Wasp: Wasp - 1984

It was a you had to be there moment and I was there. Saw them open for Iron Maiden and KISS in the 80's.

This was such an amazing era for music. This was a time before the internet when you could truly shock people. If Blackie hadn’t been such a control freak & kept this original lineup together before WASP became Blackie & a bunch other guys it would be interesting to see how they much better they could have been.

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It was a you had to be there moment and I was there. Saw them open for Iron Maiden and KISS in the 80's.

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100%

I saw them open for Iron Maiden in 1985 as well. I missed The Last Command tour with Kiss. I believe that was the next tour.

Never really had the chance to see them until again until 2000. It was the Helldorado tour. I enjoyed the show, but it wasn't the same.

Only song I ever liked by them:

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It was a you had to be there moment and I was there. Saw them open for Iron Maiden and KISS in the 80's.

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Same here for the Iron Maiden opening slot. Saw that show in Biloxi and then three nights later in New Orleans in February 1985.

For years I couldn’t hear the Doors song The End without thinking of the intro for W.A.S.P.’s set.

The name was inspired by a wasp buzzing around first bassist Rik Foxx when he and Blackie were trying to come up with a name for their new band, formed from the ashes of Blackie and Randy Piper's former band. Circus Circus.

Blackie came up with the idea of adding periods between the letters of "wasp" so it would appear to be some sort of acronym. The hope was fans, the press, anti-fans, etc., would speculate all kinds of crazy stuff, kind of like when Bible belt conservatives in the late 70s accused Kiss of being short for "Knights in Satan's Service." Then Wasp, like Kiss, would refuse to confirm or deny whatever fans or the press speculated the initials stood for, adding to the mystique.

To add fuel to the fire, they put "we are sexual perverts" in the debut album's liner notes but offered no explanation.

The name, the alleged acronym, the stage act, etc., eventually got Tipper Gore's PMRC crosshairs on them, which subsequently sold a ton of records.

So it worked.

I listen to a lot of WASP still to this day. I know Blackie ran a lot of guys off but The Crimson Idol is a great album.

My band in high school played Love Machine.
Even did it at an FHA banquet for lots of future homemakers and their moms...