W.A.S.P Songs Ranked
W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982. They emerged from the early 1980s Los Angeles heavy metal scene. The band’s popularity peaked that decade, yet they continue to record and tour, making them one of the most enduring of the West Coast heavy metal bands. W.A.S.P. gained notoriety for their shock rock-themed image, lyrics, and live performances. They have sold over 12 million albums. W.A.S.P. was a prominent target in the mid-1980s of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), an organization that pushed for warning labels on recorded music. The band immortalized its fight with the PMRC on the song “Harder, Faster” from their 1987 live album, Live…In the Raw. Their most well-known songs include “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)”, “I Wanna Be Somebody”, “L.O.V.E. Machine”, “Wild Child”, “Blind in Texas”, “Forever Free”, “Mean Man”, “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)” and “The Idol”, as well as their cover versions of Ray Charles’ “I Don’t Need No Doctor” and The Who’s “The Real Me”. The band’s most recent album, Golgotha, was released in 2015, and they have reportedly been working on new material. Here are all W.A.S.P songs ranked.
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15. The Flame (W.A.S.P., 1984)
“The success of this album is driven by many factors. The brilliant sing-along choruses for a start, they are terrifically written in order to bring the fans into the songs. The excellent driving drum work from Tony Richards, which I think is completely underrated – it doesn’t just complement the songs here, it actually enhances them and helps to bring them to life.”
14. Forever Free (The Headless Children, 1989)
“Forever Free is a fairly average ballad and makes me think of eagles crying, the graphics on the side of fairground rides and cowboys singing about “real American hot dogs”. However it is notable for Ken Hensley resurrecting some Heep-styled organ melodies which is pretty tasty… I just wished they’d given him a big organ wig-out ala Gypsy.”
13. Show No Mercy (W.A.S.P., 1984)
“The music itself is hard rocking heavy metal, but very catchy and melodic. “Show No Mercy” (which is not a Slayer cover) is one of the band´s more harder edged and dark heavy metal tracks.”
12. On Your Knees (W.A.S.P., 1984)
“On Your Knees is a classic tune from the shock metal band W.A.S.P. out of the 80’s and one of my favorites of their songs. This is a meaty no-holds-barred song about lust and other things which W.A.S.P. became famous for and which helped to rocket them to the top of the PMRC hit list. As any original follower of the band knows all too well their name is an acronym for something, but it’s not what the casual person would ever figure out.”
See more: W.A.S.P. Albums Ranked
11. Widowmaker (The Last Command, 1985)
“Widowmaker” is one of the best on the album, mostly because it is still a heavy song but has a different atmosphere from the other tracks. It is not melodic musically like “Wild Child” but has a chorus of melody vocal lines throughout that introduce a variation in theme on the album, much like “Sleeping in the Fire” did on the first album. As the change-up song on the album, it is particularly effective. “Cried in the Night” tries to do a similar thing but although it is still a great song it isn’t as effective as “Widowmaker” is in this instance.”
10. Hold on to My Heart (The Crimson Idol, 1992)
““Hold on to my Heart” was released as fourth and final single form W.A.S.P.’s concept album “The Crimson Idol”. “The Crimson Idol” is one of my all time favorite albums and is also often considered as the peak of the band and Blackie Lawless as songwriter. The song “Hold on to my Heart” can easily be overlooked on the studio album since it comes just after the epic “The Idol” and just before the final epic “The Great Misconception of Me” but in my opinion it’s a fantastic acoustic track, one of the best ballads of all time. I listened this song over and over again and I think it had potential to become a real hit but it never became one.”
9. The Heretic (The Lost Child) (The Headless Children, 1989)
“If you needed any assurance of this change for the better just take opener, The Heretic (The Lost Child) melodic, ripping and clearly more advanced than anything the band had attempted before whilst retaining their visceral energy.”
8. L.O.V.E. Machine (W.A.S.P., 1984)
“This was one of the original Glam Metal albums, and inspired household names such as KISS. This album helps me get out of bed in the morning, and pushes me all the way through the day with a fire in my soul. “
7. Sleeping (In the Fire) (W.A.S.P., 1984)
“The biggest surprise on the album is still the magnificent “Sleeping (in the Fire)”. Here is a song that shouldn’t work. It’s ballad-esque, moving somewhat slightly left of centre of the rest of the album… and yet… it just works brilliantly.”
6. Animal (F*** Like a Beast) (W.A.S.P., 1984)
“Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)”. The absolute pinnacle of sleaze metal. None of the other sleaze bands can touch this (unless I’m missing out – lemme know!). It’s gross, it’s ridiculous, it’s offensive, and, unlike glam metal, it’s heavy.”
5. Chainsaw Charlie (The Crimson Idol, 1992)
“Chainsaw Charlie” is definitively one of my favorite Wasp-tracks of all time. On this single we get the so-called “sawn-off version” of the track, which has much of the middle parts removed, (actually my favorite part of the song is removed) but since this is the first version I heard, that didn’t bother me until much later.”
See more: Halloween Albums Ranked
4. The Great Misconceptions of Me (The Crimson Idol, 1992)
“Any idiot who tells you “W.A.S.P. were just another generic hair metal band” show em this song and the album it’s from, this song is literally about the main character committing suicide during a concert after he tried to reconnect with his parents and heal the emotional wounds with them because he ran away from home after his brother died only to be told “We have no son””
3. The Idol (The Crimson Idol, 1992)
“There’s enough of a story here to keep interest although the story of a troubled drug addicted rock star isn’t entirely original and neither is much of one of the album’s key tracks, ‘The Idol’. It’s questionable whether Blackie is paying homage to Pink Floyd or just borrowing from Comfortably Numb.”
2. I Wanna Be Somebody ((W.A.S.P., 1984)
““I Wanna Be Somebody” is the opener of W.A.S.P.’s self titled debut album. The song is an anthem about getting famous. It’s a fast, powerful and catchy song; a perfect opener for an album and the band released this song also as first single from the album. The song had in my opinion potential to become a hit but however it didn’t even hit the billboard charts.”
1. Wild Child (The Last Command, 1985)
“Ridin’ with the wind at their back, W.A.S.P.’s “Wild Child” captures the spirit of hot summer day, while cruising down an open stretch of sun-baked asphalt. The full throttle biker anthem, which opens _The Last Command_ album, was issued as a single in 1986 by Capitol Records. Produced by Spencer Proffer, the can’t be tamed “Wild Child” is bolstered by the defiant vocals from leather-clad bassist Blackie Lawless, while the tag team of Randy Piper and wasted Chris Holmes grease the cut with their six string work.”
