The Plasmatics were an American punk rock and heavy metal band formed by Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams in New York City in 1978. They were a controversial group known for chaotic, destructive live shows and outrageous theatrics. <!--NPOV--> These included chainsawing guitars, destroying speaker cabinets, sledgehammering television sets and blowing up automobiles live on stage. Williams was arrested in Milwaukee by the Milwaukee Police before being charged with public indecency.

The Plasmatics' career spanned five studio albums and multiple EPs. The band was composed of lead vocalist Wendy O. Williams and various other musicians rotating behind her over time. Aside from Williams and manager Rod Swenson, guitarist Wes Beech was the only other permanent member of the group. Guitarist Richie Stotts was a co-founder of the band and a mainstay of the pre-breakup core group (1978–1983).

After the full breakup of the band following the release of Coup d'etat, Stotts was edited out of band videos and was not referred to by name in a 2006 compilation DVD released by Plasmatics Media LLC (via plasmatics.com).

History

Formation and early years (1977–1979)

In 1977, Rod Swenson, who received his Master of Fine Arts in 1969 from Yale University where he specialized in conceptual art, performance art, and neo-dada art, holding the view that the measure of true or high art is how confrontational it is. He began a series of counter-culture projects which, by the mid-'70s, found him in the heart of Times Square producing experimental counterculture theater as well as video and shows with the likes of the then-little-known bands The Dead Boys, The Ramones, Patti Smith, and others. It was there that he met Wendy O. Williams after Williams found a copy of Show Business Weekly someone had discarded on the bus station floor. The issue lay open to a page with an ad in the casting calls section for Swenson's theater show Captain Kink's Sex Fantasy Theater. Jim Farber of Sounds described the show: "Lead singer/ex-porn star/current weightlifter Wendy Orleans Williams (W.O.W. for short) spends most of the Plasmatics' show fondling her family size breasts, scratching her sweaty snatch and eating the drum kit, among other playful events".

New Hope for the Wretched, Beyond the Valley of 1984 and Metal Priestess (1980–1981)

The Plasmatics were soon selling out shows in Philadelphia, Boston, venues in New Jersey, and elsewhere in the Northeast. Chris Knowles of Classic Rock magazine wrote: the Plasmatics "were the biggest live attraction in New York... and the media was on them like white on rice... It's one thing to play at subversiveness, but The Plasmatics, unlike other Punk bands... put their Punk philosophy into action." Many U.S. record labels were reluctant to sign the band; The band was signed by Stiff Records, a British label, in March 1980, and appeared on the cover of Sounds in June of that year. Artists and Repertoire (A&R) from Stiff Records flew to New York City to see a show in person to determine if what they had been reading and hearing could possibly be real. <!--POV--> The day after seeing the performance, Stiff put in an offer and a deal was inked within a month. A few months later, The Plasmatics began to record songs in New York City for what would become the album New Hope for the Wretched. As creative decisions go, Stiff's choice to ask long-time Rolling Stones producer Jimmy Miller to be behind the console for these recordings was not the best.

In addition to songs like "Corruption" and "Living Dead" – linked to TV smashing and automobile destruction – "Butcher Baby" featured a chainsaw sawing through a guitar, in place of a guitar solo, which was replicated during live shows. The Plasmatics visited the UK for a tour, which met with opposition from some quarters including the Greater London Council (GLC), particularly for their intention to blow up a car on stage and Williams' semi-nudity. The GLC canceled the band's show at the Hammersmith Odeon after fire inspectors decided the show would not meet safety requirements, although police had already arrived to disperse the gathering crowd before the decision had officially been taken. (Williams, recalled Debbie Harry in 2014, "was such a big deal back then. She showed her tits and she blew up cars on stage and broke TVs – and now it would just be normal.") Released as a single by Stiff Records, "Butcher Baby" reached No.&nbsp;55 on the UK Singles Chart. The permits needed for this were hard to get and only allowed for an estimated 5–6,000 people. The day of the performance, 10,000 showed up, jamming the downtown streets and lining the rooftops. Even though it cost virtually the entire advance for the US release of New Hope for the Wretched to do it, Williams was quoted by a reporter from the Associated Press as saying, "It was worth it because it showed that these are just things and... people shouldn't worship them," a point she'd repeat more than once.

The Plasmatics' debut in Los Angeles was at the famed Whisky a Go Go. The show was originally planned for only two nights but was later expanded to four due to large sold-out crowds.

The ABC show Fridays, which was looking to be a more cutting-edge version of Saturday Night Live, booked Williams and the Plasmatics to appear in late December to go live on national TV. After objecting to being searched she was thrown to the ground and reportedly kicked in the face (later requiring a dozen stitches), with manager Rod Swenson also beaten unconscious when he tried to intervene. A subsequent performance at The Palms nightclub sold out, and passed without incident, although the venue was raided after the show by the vice squad, with more than 30 police officers in attendance in case of trouble.

In October 1981, the band made an appearance on the Fishin' Musician segment of SCTV on NBC, shortly after the release of Metal Priestess.

Coup d'Etat (1982–1983)

By the spring of 1982, a worldwide deal was signed with Capitol Records, and Dan Hartman offered to produce a demo of the album for Capitol with Swenson at Electric Lady Studios, Jimi Hendrix's old studio, in New York. The whole album was arranged, recorded and mixed within a week. Dieter Dierks, who had just come off a number one album with Scorpions, also expressed interest in producing.

Coup d'Etat was a breakthrough album that began to blend the punk and metal genres, something that would later be done by bands such as S.O.D., Anthrax, and the Cro-Mags by the end of the 1980s. Williams also broke ground for her unique singing style. She pushed her voice so hard she had to make trips into Cologne, Germany, where the album was being recorded, each day for treatments to avoid permanent damage to her vocal cords.

The Hartman demo was released 20 years later under the name Coup de Grace. The rawer version of Coup d'Etat, which took less than a tenth of the time and a fraction of the budget, is hailed by many fans as the true version of the album.

The video Swenson produced and directed of "The Damned" featured Williams driving a school bus through a wall of TVs, climbing onto the roof of a moving bus which had been loaded with explosives, and then singing from the roof and jumping off a few moments before the bus goes through the second wall of TVs and then blows sky high.

As touring began, it became clear that Capitol was beginning to turn away from the group in favor of groups such as Duran Duran, who could generate ten times the sales with none of the political liability and fallout. Soon after the album was released, Capitol Records dropped the Plasmatics.

Tracked at a Canadian recording studio, the Stand by Your Man sessions proved to be tumultuous as guitarist Eddie Clarke (who was producing the tracks, but not playing on them) quit Motörhead in the middle of the project. Rod Swenson and Dan Hartman, who had finished demoing the Plasmatics Coup d'Etat album together, were called upon to finish the rough and raw project in the mix which they did at Electric Lady Studios in New York. Swenson then shot the cover with Lemmy and Williams on it and the raw project was put out by Bronze records.

Hiatus and Wendy O. Williams' solo career (1984–1986)

In 1982, Kiss asked for Williams and the Plasmatics to appear as a special guest on their tour. Kiss wanted the controversial street edge that Williams would bring as part of their tour and for the Plasmatics it was a chance to play in front of different audiences in different markets than they would ordinarily play. By the end of the tour with Kiss it was clear that, although the formal notice that Capitol would not pick up their option for a second album did not come in for six months, the relationship with Capitol was done. It had taken months for the deal to be done, months to record and release the album and now months to get out of the deal. Gene Simmons approached Williams and Swenson about producing the next Wendy O. Williams album. To avoid any wasted time in legal issues with Capitol Records, it was decided not to use the Plasmatics name on the record at all and was simply called WOW, the initials of Wendy O. Williams. Gene Simmons felt it would give him the freedom he wanted to add more new players to the album.

Wes Beech remained to play rhythm and lead and T.C. Tolliver, the drummer on Coup d'Etat, remained to play on the new album. Gene Simmons played bass under the pseudonym of "Reginald Van Helsing". The only other new player on the album was lead guitarist Michael Ray, brought in to solve the technical challenges that had been a problem for several albums and had come to a head with the more complex music of Coup D'Etat. Simmons also pulled in the talents of Ace Frehley, who had not played with Kiss since leaving the band years before, Paul Stanley, and then-current Kiss drummer Eric Carr and guitarist Vinnie Vincent each did one song as guests. The record was released on Passport (international and U.S. distribution by JEM).

Review copies were sent out to the various media outlets. Malcolm Dome, a reviewer for Kerrang! magazine, had picked the WOW album as his album of the year. Williams received a Grammy nomination for 'Best Female Rock Vocal' in 1985.

  • Mick "Agent Orange" Bello – roadie

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

  • New Hope for the Wretched (1980)
  • Beyond the Valley of 1984 (1981)
  • Coup d'etat (1982)
  • Maggots: The Record (1987)
  • Coup de Grace (2000)

EPs

  • Butcher Baby (1978)
  • Dream Lover (1979)
  • Monkey Suit (1980)
  • Metal Priestess (1981)

References

;Other sources

  • Deming, Mark "[ Plasmatics Biography]", AllMusic, retrieved 2010-03-30
  • Gimarc, George (2005) Punk Diary: the Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide to Underground Rock 1970–1982, Backbeat Books,
  • Skanse, Richard (1998) "Plasmatics' Wendy O. Williams Commits Suicide", Rolling Stone, April 9, 1998, retrieved 2010-03-30
  • Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, , p.&nbsp;115-116
  • Williams, Joy (1998) "The Love Song of Wendy O. Williams", SPIN, September 1998, p.&nbsp;134-8, retrieved 2010-03-30
  • Plasmatics albums to be listened as stream at Spotify