Re: Shocktober: October 2010 BOTM Shock Rock Spotlight
Is there a band who terrified parents more in the 1980's than W.A.S.P. and their sinister frontman (and only consistent member), Blackie Lawless? I think not.
Rising to infamy in the early 80's with their debut single "Animal (**** Like A Beast)" W.A.S.P. very quickly embedded themselves in a niche that was only a sneeze away from being completely diabolical. With sacrilegious, hypersexual, apocalyptic, and socio-political themed songs spawned from Blackie's fundamentalist Christian upbringing W.A.S.P.'s songs screamed with the fury and rage of a band that was both bitter and angered by the world and held no reservations in holding it back.
More infamous than W.A.S.P.'s songs however has always been their live shows. Over the years on stage Blackie has fired fireworks from his crotch, tortured topless women who were tied to a rack, performed with a heavy steel mic stand crafted out of a skeleton (nicknamed "Elvis"), spat more blood than Gene Simmons, perhaps most famous of all thrown raw meat onto the audience every night, as well many other shocking displays.
After nearly 30 years W.A.S.P. is still going strong, despite frequently having their concerts canceled by local police, having various organizations picket outside the venues they play, being banned all together from performing in some countries, and being one of the most targeted groups of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) in the 80's.
So for being sooooo outrageous and yet one of the only West coast metal bands to still be going after all of these years without breaking up, we salute you Blackie Lawless and W.A.S.P.