WASP - Babylon

Quote :

Fat Freddy wrote:
manny wrote:
Blackie Lawless has claimed that he will never play Animal (F**k Like A Beast) again.


Boooooooooooo!!!


Fear not Freddy. I'm sure Blackie will do a "Classic album" tour that is all the rage right now and they'll play their entire debut from start to finish. Because the fans demanded it.

Yeah, but Animal (F**k Like A Beast) isn't on their debut. Ha, ha, ha, ha...

It was added to the s/t once it was pressed to CD.



I've been wanting to get me some W.A.S.P. lately...need to get on it, soon.

Maybe I should start a separate thread about this band. I somehow have ignored them all my life growing up on metal. However I heard this band on the radio recently and was blown away it was them. I have been stanfoffish about them when I wa syoung, being told they were a band who sang about some pretty evil stuff. Then in my 20's I gained a neighbor who is a jazz guitarist, who has met several famous bands and hung out with them.

He told me how Blackie is one of the most arrogant, stuck up people in the biz. Which then only gained more prejudice about this band I know nothing about.

Now that I am in my 30's I am less reserved about the people vs what music they make. So I am considering checking into this band. Not really sure where to start...so where else to look but from you guys...you always have good advice.

Thanks,

Mez (btw if I should make this a seperate thread, let me know)

Hah, sounds like Alex Skolnick was your neighbor!

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE this band. Babylon is a GREAT record, although the last track really sticks out as an oddity on the disc as far as sound goes. Not a bad song, just doesn't flow for me. Still, a great record and even better than Dominator was. Still doesn't touch Crimson Idol, but very few albums do for me.



Arttie

This album is kicking a good deal of @$$! I'm digging it.

I read a bunch of those comments on Blabbermouth and I didn't know whether to laugh or want to kick some of those people in the balls. So stupid. Who cares if he plays "Animal" anymore. There's nothing special about that song...just an average Metal song w/ a shocking lyric (which is the only reason they all act like its the greatest W.A.S.P. song ever). Personally, I've always thought that Blackie had MUCH better songs than that one. Like someone here pointed out, it wasn't even on any of their albums...it was a single only until the debut got reissued. I love how they think the opinions of a couple dozen fans (internet arseholes) is going to make or break the band...

Man, Babylon is a nonstop butt whooping, until the last song. I'm really digging this thing, might be my fave since Still Not Black Enough.

I buy all albums that Blackie release but to be honest i dont think this is great. Its an okay album but out of 9 songs 2 cover songs is just to much. The rest of the 7 songs are just okay, nothing great. Also i expected a second THE CRIMSON IDOL album, but BABYLON is far far away from it.

The last song is a mood-killer...but I love the other 8.

Last one I got was 'Neon God Pt. 2' which for some reason I didn't really get into for the most part. I might check this out. I used to be a big, big W.A.S.P. fanatic 10 years ago or so..eventually I got tired of feeling 'ugh' every couple songs when I would throw an album in, so I drifted away some. But I know everything, every B-side. Blackie apart from the immature stuff is one of my favorite musicians, ever.

Very good album. W.A.S.P rule!

Wow.... I'm reading reviews and not really hearing a middle ground for this one. People either hate it or love it. I'll know myself next week!

A friend of mine just sent me some email samples of the new WASP. This thing KILLS!!! Awesome album (from the few songs I've heard anyway).

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

This album is kicking a good deal of @$$! I'm digging it.

I read a bunch of those comments on Blabbermouth and I didn't know whether to laugh or want to kick some of those people in the balls. So stupid. Who cares if he plays "Animal" anymore. There's nothing special about that song...just an average Metal song w/ a shocking lyric (which is the only reason they all act like its the greatest W.A.S.P. song ever). Personally, I've always thought that Blackie had MUCH better songs than that one. Like someone here pointed out, it wasn't even on any of their albums...it was a single only until the debut got reissued. I love how they think the opinions of a couple dozen fans (internet arseholes) is going to make or break the band...

I was listening to WASP this morning in the car and when I heard 'Animal' it made me think of this topic and how odd it seems to me that Blackie doesn't want to perform this song live anymore.

Taking away the lyrical content for a moment, you gotta admit that this is W.A.S.P.'s signature song. People that don't know the band from a hole in the wall know that song. And even the hardcore fans that are attending a live show want to hear the hits. It'd be like Lemmy saying he's not gonna play 'Ace of Spades" anymore. Whether the band loves or loathes the song, they should know what the fans want to hear. While I might be a late comer to the latter works of WASP and enjoy them thoroughly, if I go to the greatest performance of Blackie's lifetime, I'm still gonna walk out and say, "Yea, it was awesome, but they didin't do 'Animal'." I'd feel gypped.

Sorry Blackie that you've moved on or have some moral objections here, but just like Jani Lane & 'Cherry Pie', your the F*ck Like A Beast guy, like it or not. Eh, just my 2 cents.

Quote :

you gotta admit that this is W.A.S.P.'s signature song

Really? Hmm, I think that's a matter of opinion. I would say that I Wanna Be Somebody or Blind In Texas are the signature songs. I don't think I've ever known Blackie to end a show with "Animal" and I've been listening to WASP since before my pubes started poppin out of my nutsack.

SpectreFate wrote:

Quote :

you gotta admit that this is W.A.S.P.'s signature song

Really? Hmm, I think that's a matter of opinion. I would say that I Wanna Be Somebody or Blind In Texas are the signature songs. I don't think I've ever known Blackie to end a show with "Animal" and I've been listening to WASP since before my pubes started poppin out of my nutsack.

If you're a fan, then sure I agree. But, for the vast majority, Animal is probably their best known songs via clips and other things usually shown with the band, plus in all these retrospectives on tv, even now, that sawblade cover for that single is always shown. Its almost iconic when it comes to W.A.S.P.

SpectreFate wrote:

Quote :

you gotta admit that this is W.A.S.P.'s signature song

Really? Hmm, I think that's a matter of opinion. I would say that I Wanna Be Somebody or Blind In Texas are the signature songs. I don't think I've ever known Blackie to end a show with "Animal" and I've been listening to WASP since before my pubes started poppin out of my nutsack.

I dunno. Go ask my dad. I base allot of my opinions of pop culture on his knowledge. He lives in a bubble that keeps out any and all things relevant since about 1978. If he knows anything about WASP, it's 'Animal".

My point is, sure we (music/metal fans) can debate that point over and over, just like who is and isn't "hair metal", but to the musical obtuse, if they even heard of WASP, they associate them with that song. For what was probably all the wrong reasons, that song put them on everyone's respective radar.

I've never had the pleasure of seeing them live. Unfortunatly the one time I had tickets, the tour (w/Motorhead) was cancelled. So I don't know that it was ever the big closer or even part of their set in the last 10 or 15 years. If it wasn't, it certainly should have been (in my opinion). If it was and Blackie has just recently started dropping it, I think that's wrong. It's not gonna stop me from buying the albums or even seeing them live. Shame on me for waiting all these years to get onboard the WASP bandwagon. But I'd still be disappointed nonetheless.

Quote :

I don't think I've ever known Blackie to end a show with "Animal" and I've been listening to WASP since before my pubes started poppin out of my nutsack.

I could've sworn you've been into them longet then a month.

TheNazgul wrote:

I could've sworn you've been into them longet then a month.

That's cute. I like that.

TheNazgul wrote:

Quote :

I don't think I've ever known Blackie to end a show with "Animal" and I've been listening to WASP since before my pubes started poppin out of my nutsack.

I could've sworn you've been into them longet then a month.

*ZINGER ALERT!!*

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I've never had the pleasure of seeing them live. Unfortunatly the one time I had tickets, the tour (w/Motorhead) was cancelled. So I don't know that it was ever the big closer or even part of their set in the last 10 or 15 years.

I believe "Animal" is on the DOUBLE LIVE ASSASSINS live album isn't it? Some of that album was taped during the tour with Motorhead (which ended prematurely due to backstage squabbling between Blackie and Lemmy...).

That said, the one and only time I saw W.A.S.P. live was in Asbury Park NJ back in 1992, they did a short run of a dozen or so U.S. dates to warm up before heading overseas to pimp THE CRIMSON IDOL (which hadn't even been released in the U.S. yet) on the Euro festival circuit. "Animal" wasn't in the set list that night either, and A LOT of people were p*ssed about it too.

Since the set list leaned heavily on CRIMSON IDOL that night (thankfully I had purchased an import copy of the album a few months prior, so I knew the songs!) I get the feeling that Blackie was trying to put aside the meat-throwing, blood covered, saw-blade waving persona of his early days at that time and wanted be taken seriously as an "artiste." So I can sorta kinda understand why "Animal" wasn't included in the set with that in mind. But still, when he left the stage and a couple of hundred people started chanting "F*CK LIKE A BEAST! F*CK LIKE A BEAST!" you'd think maybe he would've come back out and given the people what they wanted. It woulda brought the house down!!

The song did return to the set list during the K.F.D. era and when my brother saw them do a "greatest hits" set a couple of years ago on the "American Metal Blast" tour (with L.A. Guns and Stephen Pearcy rockin' solo) he said "Animal" was the lead off track of the W.A.S.P. set.

So who knows, maybe Blackie's simply got a love/hate thing going with that song. Like ya said, MG, Jani Lane hates having to drag out "Cherry Pie" every time he takes the stage, maybe Blackie is just like "Ugh, I don't wanna do that stupid song again for awhile..."

I got my copy of this yesterday and I'm really diggin' it. I only have Babylon and Crimson Idol so I'm far from being a fanboy but I have to say I'm surprised how good this sounds to me.

tohostudios wrote:

I got my copy of this yesterday and I'm really diggin' it. I only have Babylon and Crimson Idol so I'm far from being a fanboy but I have to say I'm surprised how good this sounds to me.

I like it alot too!!!! I am missing quite a bit of WASP, I was no longer listening to them after I heard Ride The Lightning

kethdredd wrote:

The US version comes out Nov 9. At least thats what he said on That Metal Show.

For what it's worth, I heard last night on Eddie Trunk's radio show that the US release has been pushed back to January, 2010, but he didn't give a specific date.

You're like a Trunk fanboy.

TheNazgul wrote:

You're like a Trunk fanboy.

Yea, what can I say. I like his sattellite radio show on Monday nights. He usually has good guests, plays good tunes and has info. The dude may be a drooling fan-boy, but he knows how to play the game when it comes to getting the perks that go along with it. You want good guests, you gotta kiss the right butts in the business.