wasp
W.A.S.P ("We Are Sexual Perverts" or "We Are Sexual Prophets) is a US heavy metal band from LA. Its founding member is Blackie Lawless (Steven Duren) who plays lead vocals, rhythm guitar, Doug Blair (lead guitar, backing vocals), Mike Duda (bass, backing vocals) and Mike Dupke (drums).
Blackie Lawless formed the band in 1982 and the original band line-up consisted of Blackie Lawless, Randy Piper, Rik Fox, and Tony Richards. Blackie Lawless was in a number of other bands (New York Dolls, Sister, London, and more) before he found success with W.A.S.P.
In 1983, W.A.S.P sold out the 3000 seated stadium Santa Monica Civic Hall, and released their self-titled album W.A.S.P in 1984. During their second album W.A.S.P faced opposition from anti-rock organization P.M.R.C. who were opposed to Blackie Lawless and his controversial stage antics.
Before their UK tour, W.A.S.P was supposed to be filmed for BBC2 special called "Rock Around The Clock" but his exploding codpiece made him TV “unfriendly” and the so the story continued.
During the late ‘80s the band found success in the UK and played at the "Monsters Of Rock festival" which had Bon Jovi headlining. They also had success with “Mean Man” which gave them their first Top 30 Hit. During the ‘90s they played again at the "Monsters Of Rock festival" and released album First Blood and … Last Cuts in the same month, but then Blackie declared that he had disbanded W.A.S.P to work on solo material. That didn’t last long and two years later and a new record deal with Castle Records and the band were back on track!
Helldorado (1999) and a European tour followed and W.A.S.P was back on the map again. In 2000, the band took part in a charity show and ticket sales for W.A.S.P were given to the T.J. Mashal foundation and they continued to tour in 2001.
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