W.A.S.P. "W.A.S.P."

W.A.S.P. is the debut album by American heavy metal band W.A.S.P., released August 17, 1984. The album has been known under three different names; the spine of the original vinyl release had Winged Assassins printed on it, while early cassette releases of the album had the name of the album's first track, "I Wanna Be Somebody", printed in bold letters on the cover. The album is officially entitled simply W.A.S.P., which it is typically referred to as.

Prior to its original release, controversial track "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" was deleted from the album. The Parents Music Resource Center had labeled the song as one of its "Filthy 15", songs that the group (not the public) determined to be morally objectionable. Capitol Records subsequently bowed to pressure and pulled the song. The band released the song on an independent label in the UK as a single in 1984, and it was reinstated on the album's 1998 reissue.

The song "I Wanna Be Somebody", released as the album's first single with accompanying music video, achieved such success that it was ranked No. 84 on VH1's list of the "Top 100 Hard Rock Songs" of all time.

Several of the album's songs have been covered by other bands. "Sleeping (In the Fire)" has been covered by Tiamat and Anders Manga, "Hellion" by Children of Bodom and In Aeternum, "L.O.V.E. Machine" by Fallen Man, Lullacry, Fozzy and Alghazanth, "I Wanna Be Somebody" by Sentenced, Catamenia, Witchery, Avulsed and Gates of Ishtar, and "The Torture Never Stops" by the death metal group Torture Division.

Track listing

Original

All songs written by Blackie Lawless, except where noted.

Side one

1. "I Wanna Be Somebody" 3:43
2. "L.O.V.E. Machine" 3:51
3. "The Flame" Lawless, Chris Holmes, J. Marquez 3:41
4. "B.A.D." 3:56
5. "School Daze" 3:35

Side two

1. "Hellion" 3:39
2. "Sleeping (In the Fire)" 3:55
3. "On Your Knees" 3:48
4. "Tormentor" Lawless, Holmes 4:10
5. "The Torture Never Stops" 3:56

1998 CD reissue track listing

1. "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" 3:07
2. "I Wanna Be Somebody" 3:43
3. "L.O.V.E. Machine" 3:51
4. "The Flame" Lawless, Holmes, Marquez 3:41
5. "B.A.D." 3:56
6. "School Daze" 3:35
7. "Hellion" 3:39
8. "Sleeping (In the Fire)" 3:55
9. "On Your Knees" 3:48
10. "Tormentor" Lawless, Holmes 4:10
11. "The Torture Never Stops" 3:56
12. "Show No Mercy" 3:48
13. "Paint It Black" (The Rolling Stones Cover) Mick Jagger, Keith Richards 3:27

The song "Tormentor" was heard in the films The Dungeonmaster (1984) and TerrorVision (1986).

Includes colored inner sleeve and club membership insert.

The album was originally to be called Winged Assassins.

"Animal (F**k Like a Beast)" was intended to be on the original version of the album, but was removed due to record company pressure following the controversy the song had created at the time.

Produced at Fort Apache Studios, Malibu, CA.

The band's abbreviated nomenclature of W.A.S.P. helped fuel the controversy surrounding the band in their early days (in the same manner that KISS was supposed to be an abbreviation of Knights In Satan's Service) as Lawless' publicity machine dropped hints that the act's real name was "We Are Sexual Perverts" or "We Are Sexual Predators". On one occasion a reporter asked Blackie about the acronym to which he replied with "We Ain't Sure, Pal".

Blackie Lawless disbanded W.A.S.P. twice: once at the end of 1989 and again at the end of 1993. He reformed the band in 1991, pressured by fans and promoters to release The Crimson Idol under the W.A.S.P. moniker. He reformed it again in early 1995 while working on Still Not Black Enough, as the songs sounded similar to W.A.S.P.'s sound and could follow-up on the previous album.