Review The Plasmatics - Maggots: The Record (1987)

[Cosmic Harmony]

1. Overture / Introduction
2. You're a Zombie
3. The White's Apartment / The Full-Meal Diner
4. Day of the Humans Is Gone
5. Central Research Laboratory / Valerie and Bruce on the Phone
6. Destroyers
7. White's Apartment / Bruce's Bedroom I"
8. Brain Dead
9. White's Apartment / Bruce's Bedroom II
10. Propagators
11. White's Bedroom / Fire Escape
12. Finale




The Plasmatics were a hardcore punk and thrash band fronted by the unfathomably intense, Wendy O. Williams. Like Alice Cooper and Kiss before them, The Plasmatics believed in highly theatrical stage shows and their music was tailors to it. Unlike their predecessors however, Wendy and her band used sexual and confrontational means to shock their audiences. Explosions, BDSM scenarios, and chainsaws made frequent appearances on their stage. They were known/infamous for their stage shows and had a small but strong following from the very beginning of their career.

By the mid 80's, Wendy O. Williams was becoming a better known figure than the Plasmatics as a whole and started a solo career with Gene Simmons as producer. This period was the most contemporary (barely) and commercially successful of her career but it would not be until 1987 that she would reunite the Plasmatics for one final album and their critically acclaimed peak, "Maggots: The Record".

The 1980's were the golden era for slasher flicks and ultra bloody, cult classic horror films and these influences are definitely felt on "Maggots", which is often called the first ever thrash metal opera. The tracks alternate between narratives of setting and plot (delivered with delicious B-movie acting) and well produced, Venom flavored, punk rock songs and establishes a comfortable pacing of progression in the plot as the world hurdles to doomsday.

Set in 2012 (25 years in the future), the world is struggling with abusive pollution, global warming, and catastrophic flooding. These three things together create the foil for the conflict of the album. To combat the pollution in our oceans and rivers, scientist create a new organism/virus who's sole purpose is to consume the plastic and waste. After the pollution is consumed the virus was suppose to starve and disappear. However, the flooding caused by global warming introduced the virus to land organisms, particularly the common maggot, which it assimilated with and mutated into a dangerous new creature. These new maggots double in size with each new generation born and their only desire is to feed on any living being they can and, as you can see from the album cover, the entire world is now as risk of being eaten alive.

In the 30+ minutes it takes "Maggots" to run from beginning to end we see a world that is by no means healthy but not immediately threatened descend into a full blown cataclysm. As scenes open on New York City we witness daily activities such as family dinner and sex suddenly being disturbed by maggots infiltrating the homes and attacking our various characters. It's almost hard to tell which is more brutal, the detailed descriptions of the maggot attacks or the relentless, pounding songs that make up the musical sections of the album, almost as though Wendy is narrating for the maggots themselves.





Beneath the disturbance and the somewhat campy brutality is an album that was actually very aware for it's time. Global warming and the threat of over pollution were not as common public concerns in 1987 as they are today and I think one of the strongest attributes of good punk music is it's ability to dissect issues that a lot of other genres refuse to. Overall, "Maggots: The Record" is can be assaulting but I think that it actually walks a fine line very well. A violent end of to world isn't a nice thing and the fact that they injected some charm and dark humor into this album makes it a much more enjoyable listen than if it was just an album of aggressive, non-stop music. It's a bit more palatable and you can process the whole point behind it all better that way.

Upon it's release, Kerrang! gave "Maggots: The Record" 5 out of 5 stars and called it a "masterpiece". I am not the type of person to use words like "masterpiece" however I can and will say that "Maggots" is an absolutely one of a kind record that a really joy for me to listen to every now and then.
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[Khor1255]

Absolutely top notch review. I had no idea there was a back story to those songs because I always just had a cursory acquaintance with he band. I remember not hating them when I hated just about every other punk group. It sounds as if - lyrically at least - Wendy O Williams might be the Neil Peart of punk.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Thanks, Khor1255. I think punk in general leaned towards better lyricism in it's second wave than in it's first and third. They had a lot of things to say politically and economically in the Reagan administration. Still, I think you are right in saying how good of a lyricist Wendy was. I wouldn't be her quite up there with the best but she is definitely overlooked.