W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. biography

W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982. They emerged from the same Los Angeles scene that spawned Mötley Crüe, Ratt, Quiet Riot and others. The band's popularity peaked in the 1980s, yet they continue to record and tour, making them one of the most enduring of the West Coast heavy metal bands. W.A.S.P. gained notoriety for their shock rock themed image, lyrics and live performances. They have sold over 12 million copies of their albums.

The band was a prominent target in the mid-1980s of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) led by Tipper Gore, wife of then-Senator Al Gore (D-TN), an organization that pushed for warning labels on recorded music. The band immortalized its fight with the PMRC on the song "Harder, Faster" from their 1987 live album, Live...In the Raw.

In October 2007, W.A.S.P. embarked on The Crimson Idol Tour, to celebrate that album's 15th anniversary. It is the first time that the album, often regarded to be among the band's finest work, was performed in full from start to finish. The tour kicked off in Greece, in Thessaloniki at the Principal Club Theater on October 26, 2007. It was also announced that this tour would be W.A.S.P.'s last tour for some time. However, the band already confirmed some European festival appearances for summer 2009.

Blackie Lawless remains the only member from the original line-up. They released their most recent album in November 2009, entitled Babylon.

There has been much speculation over the origin of the band's name, and if it stands for anything, since it is written as an acronym. In an interview in the 1980s, the band claimed it stood for "We Are Sexual Perverts" or "We Are Sexual Prophets". (It is not known whether this was a serious statement.) It is believed by many that they said it for shock value. However, "We Are Sexual Perverts" is inscribed on the runoff vinyl of their debut album.

Alternatively, some people believe the initials W.A.S.P. stand for "We Are So Perfect" or even "We Are So Powerful". Another possible abbreviation is "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants", being the original meaning of the acronym. However, this is unlikely considering the fact that Blackie Lawless' mother is part Native American. It could be sarcastic, seeing as songs like "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" hardly fit into the usual picture of White Anglo-Saxon Protestantism. It has also been rumored that their name is an acronym for "We All Smoke Pot", "We Are Satan's People", "We Ate Savory Pancakes" or even "We Are Satan's Preachers". When asked about the band's name, Lawless has avoided giving a straight answer; in one interview he answered "We ain't sure, pal".

Blackie Lawless has told another story on how W.A.S.P. acquired its name. He said he and a friend were walking in the backyard and saw a wasp nest on the ground under a tree and decided to call the band WASP. The band later decided to add a period between each letter to make it stand out more when people saw it. A former member, Rik Fox has stated that he was the "friend" that coined the name WASP. The original drummer Tony Richards has stated in an interview that Rik Fox and Blackie Lawless were outside making a smoke machine when a wasp landed on Rik's hand. He then said "Damn, that would be a killer name for the band". In a February 2010 interview, Lawless stated the main reason for the name was the periods. He claimed no band had ever used them before, and, in essence, the periods created a "question mark of uncertainty" to make them stand out more. He then went to say, "look where we are: it did!"

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