The Plasmatics were an American punk rock, hardcore punk and heavy metal band formed by Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams in New York City in 1977. They were a controversial group known for chaotic, destructive live shows and outrageous theatrics. 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.
Neal Smith is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock group Alice Cooper from 1967 to 1974. He performed on the group's early albums Pretties for You and Easy Action, their breakout album Love It to Death and the subsequent successful albums Killer, School's Out, and Billion Dollar Babies. The last new studio album with the five original Alice Cooper group members participating in new music was Muscle of Love in 1973. The original group's Greatest Hits studio album was released in 1974. In 2018, a live performance album Live from the Astroturf recorded in 2015 was released, featuring four of the original group members performing eight of their hit songs, with long-time Alice Cooper solo band guitarist and friend Ryan Roxie interplaying lead guitar parts with original group rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, on behalf of original group lead guitarist Glen Buxton, who died in 1997 of pneumonia at age 49.
James Vincent Hall is an American rock singer and guitarist, best known for his gothic-style lyrics, distinctive voice, avant-garde performances and eclectic compositions.
Wendy Orlean Williams was an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the punk rock band Plasmatics. She was noted for her onstage theatrics, which included partial nudity, exploding equipment, firing a shotgun, and chainsawing guitars. Performing her own stunts in videos, she often sported a mohawk hairstyle. In 1985, during the height of her popularity as a solo artist, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
Richard Eugene Stotts is a New York City born musician who began writing and performing in a fledgling 1970s NYC band named “The Numbers”. Richie’s songwriting skills and lead guitar playing experience ultimately lead to him becoming one of the founding members of the groundbreaking and inimitable punk/metal group, Plasmatics.
Stand by Your Man is an EP released in 1982. It is a collaboration of the bands Motörhead and the Plasmatics. It is notorious as the reason "Fast" Eddie left Motörhead, more so than the bad reception the EP received. Lemmy and Wendy O. Williams had organised to do a duet of the famous Tammy Wynette country song, though most critics, and fans, to this day are baffled by the choice, Wendy coming from the punk scene in the mid-late 1970s and Lemmy from a mixture of Rock genres.
This is a timeline documenting the events of heavy metal in the year 1980.
New Hope for the Wretched is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Plasmatics. It was released on October 2, 1980, by Stiff Records.
Beyond the Valley of 1984 is the second album by punk-metal band The Plasmatics.
Coup d'Etat is the third studio album released by punk rock band The Plasmatics in 1982.
Maggots: The Record is the fourth studio album by American rock singer Wendy O. Williams and her band Plasmatics. It was released on February 18, 1987, by Profile Records. Labeled as a special "9th Anniversary Album", it was the last album released by the band. Despite being labeled a "Plasmatics" album, it is often regarded as another Wendy O. Williams solo album, largely in part because her name is over that of the band, the merchandise for the tour has the WOW logo from her solo career, Michael Ray plays lead guitar here, and the only original member is Wes Beech on rhythm guitar. All music on the record was written and arranged by Michael Ray, except for "Propagators". Maggots: The Record was recorded in 1987 and is a concept album set 25 years in the future, where environmental abuse and the burning of fossil fuels have created a greenhouse effect, leading to an end of the world scenario. The album features various scenes of the White Family over the course of three days. The family is devoured while watching a TV game show. Valerie, the girlfriend of television reporter Bruce is devoured by three massive maggots while lying in her boyfriend's bed. The final scene of the record shows the entire human population is headed for imminent annihilation. The album was released through Profile Records under the WOW label in the United States and overseas by GWR Records, which had been started by Motörhead's longtime manager Doug Smith.
Coup de Grace is a postmortem release by punk / metal band The Plasmatics in 2002. The album is the original demo of the album Coup d'Etat.
Final Days: Anthems for the Apocalypse is the second greatest hits album by punk-metal band The Plasmatics, and the band's final release. It was released through Gigasarus Records in 2002.
Metal Priestess is the second extended play by American punk rock band Plasmatics. It was released on October 21, 1981 by Stiff Records and reissued the same year by PVC Records with an alternative cover.
WOW is the debut solo studio album by American singer Wendy O. Williams, released in 1984 by Passport Records. It is her first album appearance after the success with The Plasmatics, which had gone on a hiatus during that time. Williams was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for this album in 1985.
Kommander of Kaos is the second solo studio album released by Wendy O. Williams after her group, the Plasmatics, went on hiatus. The album was recorded in 1984 but not released until 1986. A live version of the Gene Simmons-penned "Ain't None of Your Business" appears on this album . Lead guitarist Michael Ray (guitarist),or M. ray, was previously invited by Gene Simmons to record tracks on the Creatures of the Night Kiss album, and was later hired by Simmons to play guitar solos on the WOW album. Michael Ray (guitarist) composed and arranged music tracks on the Kommander of Kaos album. "Hoy hey ", "Pedal to the Metal", "Goin Wild", "Fight for the Right" and "(Work that Muscle) F**k that Booty". The Kommander of Kaos album has been re-released by several independent labels in recent years.
Fuck You!!! and Loving It: A Retrospective is the first and only greatest hits album released under Wendy O. Williams' name. While credited as a Wendy O. Williams album, it also includes songs from her career with the Plasmatics, excepting only Coup d'Etat.
Fight is the eighth studio album of the German female heavy metal singer Doro Pesch. It was released worldwide in 2002 by SPV/Steamhammer.
Reform School Girls is the soundtrack album for the 1986 film of the same name. It was released in 1986 by Rhino Records. The soundtrack features mostly hard rock and heavy metal songs. Wendy O. Williams contributed four songs to the soundtrack; "It's My Life" from her debut studio album WOW (1984), "Bad Girl" and "Goin' Wild" from her second album Kommander of Kaos (1986), and the title song "Reform School Girls" recorded for the film. Williams herself appears in the film as a reform school bully Charlie Chamblis. Other artists on the album, consisting only of female singers and bands, include Etta James, Girlschool, Screamin' Sirens and Girl's Night Out.
Michael Rea better known by his stage name Michael Ray or M. Ray, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer, not to be confused with Michael Roach Ray the country singer. Michael Ray was the lead guitarist for the punk rock band Plasmatics and for Wendy O. Williams solo projects. He also worked with hard rock band Kiss and toured with the English rock band Motörhead.
