WASP (album)
| WASP | ||||
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| Studio album from WASP | ||||
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Publication |
August 17 or September 1984 |
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| Label (s) | Capitol Records . Toshiba EMI Ltd. , Fame , EMI | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, MC, CD |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
38 m 21 s |
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| occupation |
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Blackie Lawless, Mike Varney |
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WASP is the debut album by the American heavy metal band WASP. It was released in 1984 by Capitol Records .
Emergence
At the end of 1983 Iron Maiden's manager Rod Smallwood attended a concert by the WASP group, whose music and extreme stage performance impressed him. In early 1984 he signed her to Capitol Records, and the recording of her album, which was originally to be called Winged Assassins , began. Journalist and music producer Mike Varney supported WASP with the recordings as a co-producer .
Originally the album should contain the first WASP single Animal (Fuck Like a Beast) ; However, this was not included because large chain stores would not have sold the album. The record company planned to release Animal (Fuck Like a Beast) as a single exclusively in Europe in a black plastic bag with a sticker warning of the offensive lyrics. Ultimately, she withdrew this, and the band signed a contract with Music for Nations , which only affected the single; this appeared in its original case in April 1984.
On August 17, 1984 the album was released under the title WASP ; in addition, however, it is occasionally performed under the planned title Winged Assassins and that of the first song I Wanna Be Somebody . In September the single I Wanna Be Somebody was released . After the album was released and before a tour began, drummer Tony Richards got out; he was replaced by former Keel drummer Steve Riley . Because of their reputation, concerts in Ireland have been canceled and promoters in England have tried to get the band to sign consent forms, not to torture anyone, not to let go of rats and not to throw raw meat in the audience. After the tour, the single school Daze was decoupled. The fourth single was LOVE Machine .
The album reached number 74 on the Billboard charts and reached gold status (for 500,000 copies) in the USA in 1988 . Over a million copies have been sold.
Track list
- I Wanna Be Somebody (B. Lawless) - 3:43
- LOVE Machine (B. Lawless) - 3:51
- The Flame (B. Lawless / C. Holmes / J. Marquez) - 3:41
- BAD (B. Lawless) - 3:56
- School Daze (B. Lawless) - 3:35
- Hellion (B. Lawless) - 3:39
- Sleeping (In the Fire) (B. Lawless) - 3:55
- On Your Knees (B. Lawless) - 3:48
- Tormentor (B. Lawless / C. Holmes) - 4:10
- The Torture Never Stops (B. Lawless) - 3:56
The remastered CD reissue of Snapper Music from 1997 also includes written by Lawless songs Animal (Fuck Like a Beast) and Show No Mercy (B-side of Animal- single) and the Rolling Stones -Cover Paint It Black .
Music style and lyrics
The style of the album was typical of American metal and described as a mixture of Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister . The lyrics flirt with common heavy metal topics such as sex, violence and satanism .
Reviews
The album was released by the Kerrang! praised. Paul A. Royd from the German Metal Hammer wrote in an article about WASP that the band had "already established itself impressively" and that each song was "a firework in itself". Charly Rinne, on the other hand, pointed out in his record review in the same issue the enormous difference between the visual appearance and the music of WASP: “Anyone who concludes from the pure cover impression that they are the meanest and toughest speed or black metal group is wrong tremendous. "The music sounds" very catchy, as if you have already heard some melodies on other long players, just very American, but never drifting into the mainstream corner. "For him," only the hit parade suspect 'I Wanna Be Somebody' and the ballad 'Sleeping In The Fire' caught my eye ”, the rest of the album he assigned“ more to the spectrum of average metal ”:“ not necessarily bad, but nothing stunningly new ”.