Dead End Drive-In: Now Showing – Wendy O. Williams & The Plasmatics
Sunday, 01 June 2014 04:00
Wendy O. Williams & The Plasmatics – ’10 Years of Revolutionary Rock ‘n’ Roll’ (Wienerworld)
While the must-see documentary ’10 Years of Revolutionary Rock ‘n’ Roll’ was made some eight years ago now, the essential DVD focussing on a decade of true decadence from Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics has now been given a UK release, even if it is, essentially, acting as a bonus item coupled with a terrific piece of limited edition vinyl.
Yes, the DVD is part of a package available for five pence short of a twenty pound note from the good people of Wienerworld, the main part of which is a stunning limited edition 11 inch – yes, 11 – vinyl picture disc that features five classic tracks from the Plasmatics back catalogue.
‘Butcher Baby’, ‘Master Plan’ and ‘Goin’ Wild’ make up Side A of the record, ‘Fuck and Roll’ and ‘A Pig Is A Pig’ Side B, the vinyl itself an attractive slab o’ wax impregnated with timeless artwork. It’s worth the money in itself, but the ‘bonus’ disc is that with friggin’ bells on.
With a running time of over two hours, ’10 Years of Revolutionary Rock ‘n’ Roll’ is a rock doc with few frills, but plenty of thrills.
Documenting the formation of the Plasmatics and the journey to the band’s eventual end, this film does what every great ‘rockumentary’ should – make you want to rush and listen to the band in question, or buy their entire back catalogue if it isn’t already in your collection.
That said, the film’s production values do leave a little to be desired at times. There’s no problem with grainy vintage photographs, or talking head interviews that look like they were done on a webcam, or even the use of bootleg video footage, it’s the voiceover that makes you want to take a sledgehammer to the screen at times: edited down so that there is barely a moment’s pause between sentences, this female voiceover sounds as clinical and emotionless as your generic ’70s sci-fi movie talking computer, making you zone out at times and forget that someone is even talking over the immense story of one of the most dangerous bands in rock ‘n’ roll history.
The editing of the talking head interview footage is almost as crude at times too, the cuts giving them a Max Headroom feel, but the likes of Krusher Joule, Dante Bonutto, Malcolm Dome, Chris Knowles, Hilly Krystal, Joey Ramone (in vintage footage), and band members Wes Beech, Greg Smith and T.C. Tolliver speak over a tale so littered with incendiary moments – literally – that many will have forgotten, and legions criminally never known.
The genesis of the Plasmatics, the band’s formation by Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams, still surprises, and not in the usual ‘right time, right place’ style either. No, this taboo-smashing outfit took giant strides, quickly, in the music business because it was as punk rock as anything else in the States, heavier than the majority of metal bands, and, perhaps most importantly, well ahead of its time when it came to the pointing out of society’s ills.
Heading up this explosive group was, of course, Wendy O. Williams, one of, if not the, most powerful of female artists this rock ‘n’ roll world has ever seen.
Whether smashing television sets with a sledgehammer, chainsawing through guitars, or blowing up cars on stage, Wendy always emitted a strong ‘don’t fuck with me’ aura, so talk of her dedication to vegetarianism might surprise, but it was the scope of her reach into the upper echelons of US pop culture at her prime that will no doubt leave people startled. Appearances on major US talk shows and a Grammy Award nomination prove just how huge a figure Wendy became as the Plasmatics smeared themselves over popular culture.
A wince-inducing photograph of Wendy being beaten by police that had jurors gasping with incredulity at the resulting court case will have pretty much the same effect on you, and footage of her leaping from a runaway school bus, or jumping from a hurtling muscle car onto a passing plane without any form of safety harness, will definitely do the same.
Another thing that will surprise viewers is the tale of one of Gene Simmons’s few successful business ideas. The demon of KISS, after utilising the Plasmatics as a support act, took the band under his PVC wing and produced the album – 1984’s ‘WOW’ – that would result in the aforementioned Grammy nomination for Best Female Vocal performance. His masterstroke, however, would be convincing the band – now happy to operate under the ‘Wendy O. Williams’ banner to avoid conflict with its previous label – to recruit a lead guitar player. Feeling that the band lacked something in the six string department, shredder Michael Ray joined and, with his in vogue playing, pushed the band to the forefront of modern rock music. Ray would, indeed, stay with the band for several years.
If that was the peak of the band’s, and essentially Wendy’s, powers, then the decline hardly happened over night. Follow-up album, 1986’s ‘Kommander of Kaos’, harked back to the rawer, punked-up sound, while the following year’s ‘Maggots: The Record’ (which saw the Plasmatics band name return) was lauded by the music press, including the once-great Kerrang! magazine. It was 1988’s dalliance with rap metal, ‘Deffest! and Baddest!’, that would slam the brakes on, though: the ambitious project set to be mysteriously credited to ‘Ultrafly and the Hometown Girls’ until record company interference insisted on Wendy’s name being added to the album cover.
Adamant that they would cease to exist if they ever felt fully compromised, the band went on hiatus in ’88, the ‘hiatus’, in fact, a full stop on the band for all intents and purposes. And that’s where the documentary ends, with Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics still doing things their way.
There’s no mention of Wendy’s suicide a decade later, though the 2000 release of ‘Coup de Grace’, the previously unreleased demo version of the third Plasmatics record, 1982’s ‘Coup d’Etat’, is touched upon when discussing the original’s recording and release.
If you need reminding of just how important a band the Plasmatics were, or how groundbreaking and influential Wendy O. Williams was as a front/spokesperson, and you don’t already own this film then you really have no excuse. Coupled with that fine 11″ vinyl, this makes for one essential purchase.
“The brainwashed do not know they are brainwashed…”
https://www.facebook.com/Wienerworld.Ltd
