RetroCrush has posted its selection of “The Top 10 Most Controversial Albums of All Time.”
My initial reaction (thanks for asking)? “W.A.S.P.? Who in the Sam Hill is W.A.S.P.? Where’s ‘Smell the Glove,’ for pity’s sake?”
Oh. And another thing: If you’re keen on seeing John Lennon’s schlong, I’ve got you covered with this link. If you’re keen on seeing a nekkid Yoko, I’ve got you covered there, too — though I must say I’m a little disappointed.
I expected better from you.
When I was in middle school, W.A.S.P. stood for “We Are Satan’s People,” not “We Are Sexual Perverts.” They even had a video, for a song called “The Real Me”, about wearing denim jackets with hair metal patches on them, screaming at your parents and local priest, locking yourself in your room, and playing your W.A.S.P. records super-loud, because, you know, Satan and whatever. They even had some humorously low-budget horror movie effects, intended to represent the murderous fugue state caused by listening to truly evil heavy metal in the 7-11 parking lot. Controversy! I cannot recall if W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister-like, burst into our teenage Beelzebub’s room, and turned his square suburban neighborhood into a stoned moron’s vision of Dante’s inferno by the full fury of their KISS-ian sonic assault and absurd hairstyles, but I like to imagine that they did. Fortunately, sinister messages such as this did not turn our high schools into dens of Satanic denim-fetishists, for which we can thank Stryper, the bee-suited purvayors of fine Christian glam. To Hell with the Devil!
“Hell is for Hell! Hell is for Hell! Hell is for Hell!
“Hell is for…<i>children</i>…!?!”
I love when rock songs make me re-examine my existential moorings by introducing such jolting ambiguities into 3-chords and a reprise…
You must admit – love <i>is</i> a battlefield.