529 Hello W.A.S.P. - Wild Child

Chart  entered :  31  May  1986

Chart  peak : 71

Number  of  hits  : 12

It's  difficult  to  bring  any  of  these  guys'  hits  to  mind  but  they  established  a  fanbase  here  and  so  clocked  up  enough  hits  to  get  on  the  board.

W.A.S.P.  emerged  from   the  L.A.  metal  scene. Main  man  Blackie  Lawless   was  born  in  Staten  Island  in  1956  as  Steven  Duren.  He  learned  the  guitar  as  a  teen  and  played  in  a  couple  of  bands  before  passing  an  audition  for  the  New  York  Dolls  in  1975  replacing  Johnny  Thunders  on  a  tour  of  Florida.  Bassist  Arthur  Kane  took  him  to  California  where  they  formed  an  outfit  called  Killer  Kane. When  Kane  returned  to  New  York  in  1976  , Blackie  stayed  in  L.A.   and  formed  a  group  called  Sister  which  included  guitarist  Randy  Piper. 

Randy  was  born  in  San  Antonio, Texas  in  1953  but  the  family  relocated  to   California  where  Randy  opened   first  a  record  store  and  then  a  rehearsal  and  recording  space . This  came  in  handy  as  Sister  got  going. Blackie  developed  an  outrageous  stage  act  including  setting  his  boots  on  fire  and  eating  live  worms.  The  band's  line  up  was  unstable  and  in  1978  another  guitarist  Chris  Holmes  joined. He  was  a  Californian  born  in  1958  who  had  played  in  a  number  of  L.A,  bands.

In  1979  Blackie  changed  the  name  of  the  band  to  Circus  Circus.  In  1981  they  imploded  and  he  joined  Nikki  Sixx's  pre-Motley  Crue  outfit,  London,  for  a  short  time . The  following  year  he  called  up  Randy  and  to  form  W.A.S.P.  Drummer  Tony  Richards  was  poached  from  a  popular  LA  band  called  Dante  Fox.  and  a  bassist  called  Rik  Fox  completed  the  line  W.A.S.P.  quickly  established  a  reputation  for  Alice  Cooper-esque  outrage  with  Blackie  tying  semi-naked  models  to  torture  racks  and  throwing  raw  meat  at  the  audience. Fox  couldn't  hack  it  and  his  replacement  Don  Costa  didn't  last  long  either. When  he  left  Blackie  decided  to  invite  Chris  into  the  group  and  switched  to  bass  to  accommodate  him.

W.A.S.P.  signed  to  Capitol  in  1983. Blackie  courted  more  outrage  with  their  first  single  in  April  1984  entitled  "Animal  ( Fuck  Like  A  Beast ) " . Written  by  Blackie  it  describes  his  behaviour  when  feeling  horny  - "I'll  nail  your  ass  to  the  sheets"  -  and  there's  no  signal  in  the  lyric  that  he's  too  bothered  to  consent. It  put  the  band  permanently  in  the  sights  of  censorship  lobby  group, the  Parents  Music  Resource  Center.  Lyrics  aside  it's  a  competent  metal  single  no  more.They  can't  have  expected  a  US  hit  with  it  but  it  did  reach  the  "bubbling  under "  positions  in  the  UK   and  became  their  fifth  hit  ( number  61 )  on  re-release  in  1988.

Capitol  vetoed  the  song  appearing  on  their  eponymous  debut  album  which  instead  was  trailed  by  "I  Wanna  Be  Somebody" . The  song  is  fairly  generic  metal  with  a  simplistic  hook .  Blackie    is  a  theatrical  screamer  in  the  Bruce  Dickinson  mould  rather  than  the  blues-based  approach  of  say  David  Coverdale. At  28  he  was  pushing  it  to  be  singing  of  teen  dreams  but  he  got  away  with  it. This  incongruity  is  even  more  pronounced  on  the  follow-up  "School  Daze"  - "I'm  here  doing  time...  my  age  is  my  crime " - but  it  is  a  pretty  good  song  suggesting  that  for  all  the  contrived  shock  tactics , Blackie  did   actually  have  a  good  handle  on  writing  pop  metal. The  album  made  number  74  in  the  US  charts. As  the  singles  suggest , it's  OK  in  small  doses  but  Blackie's  voice  is  wearing  over  a  whole  album.

Richards  then  left  the  band  and  was  replaced  by  Steve  Riley. Steve  was  a  well-travelled  rock  drummer   who  had  recorded  with  Roadmaster  , The  Lawyers, B'zzz  and  most  recently , glam  metallers  Keel  before  landing  in  W.A.S.P.  He  played  on  their  next  album  "The  Last  Command", released  in  September  1985. It's  a  slicker  beast  than  their  debut  with  a  cleaner  production. Blackie  reins  in  his  Screaming  Lord  Sutch  theatrics  and  sounds  more  like  Noddy  Holder. There's  more  of  a  Black  Sabbath  influence, most  noticeably  on   "Widowmaker  "  which  proves  he  could  write  something  with  more  depth. That  being  said,  the  first  single  "Blind  in  Texas"  celebrates  getting  plastered  and  has  become  their  signature  song. The  album  reached  number  47  in  the  US, still  their  highest  chart  position.

The  second  single  was  this  one, the  opening  track  on  the  album. Co-written  with  Chris  it  sees  Blackie  coaxing  a  girl  away  from  her  man  by  promising  more  excitement. It's  a  strong  example  of  driving  commercial  metal  no  more  no  less. The  previous  W.A.S.P.  singles  had  all  "bubbled  under  "  in  the  UK  so  Capitol  added  a  carrot  in  the  form  of  a  double  pack  with  a  free  single  containing  a  couple  of  live  tracks. It  got  them  over  the  line  and  a  bit  of  airplay  would  have  taken  them  higher  but  that  was  a  problem  they  never  really  solved.