minneapolis, mid-80s

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1980/137/10/671523335/n671523335_1909154_1255.jpg

such an underrated band

http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/11/16/chris-holmes-from-w-a-s-p-made-the-best-music-video-ever/

I can't believe there's been a W.A.S.P. thread all this time.

"Wild Child" is such a jam!

that chris holmes vid was O_O

also where can I get me a CHP guitar

Still love the first three albums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qKlZELdJh8

^ sadder than chinese democracy

wow, i saw that brilliant WASP video earlier today and didn't realize he was the same as the pool guy. i can't believe he's still alive!

I super-love WASP - and yeah, the first 3 albums are unfuckwithable

So the pool video, I was always led to beleive that that was faked, that it was really water or something. Does anyone know the real story? Is that just apocryphal and he really was plowed? I mean, I'm sure on any other day he'd be just as drunk or whatever, but I was just always confused about how real that really was.

*that it was really water in the vodka bottle
yes I know it was really water in the pool, lol

I've heard the same story about the pool excerpt being hammed up a little bit for the documentary, but after seeing the condition he's in now...life imitates art?

yeah I know it kinda seems moot now lol

wonder if that pool was full of meth as well

That s/t is perfect. And not with "Animal" tacked on at the beginning like the reissue, either.

The next three albums were very solid, but I missed the pure shock rock of the first one.

The video for "They All Lie And Cheat" posted earlier... i think it deserves to be embedded for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=_qNOWn4wYCs

wtf that didn't work.......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qNOWn4wYCs

Is his band called CHP? Why does he have an association with CHP? That guitar is horrendous.

I'm a big fan of songs where the drums were clearly among the last things recorded and barely line-up with the rest of the song.

I think it stands for Chris Holmes Project?

wow so I was grooving to The Headless Children and I read Chris Holmes's Wikipedia and it links to an interview where it turns out Chris Holmes is reaaaaallly racist

http://headbanger.ru/interviews/230?lng=en

Ugh fuck

To be fair, it's not like I ever thought that dude was a deep thinker but that interview is super gross.

Was wondering if the "over here you can say that word to everyone" was high level trolling, and then saw the .ru in the URL and got sad

On the positive side, memo to myself, this is the Christmas where I buy myself inside the electric circus

oh good he's a "yeah I said it" guy

so brave to take a stand IN EUROPE you drunk punkass stain

ugh

shit i forgot to buy inside the electric circus

i will fix this maybe tonight

http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/bummer-alert/former-w-a-s-p-guitarist-chris-holmes-selling-barely-functioning-87-thunderbird-for-only-1500

oh man

:(

I just realized I'd never actually heard the infamous "Animal (Fuck like a Beast)" and it's on Spotify.

What a fucking ridiculous song.

"I got pictures of naked ladies
Lying on their beds"

quite an opening couplet

wasp rules

It's a classic song.

wasp was so committed to their trashiness it's admirable

I loved the b-side of "Animal," "Show No Mercy," too.

Also obligatory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd36mSbmNcE

That's Night Court's Richard Moll as The Dungeonmaster, which also was the name of the movie here in the U.S.

their lyrics & steez are almost completely unsupportable and yet they are 100% awesome

this is the wasp conundrum

finding that movie in our local video store was a huge event in my teens

Richard Moll was underused overall in 80s metal videos.

also unless you got "Animal" on the buzzsaw-codpiece-shaped picture disc you was strictly amateur

great works of art of the 20th century

http://www.rockofages.uk.com/stock/38528.jpg

Sadly I only have the same version as Tipper.
http://i.imgur.com/vSlQgaV.jpg

Relieved there was no digital social media in my teen years because somewhere there is a photo of me crotch-brandishing that album and trying to do my dweebiest Chris Holmes impression by lying amid whatever empty beer cans I'd pilfered from my parents.

xxxpost re unsupportable steez: Blackie did move away from the weird S&M barbarian lyrics for Headless Children and presumably everything after but it came off about as genuinely prudent as when any 80s metalhead tried social commentary. The music on Headless was stellar though. (And Crimson Idol and Still Not Black Enough.)

I bought KFD at a thrift store. It's dumb and loud and obnoxious and I liked pretty much every moment of it.

haven't heard that one but i will f/w the s/t, Headless Children, and Crimson Idol anyday.

It's their "industrial" album but that just means shitty plastic drums and more distortion, still sounds like W.A.S.P. tho

Weird factoid from their Wikipedia page:

Lawless was originally slated to play the T-1000 terminator in the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but was later replaced by Robert Patrick after Arnold Schwarzenegger deemed Lawless "too tall" (1.93m).[12]

oh man what a movie that would have made

Have a feeling that stealth would be difficult with Blackie's voice

and then there's the hair.

anybody seen them live recently? part of me was sour on it since he's all born again now and won't play "Animal" anymore, but then I looked at some clips and they seem to play a lot of *other* old classics? so it might be more like a Megadeth scenario where he won't disavow his past material completely, just *certain* songs with *certain* content?

cos I'd be pissed if I went to see WASP in 2016 and he was only doing like post-2005 material.

lol I just looked at a setlist and it appears he still plays classics.

however on a live video of Chainsaw Charlie, I am 99% sure he changed the lyrics from "I"m a cocksucking asshole" to....something else, more benign.

setlist from a recent show:

On Your Knees / Inside the Electric Circus / The Real Me
L.O.V.E. Machine
Last Runaway
Crazy
The Idol
Take Me Up
Arena of Pleasure
Thunderhead
Hellion / I Don't Need No Doctor
Heaven's Hung in Black
Encore:
Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)
Wild Child
I Wanna Be Somebody

I'm a... godfearing christian?

I've always wondered how he's managed to maintain that shrill voice of his. it's painful (yet awesome to listen to), and yet he still pulls it off pretty well live. I know the band used to sometimes play little extra vamps that weren't in the original recording to give him time to "reload" before a second verse, but that was a minor affectation.

I think my favorite vocal of his is the chorus of "Chainsaw Charlie", his voice is almost a chainsaw in itself.

we are satan's people

"We are sexual perverts" was the one I heard.

weird to be rocking out to Murders in the New Morgue then finding this thread bubble up while I'm waiting for my ears to stop ringing

I'm the president of showbiz, my name is Charlie
I'm a cocksucking asshole, that's what they call me
Here from my Hollywood tower I rule
I'm a lying motherfucker, the chainsaw's my tool

love that song. I think he changes up the lyrics nowadays due to being born again even though they still play that one.

"Rebel in the FDG" is quite possibly the best W.A.S.P. tune ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK4QwwiQVBY

I always think about how years ago i read that “I Wanna Be Somebody” was one of Axl Rose’s favorite songs to listen to backstage to get fired up

It made me like him more but also seemed kinda weirdly appropriate that he might take it TOO seriously lol

PS i love WASP

my karaoke k-jay friend has that song available to sing. debating doing it one night when i'm really liquored up. doubt anybody's ever sang it there!

that would be a fkn workout to karaoke
godspeed

CHAINSAWWWWWWW
CHARLIE'S MORGUEEEEEE

"I Don't Need No Doctor" came on today, and damn, that has aged well.

oh shit yeah I Don't Need No Doctor is amazing

when i was a teenager and they were getting popular i thought they were full cheese but as time goes on i appreciate them more and more

I'm just impressed with anybody who is willing to shred their voice like that for several decades.

I think my fav albums are the s/t, Crimson Idol, and Headless Children.

huh I Don't Need No Doctor was written by....Ashford & Simpson!
tho WASP obv covering the Humble Pie version

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don%27t_Need_No_Doctor

I've been listening to the Crimson Idol today and loving it - especially side two. Does this album have more tom fills per square metre than any other album? It's absurd!

I have a signed, red vinyl copy of this. One recently went for £500 on Discogs. What a world.

YOU SAY YOU DON'T WANNA RUN AND HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE

CRY OUT!!!

just how much does Blackie lip sync at shows now, does anybody know? is it like an 'on occasion' thing or a "this is basically the TMNT 1991 Pizza Hut World Tour" thing?

cos they're coming here in November and I feel like I wanna see em before Blackie hangs it up, and I can take a little fakery but if it's the Rockafire Explosion i'm out

lol

https://blabbermouth.net/news/w-a-s-p-performs-animal-fk-like-a-beast-live-for-first-time-since-2006-at-u-s-tour-kick-off-video-photos

i guess it's okay as long as there's a historical footage reel playing behind you while you're singing it

also what the fuck is with that mic stand

it totally reads as a "reacting to the PMRC, the original wokes" moment and not a desperate old fart trying to juice his flagging career

WASP is a great band and Lawless is an interesting cat -- mind you, nobody finds Blackie Lawless more interesting than Blackie Lawless, but for solid hard rock jams with some cool anthemic choruses he's elite in my book

I've only ever listened to the first three albums, but they're great. Will check out The Headless Children today, but I don't know how much farther into their catalog I'll get.

Headless Children might be my fav...other than the s/t

even one of their new post-born again albums wasn't half bad.

Animal is a tune sito

I’m glad as hell blackie still out there doin the damn thing

I'd go see this tour, Blackie seems rejuvenwted amd the setlist is terrific. His last album was very good, too.

The s/t was so huge for me in 1984, but Headless Children absolutely rips. After the band's middling run in 86-87, the ferocity of Headless Children was blindsiding. Banali on drums just elevated the whole thing.

yeah that was a big moment for me. out west KNAC was really feeling its power & the post-thrash moment while frayed was showing so much promise and here comes this really ambitious record that's loud as hell. and yeah Banali just goes off the whole time

never seen them live, idk if i will see them this time but nevertheless i concur that they absolutely rule

I got a ticket. I know he's using backing vocals live to enhance but w/e, Paul Stanley is doing it too. And it's my first chance.

Headless Children has "Rebel in the FDG" which I once played on repeat for an hour while trying to look cool driving a Mitsubishi Lancer.

I did not look cool but my car sounded cool

Has he ever spoken in detail about his brief time in the NY Dolls?

apparently he did in this interview: https://www.metaledgemag.com/interviews/blackie-lawless-on-death-threats-getting-shot-at-twice-and-the-worst-mishap-hes-ever-had-with-the-sawblades

I learned something today! thanks.

Speaking of playing guitar, one of the cool facets of your arc is that brief stint you did playing guitar with the New York Dolls. What songs did you enjoy playing most with the New York Dolls?

Lawless: Well, I only did two shows with them. So, it's not like, you know, it was a lot of stuff, but the song that always sticks out to me is “Personality Crisis.” There's just a viciousness about that song I think stands up to this day. I've always wondered why somebody didn't redo that song. I mean, it's tailor made for something that could be done from time to time.

I will ride for Crimson Idol, pretentious as it is. "Chainsaw Charlie" and "Invisible Boy" are great.

but yeah it was really a solo album yadda yadda.

For those who haven't seen the Live in the Raw VHS, which has interviews and stuff amid the live footage, the origin story of "I Wanna Be Somebody" is told:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmpiSF2PgNs

TIL: Bob Lefsetz was an early manager for W.A.S.P.

Everyone probably knows this but Blackie sings and plays on the post-Dolls Killer Kane Band 7" that got reissued on HoZac

or "issued" i guess, don't think it originally came out in '76 but it was on the Sons of the Dolls bootleg

Nikki Sixx was in Sister with Lawless for a hot second before Lawless fired him & the other dudes that went on to form London

I love Headless Children but would also ride for The Crimson Idol. Banali is immense on the latter - in full Keith Moon mode.

"Thunderhead" and "Man-eater" are such massive tunes.

Used to love W.A.S.P. as an impressionable burgeoning metalhead. They were the one band that my friends who were into more underground stuff still listened to as we all started to migrate from the more melodic/commercial fare, and I was with them. The first few albums were great and I still have fond memories of jamming "Inside the Electric Circus" on my cassette Walkman on field trips my senior year of HS.

But the band didn't age very well and I really didn't have a desire to see them when they came by the area a few weeks ago with Armored Saint.

I *was* going to mention how truly great W.A.S.P. were a few days ago, it was a big moment for this guy. But tonight in NYC, Blackie brought out Trump banners during Blind in Texas.

Not a surprise, but still horrible.

ugh. my favorite WASP song too. the cowboys have taken his brain

Looks like it was quite a scene:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMhtAyByK/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CNpsa6VD4M

blackie fully in his “so i tied an onion to my belt” era

also the chasm of sadness ilthat lies between the wtfery of that speech and the joy i get (normally) from how hard Blind In Texas goes

ugh
bleeeeeehhhhhhhh

Yeah, the dissonance of it all is crazy.

So he stood alongside Frank Zappa and John Denver against music censorship, only so he could go full fascist under the guise of "free speech".

And I suppose the nazi footage he shows during "The Headless Children" is less cautionary and more celebratory, then?

as soon as he said “and I stood with Frank Zappa” i was all TAKE FRANK ZAPPA’S NAME OUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH

“Blind in Texas” on first listen was a little underwhelming

you’re underwhelming

how are you not completely & totally whelmed by this chorus
I’M BLIND IN TEXAS
THE COWBOYS HAVE TAKEN MY EYES

it rules
it is so funny & stupid

There are a hundred songs I’d put on before this one

Blind in Texas is right up there with Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers. All-time party anthem.

exactly