I Wanna Be Somebody – W.A.S.P.

Hit play, adjust the tracking… I said adjust the tracking! Ah well, this will have to do.

Enjoy W.A.S.P. as they vamp it up big time, the black leather pants matched only by Blackie Lawless’s bent-kneed stance. It’s as if the sheer weight of his awesomeness is pressing him down. That or his guitar. Note also at 1:17 that drummer Steve Riley is looking positively possessed and may well be about to spontaneously combust, as is often the case with drummers.

I Wanna Be Somebody is the first track from W.A.S.P.’s eponymous 1984 album, replacing the original first track Animal (Fuck Like A Beast) which was removed due to concerns over US chain store sales. W.A.S.P. were one of the main targets for the Parents Music Resource Center and the latter song was included in their “Filthy Fifteen” list, used to lobby for “Parental Advisory” stickers. I Wanna Be Somebody ranked #84 on VH1’s list of the top 100 hard rock songs.

The band won’t be drawn on whether the acronym W.A.S.P. means anything. Wikipedia reports that it is sometimes read as “We Are Sexual Perverts” or “We Are Satan’s Preachers.” Blackie Lawless has said it really stands for “We Ain’t Sure, Pal.”

The official W.A.S.P. site.
W.A.S.P. CD remastered at Amazon
Best of W.A.S.P. CD