### Wendy o'Williams: WOW

#### 06/12/13 || Habakuk

I’ve been familiar with the names “The Plasmatics” and “Wendy o’Williams” for quite some time, but always filed them in the “not for me” cabinet in my head. Well, I was wrong, at least partly. And the reason why I found out was of course: Spotify. – Which I have been praising in half of my reviews lately, I know. However that software’s effects on my listening have in fact been that profound and I swear I don’t receive any money from them. I get paid in audio gold like this 80s gem instead – produced by Gene Simmons and featuring guest performances by almost all of KISS, this is essentially female-fronted cock rock. Supposedly, front woman Wendy was a die-hard feminist, so I guess “Clit rock” might work as an appropriate description.

Feminism has come a long way in the last 30 years, if this stuff is any indication – “I love sex – gotta have it when I want – I love sex and Rock ‘n Roll!” Whaaat? This sounds more like a mass-marketed plot to make pimpled teenage boys buy albums than a female uprising – but what do I know, born too late! I’ll just content myself with tunes like “Priestess” or “Ain’t none of your business” rocking my socks off with MASSIVE snares, classic 80s riffage and overall headbanging goodness. Gone seems the punkier feel of their earlier material, this is made to send stadiums of drooling dudes and independent women into a frenzy of “bumping and grinding” and other innuendo. No messin’ with the KISS guys there, that’s for sure. It should probably be noted that there are some solid arguments for this being actually a KISS album at the bottom of things.

Of course, Wendy’s roar still isn’t exactly radio-friendly (but has come a long way in that direction), yet the whole affair is polished enough to reflect 80s moneymaking at its best. In hindsight, it is one fine example of rebellion funneled into a marketable, purely entertaining mélange that you either enjoy for its flashy and functional outside, or despise for selling out everything the scene/original band might have used to stand for initially. 30 years of distance make it quite easy for me to pick the first side. What do we take home? If it’s from the 80s, shameless moneymaking is just fine.

- Information
- Released: 1984
- Label: Passport Records
- Website: www.wendyowilliams.com
- Band
- Wendy o’Williams: vocals
- Wes Beech: guitars
- Michael Ray: guitars
- Gene Simmons aka Reginald van Helsing: bass
- T.C. Tolliver: drums
- Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Eric Carr, Mitch Weissman, Micki Free: various guest appearances

- Tracklist
- 01. I Love Sex (And Rock and Roll)
- 02. It’s my life
- 03. Priestess
- 04. Thief in the night
- 05. Opus in Cm7
- 06. Ready to rock
- 07. Bump and grind
- 08. Legends never die
- 09. Ain’t none of your business