The Crimson Idol

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Albums
	The Crimson Idol
	Singles
	Chainsaw Charlie
	The idol
	I am one

Illustration of the album cover
	Link to the picture; (please note copyrights )

chronology
The Crimson Idol
Studio album from WASP
Publication ; (s)	June 27, 1992 / June 1, 1998
Format (s)	LP , MC , CD
Genre (s)	Hard rock , heavy metal
Title (number)	10 (first edition) / 23 (new edition)
running time	57:47 /
occupation	Vocals , guitar , electric bass , keyboards : ; Blackie Lawless ; Guitar : ; Bob Kulick ; Drums : ; Frankie Banali , Stet Howland ;
production	Blackie Lawless
Studio (s)	Fort Apache Recording Studio

The Crimson Idol (German sense: The purple mirage ) is the title of the 1992 published and Blackie Lawless designed and written heavy metal - concept album of the American band WASP This is the fourth studio album of the group.

background

concept

The whole concept is explained in the 1998 bonus track The Story of Jonathan (Prologue to the Crimson Idol) : The story revolves around the teenager Jonathan Aaron Steel. He is the son of William and Elizabeth Steel. His only brother, Michael, is five years his senior and is preferred by his parents, while they consider Jonathan a failure. After Michael is killed in an accident caused by a drunk driver, Jonathan leaves his parents' house and lives on the street as a homeless man. He is addicted to drugs and alcohol. When he sees a guitar while walking past a music store, the desire arises in him to become a rock star . He smashes the shop window and steals the instrument.

Jonathan plays the crimson guitar as often as he can to raise money for a record. He meets a man named Chainsaw Charlie who is the boss of a large record company. Charlie promises to make Jonathan a star and introduces him to Alex Rodman, who becomes his manager. Jonathan continues to pursue the goal of becoming a rock star, but finds out that life is not as glamorous as it seems. Although he gains fame and wealth, he longs to gain the love and acceptance of his parents.

Before one of his concerts, he calls his parents to resolve the existing differences and to heal the emotional wounds between them. "Less than fifty words were spoken", the last four are "we have no son". When he realizes that parents will never accept him, Jonathan decides to commit suicide . During the concert he removes the strings from his guitar, forms a noose and hangs himself.

Emergence

The basic idea for a concept album came to Blackie Lawless shortly before the release of the 1986 WASP album Inside the Electric Circus, when he met a video producer friend in London. He talked to him about the idea of writing the screenplay for a film which actor Matt Dillon had in mind for the lead role . With the album The Headless Children he had given his band a different musical direction, and during the recording and tour for this album he developed the idea of a rock opera further. Over time, Lawless began to treat the main character in his story like a real person, which he found scary himself.

"In my mind's eye I have a certain idea how this person should look, his life, his parents, how he behaves, everything."

- Blackie Lawless in: Metal Hammer, No. 4,1992, page 23

Initially, the protagonist was supposed to be Jesse, but when Lawless developed a scene in which the audience kept calling his name, he decided to use a three-syllable name. In a contemporary interview , he answered the question of to what extent the figure reflected himself :

“Jonathan represents about six different people I know, including myself. The story is not directly autobiographical; the experiences of other musicians I know flow into it. For me it is best to report something that I know exactly about. "

- Blackie Lawless in: Metal Hammer, issue 6.1992, page 18

The album was recorded at Fort Apache Recording Studios in Santa Monica . Since guitarist Chris Holmes left the band shortly after the release of The Headless Children , this gave Blackie Lawless the freedom to realize his vision according to his own ideas. Johnny Rod, at that time still a member of WASP and its bass player, was working on a project with members of his old band King Kobra at the time of the recording . Ken Hensley , who played keyboard for the album The Headless Children , was initially involved in the demo recordings , but in the course of time, according to Lawless' words, "then so much was changed that Ken finally had no time to record his stuff again." . Lawless therefore not only took over the vocals and guitar , but also played the bass and keyboards , and he also produced the album. More lead guitar parts were of Bob Kulick recorded as drummer appeared Frankie Banali ( Quiet Riot ) and Stet Howland ( Blackfoot ) with. The entire production process took almost two and a half years.

The first single was released in April 1992, Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue ) . Lawless said of the song that it was "possibly the most serious satirical look at the music industry." But it had to be said, and "it had to be a character the size of Charlie to hammer it into people's minds." Charlie is described in the song in a direct and vulgar way (text example):

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
The new morgue's our factory, to grease our lies
Our machine is hungry, it needs your life
Don't mind the fagots, and the ruthless scum
Before we're done, son we'll make you one
I'm the tin man, I've never had a heart
I 'm the tin man, But I'll make you a star
I'm the tin man, I've never had a heart
I'm the tin man, but i'll make me the star

I'm the president of showbiz, my name is Charlie
I'm a cock sucking asshole that's what they call me
Here from my tower in Hollywood I rule
I'm a lying bastard, the chainsaw is my tool
The new morgue is our factory, for our lies to lubricate
Our machine is hungry, it needs your life
Don't worry about the fagots and the rabid scraps
Before we finish here, we'll make you into it (too), son
I'm the tin man, I never had a heart
I'm the tin man but I'll make you a star
I'm the tin man, I never had a heart
I'm the tin man, but I'll make you a star

When asked why the song was subtitled Murders in the New Morgue, Lawless said :

“Because the record company is the place where creativity is sentenced to death. There she ceases to be honest and is exploited for the sake of money. For Charlie, music is nothing more than a sacrificial lamb brought to the butcher. And the New Morgue is the place where all the artists prostitute themselves for commerce. "

- Blackie Lawless in: Metal Hammer, No. 4,1992, page 23

With the album ten of the recorded songs were released on June 27, 1992. Titles that were not taken into account, such as Phantoms in the Mirror, appeared in part as B-sides of the three published singles. On the B-side of the single The Idol was a version shortened to 8:08 minutes of the text of The Story of Jonathan (Prologue to the Crimson Idol), originally intended as a prologue and spoken by Lawless ; the 1998 version released with the new edition of the album was more than twice as long at 16:42 minutes. The song The Eulogy was also found on The Idol . Hold on to My Heart's single contained a cover version of the Led Zeppelin song When the Levee Breaks .

New editions

The Crimson Idol was first re-released in 1998. The original version of the CD was expanded to include the title The Story of Jonathan (Prologue to the Crimson Idol) , which was the eleventh track on the CD, its actual function as an introduction did not correspond. A second CD, which contained twelve other tracks, included the songs originally published as the B-sides of the singles, two acoustic versions of The Idol and Hold on to My Heart , and seven songs recorded during a performance at Castle Donnington in 1992.

In 2018, Reidolized (The Soundtrack to The Crimson Idol) was released, an album with the songs of The Crimson Idol, newly recorded by the then current line-up of WASP . This edition included a sixty-minute film telling Jonathan's story. The album was released on CD and record (double LP) with an additional DVD or Blu-ray disc .

Track list

The Crimson Idol (first edition, 1992)
No.	title	Songwriter	length
1.	The Titanic Overture	Blackie Lawless	3:31
2.	The Invisible Boy	Lawless	5:12
3.	Arena of Pleasure	Lawless	4:59
4th	Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)	Lawless	7:48
5.	The Gypsy Meets The Boy	Lawless	4:15
6th	Doctor Rockter	Lawless	3:51
7th	I am one	Lawless	5:25
8th.	The idol	Lawless	8:40
9.	Hold on to my heart	Lawless	4:22
10.	The Great Misconceptions Of Me	Lawless	9:43
Overall length:			57:47

The Crimson Idol (reissued, 1998)
No.	title	Songwriter	length
1.	The Titanic Overture	Blackie Lawless	3:31
2.	The Invisible Boy	Lawless	5:12
3.	Arena of Pleasure	Lawless	4:59
4th	Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)	Lawless	7:48
5.	The Gypsy Meets The Boy	Lawless	4:15
6th	Doctor Rockter	Lawless	3:51
7th	I am one		5:25
8th.	The idol	Lawless	8:40
9.	Hold on to my heart	Lawless	4:22
10.	The Great Misconceptions Of Me	Lawless	9:43
11.	The Story Of Jonathan (Prologue To The Crimson Idol) ( Bonus Track , Speaker: Blackie Lawless)		16:42
12.	Phantoms In The Mirror (bonus track, single B-side )	Lawless	4:37
13.	The Eulogy (bonus track, single b-side)	Lawless	4:17
14th	When The Levee Breaks (bonus track, single B-side , cover version )	Jimmy Page , John Bonham , Robert Plant , John Paul Jones	5:34
15th	The Idol (bonus track, live acoustic)	Lawless	4:49
16.	Hold On To My Heart (Bonustrack, Live Acoustic)	Lawless	6:53
17th	I Am One (Bonustrack, Live in Donnington 1992)	Lawless	4:59
18th	Wild Child (Bonustrack, Live in Donnington 1992)	Chris Holmes	5:54
19th	Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue) (Bonustrack, Live in Donnington 1992)	Lawless	8:24
20th	I Wanna Be Somebody (Bonustrack, Live in Donnington 1992)	Lawless	6:15
21st	The Invisible Boy (bonus track, Live in Donnington 1992)	Lawless	4:16
22nd	The Real Me (bonus track, Live in Donnington 1992)	Lawless	3:42
23.	The Great Misconceptions Of Me (Bonustrack, Live in Donnington 1992)	Lawless	9:45

reception

The album reached the music charts in Germany , Austria (No. 30), Switzerland (No. 24) and Great Britain (No. 21), and it achieved its highest ranking in Germany (No. 35) on July 13, 1992. It was placed in the USA not at all. The decoupled singles could only chart in Great Britain, the best placement there was achieved by Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue) (17th place).

In a contemporary review in Rock Hard magazine , the author wrote that the album offered "traditionally oriented metal of commercial grade A". The Crimson Idol belongs "without a doubt to those discs that you can put in the corner with the classic albums with a clear conscience". Lawless has "not exactly reinvented the wheel of metallic history", all numbers sound "inch for inch after the usual straight Lawless customization". But he has managed to "conserve and develop the natural, tight power of his music". This resulted in songs that “in no way lagged behind the previous output”. WASP is bursting with “precise power, roughness, melodic abundance and epic breadth without being clichéd”. It is "all in all" about "a complete album without failures," not always "on world-class level, but damn close". The reviewer awarded nine and a half points out of ten.

In July 1992, The Crimson Idol was album of the month in Metal Hammer , and Martin Groß wrote that, musically, Lawless adheres to "classic patterns" of what Heavy Metal is "extremely worthy of being baptized". "Flawless and very well done" were "stringed together convincing songs". However , when it comes to the concept of a concept album, every band has to be measured against Queensrÿche's “magnificent” Operation: Mindcrime , and The Crimson Idol doesn't come close either.

Web links

The Crimson Idol at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

^ Text from The Story of Jonathan (Prologue to the Crimson Idol) at genius.com , accessed on March 13, 2020
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Metal Hammer, issue 4.1992, page 23
↑ ^a ^b ^c Metal Hammer, No. 6.1992, pages 16-19
↑ Information about the album at discogs.com , accessed on March 13, 2020
↑ ^a ^b Charts DE Charts UK Charts AT Charts CH
↑ Charts UK
↑ Review at rockhard.de , accessed on March 13, 2020
↑ Metal Hammer, No. 06.1992, page 53

[1] Text from The Story of Jonathan (Prologue to the Crimson Idol) at genius.com , accessed on March 13, 2020

[hammer4.92-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Metal Hammer, issue 4.1992, page 23

[hammer6.92-3] Metal Hammer, No. 6.1992, pages 16-19

[4] Information about the album at discogs.com , accessed on March 13, 2020

[charts-5] Charts DE Charts UK Charts AT Charts CH

[6] Charts UK

[7] Review at rockhard.de , accessed on March 13, 2020

[8] Metal Hammer, No. 06.1992, page 53