Dictionary of Meaning

<<Back
Please select a letter:
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9

W.A.S.P.

*** Shopping-Tip: W.A.S.P.

This article is about the band. For other meanings of wasp, see Wasp (disambiguation)

W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal music band formed in 1982 which gained notoriety for its "heavy metal music band formed in 1982 which gained notoriety for its "shock rock" image, music and live performances.

History

The band, formed in Los Angeles, California, initially consisted of Blackie Lawless, Rik Fox, Randy Piper and Tony Richards. The band became famous for its raunchy and at times shocking live shows; Lawless was known to tie semi-naked models to a torture rack and hurl raw meat into the audience. The band's debut single, entitled Animal (Fuck Like A Beast), was equally controversial. The first lineup didn't last for long, as Rik Fox left the band to join (then unknown) vocalist Ron Keel & guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen in the band Steeler. He was replaced by Don Costa. Shortly afterwards, Don Costa also left the band and his position on the bass was filled by Lawless. At the same time, guitarist Chris Holmes (musician)|Chris Holmes joined the band. W.A.S.P. signed to Capitol Records for their debut album, W.A.S.P. (album)|W.A.S.P., on August 17, 1984. The debut was at one time planned for release under the name "Winged Assassins". The idea was obviously forgotten though. The band's first single Animal (Fuck Like A Beast) was omitted from the album in the United States to prevent the album from being banned from major chain stores. "L.O.V.E. Machine" and "I Wanna Be Somebody" helped the album sell well, and set the band up for "Blind in Texas", a song written in Minnesota, by Blackie Lawless. The song was released on the next album The Last Command (album)|The Last Command on November 9, 1985. The Last Command is still W.A.S.P.'s highest charting album, peaking at

47 on the Billboard album chart. "Blind In Texas" is still their best known song, 20 plus years later.

W.A.S.P. became a very prominent target of the Parents Music Resource Center, an organization led by Tipper Gore and dedicated to opposing music with lyrics deemed violent or sexual. This pushed the band's reputation to such bad levels that concert halls were getting bomb threats, band members were getting written death threats by the hundreds, and singer Blackie Lawless had been shot at twice (albeit without getting hit). But in the end the publicity helped sales greatly. Inside the Electric Circus was released on November 8, 1986. The album saw Lawless finally switch to guitar replacing the departed Piper, who left W.A.S.P. to audition for Alice Cooper's band. Unfortunately for Piper, Kane Roberts would be Cooper's guitarist. Also former King Kobra bassist Johnny Rod joined W.A.S.P. on bass. 'A tired record by a tired band', as Blackie calls it, spawned a minor hit single "95-N.A.S.T.Y.". It was a critical review of this single that convinced Lawless of the necessity to take some time off and reconsider the band's creative direction. In 1987 W.A.S.P. had their song "Scream Until You Like It" on the movie Ghoulies 2. The same year concerts on the Inside The Electric Circus album tour were recorded. On November 27 1987, the Long Beach arena concert was released as the Live... In The Raw album. Unfortunately by the time the live album was released Steve Riley left W.A.S.P. to join L.A. Guns, a band that had just recorded their debut album L.A. Guns with drummer Nikki Alexander. Alexander left just after the album was recorded, and Steve Riley stepped in. W.A.S.P.'s fifth album, The Headless Children, was released on April 15 1989. This was their first album without any sexually explicit songs and also the first one that sold rather poorly. It reached

48 on the Billboard 200, but quickly fell off the charts. However, it was critically acclaimed to be W.A.S.P.'s best work at the time, and according to a recent Lawless interview, it is now actually the biggest selling W.A.S.P. album.

The band effectively disbanded in November 1989 with , has been the best W.A.S.P. output so far. The follow up to The Crimson Idol was Still Not Black Enough, a collection of dark introspective tunes that extended the Crimson Idol mythology (but this time, without Lawless 'hiding behind' Jonathan Steele, as he stated in the liner notes) as well as included cover songs as 'bonus tracks'. The initial European edition included a different track listing from the American and a subsequent American re-issue featured yet a different track listing. No version to date includes all the various tracks on one disc. Chris Holmes (musician)|Chris Holmes returned to W.A.S.P. in 1996 and together they released K.F.D. (1997) and Helldorado (1999). They also recorded two live albums from these two tours, Double Live Assassins and The Sting, respectively. The Sting CD and DVD were taken directly from the experimental webcast. Apparently Blackie had no control over this release and was unhappy with the results with their poor sound and picture quality. The band continued with Unholy Terror in 2001. Chris Holmes left the band again in 2002, citing that he wanted to 'play the blues'. He hooked up with fellow ex-W.A.S.P. member Randy Piper's band Animal, but fell out soon. It's interesting to note that Holmes has claimed he never played on 'Unholy Terror'. Dying for the World, released in 2002, was written and recorded in less than a year which is very fast by Lawless' perfectionist standards. Its liner notes feature one of Lawless' strongest statements about political correctness, inspired by the 9-11 terrorist attacks. In April 2004, W.A.S.P. released the first part of The Neon God, subtitled The Neon God part 1 - The Rise|The Rise , a conceptual album about an abused and orphaned boy who finds that he has the ability to read and manipulate people. The second part, The Neon God part 2 - The Demise|The Demise, was released in September 2004. In 2005, W.A.S.P. headlined American Metal Blast.

Current Band Members

- Blackie Lawless - Vocals

- Mike Duda - Bassist

- Darrell Roberts - Guitarist

- Patrick Johansson - Drummer

Former Band Members

- Stet Howland - Drums & Vocals

- Tony Richards - Drums & Vocals

- Johnny Rod - Bass Guitar and Vocals

- Frankie Banali - Drums & Percussion

- Chris Holmes (musician)|Chris Holmes - Lead and Rhythm guitarist

- Randy Piper - Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

- Steve Riley - Drums & Vocals

- Bob Kulick - Lead Guitarist

- Doug Blair - Guitarist

Trivia

- The band can be seen briefly in the movie The Dungeonmaster (1985) about an evil wizard.

- Blackie can be seen in the movie This is Spinal Tap; he is in a mock commercial having wine and food with a female: this can be seen in the VHS version that came out shortly after this movie came to video.

- W.A.S.P. contributed Scream Until You Like It for the horror film Ghoulies II.

- Some people believe the initials of W.A.S.P. stand for "We Are Sexual Perverts" or "We Are Satan's People". "We Are Sexual Perverts" is inscribed on their first album into the vinyl next to the label. Another possible abbreviation is "White Anglo Saxon Protestants" (see WASP). When asked, Blackie normally doesn't give a straight answer; in one interview, he answered "We Ain't Sure, Pal".

- According to Blackie, with the exception of only one member, every time someone left the band was because of drugs.

- In the song Sunset and Babylon (with lead guitar Lita Ford), the Rainbow Bar and Grill of West Hollywood is mentioned. Opened in 1972, it catered to some of the world's biggest rock and roll celebrities (and is today known as a favorite bar of some celebrities, mostly rock musicians). Blackie met Rod Smallwood in this bar.

- Ken Hensley, former member of Uriah Heep (band)|Uriah Heep, played keyboards on the The Headless Children album.

- At one time they had a flame-throwing cod piece (it shot fire from the crotch). It was used to add effect to their songs. It also would leave the lead singer severely burned when it back fired one day.

- The band played many gigs in the legendary Troubadour (nightclub), where they made a name for themselves.

- FEB, 2006 - The band is currently confirming plans for a US/Europe/Asian tour. Blackie, in an interview, stated that "the tickets will cost no more than US$15 each at any show" and the sets will be at least 90 minutes because he is "tired of shitty bands charging $50 and playing less than an hour."

Discography

Studio albums

- W.A.S.P. (album)|W.A.S.P. (1984)

- The Last Command (album)|The Last Command (1985)

- Inside the Electric Circus (1986)

- The Headless Children (1989)

- The Crimson Idol (1992)

- Still Not Black Enough (1995)

- Kill Fuck Die (1997)

- Helldorado (1999)

- Unholy Terror (2001)

- Dying for the World (2002)