The new issue of Classic Rock features a rundown of the 50 Worst Albums Ever. From incomprehensibly awful solo records to ill-advised dabblings with gay disco, it’s a litany of disaster that shows exactly what happens when albums go bad.

Inside the issue you’ll find the likes of Kiss’s Gene Simmons, Queen’s Brian May and Keith Emerson of ELP defending – or, in some cases, apologising for – their actions.

Over the next few days we’ll take a closer look at all 50 of these solid-gold stinkers here on the Classic Rock website. And once you’ve taken in these frankly indigestible offerings, we want you to tell us what your worst albums are.

Day 2 of our series features the most senseless solo albums ever unleashed on the populace. Strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride…

You can also check out Day 1’s criminal concept albums here.

1 Keith Moon – Two Sides Of The Moon

Yes, he was a great drummer. But when it came to writing songs he was certainly no Pete Townshend. Moon The Loon’s ill-advised debut solo album from 1975 is a drunken mess, featuring bad doo-wop pastiches, Beatles covers… and an S&M suite in the studio. The full, inglorious story is in the latest issue of Classic Rock, but you can hear a taster here in the shape of his karaoke-tastic take on The Beatles’ In My Life.

Redeeming track: Crazy Like A Fox, co-written with guitarist Al Staehley.

2 Mick Jagger – Primitive Cool

Jagger is one of the great rock frontmen. At least he is with The Rolling Stones. His shonky solo albums are another matter – not least this wince-inducingly bad 1985 turkey. Where’s Keith when you need him, eh?

Redeeming track: Peace For The Wicked just about passes muster. Sadly it’s not on YouTube, so here’s a clip of the Stones playing a blistering version of Street Fighting Man in Belgium in 1973.

3 Gene Simmons – Asshole

The title track is bad enough, and Waiting For The Morning Light, his co-write with Bob Dylan, sounds like it was knocked off in five minutes. But those two sound like beacons of glory next to his granddad-at-the-disco version of Firestarter. Yes, that’s Firestarter by The Prodigy.

Redeeming track: Kiss-esque rocker Sweet & Dirty Love. Mainly because he wrote it for Kiss in 1976.

4 George Harrison – Gone Troppo

John Lennon made Two Virgins, and Paul McCartney was behind Give My Regards To Broad Street. But Harrison stole the Worst Solo Album By One Of The Beatles award for this heroically slapdash twaddle.

Reedeming track: Circles, written by Harrison while he was still in The Beatles.

Now it’s your turn. We want you to tell us the albums you think are worse than the ones on our list. Email your nomination, with a few words as to why it’s such a stinker, to classicrock@futurenet.com, headed ‘The Real Worst Album Ever’. We’ll print the best suggestions in the next issue of Classic Rock.

Come back tomorrow for more on the 50 Worst Albums Ever.

The new issue of Classic Rock, featuring the full list of all 50 albums, is out now.

Classic Rock Live & Global will be a combination worldwide chat and webcast, streamed live from the Roundhouse in London, where the awards take place next week.

Fans and press from around the world will be able to ask their questions in up to 53 different languages using Ortsbo.com’s seamless translation technology while watching a live video stream at www.classicrockliveandglobal.com.

Questions will be asked in any one of Ortsbo.com’s 53 native languages, and then instantly translated into English.  The question is answered in English, and the questioner gets the answer back in their own language.  All viewers can pick any of the 53 languages to view and understand the event.

Part one of this web interactive event will be broadcast from the red carpet at 18:00 London time on November 9 until 19:15.  Later that night, as the awards are presented, the winners and presenters will move to the Ortsbo.com Press area which will be active from 21″15 until approximately 23:30.

With over 32 million monthly unique users spending well over 250 million minutes of engagement each month, Ortsbo.com is proud to announce its first live event outside North America.

An ambassador for the Ortsbo brand, Gene Simmons has praised Ortsbo.com translation technology by stating: “Ortsbo takes a sledgehammer to the Tower of Babel that is modern communication. It connects humanity. We are all one people.”

This is a great way to view and join in all the backstage activities surrounding the Classic Rock Roll Of Honour.

Jeff Beck will follow in the footsteps of such greats as Jimmy Page, Lemmy, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and Ozzy Osbourne in being recipient of this honour.

Says Beck: “The Classic Rock Roll Of Honour has always been about great music that inspires and excites others. To be named as a ‘Living Legend’ amongst so many fantastic musicians is an honour. When I was a 6 year old boy I heard Les Paul’s ‘How High the Moon’ over the radio and from that moment on I knew that I wanted to play the guitar and make music. That moment has led me to where I am today. Rock music continues to evolve and its great how established acts inspire the upcoming bands and vice versa, producing more and more great music. I am proud to be a small part of this”.

Simmons will host the event at The Roundhouse in London on Wednesday, November 9. And he’s clearly looking forward to it.

“On that momentous occasion, the planets will align, living legends will gather to honour their own and London will become the centre of the rock & roll universe. It’s one thing being a voracious and loyal reader of Classic Rock, but it’s another to be in the same room as the people who have inspired me to stop flipping burgers and jump up on stage and have a go at it myself.”

Don’t forget you can vote right now in the following categories:

Best New Band

Album Of The Year

Reissue Of The Year

Film/DVD Of The Year

Band Of The Year

Go here to cast your vote. It matters!

Appearing on US chat show The Talk, Simmons was confronted by host Sharon in the following manner:

“When you started Family Jewels somebody said, ‘Isn’t it like The Osbournes?’ and you were reported to have said: ‘No, because my kids aren’t on drugs’.”

 She also took him to task for calling Ozzy ‘sad’.

His response was very contrite and apologetic, not something for which he’s been known in the past:

“Rightfully so. Any mother should defend her family. I honestly don’t remember saying those things – but if I did, I was way out of line. Your family is your business and no one has any right to say anything about them.”

Simmons also admitted that he was in love with longtime partner Shannon Tweed and that he would do anything to work out the couple’s current problems.

“I will do whatever it takes to finally grow up and be a man.”

Talking to DJ JC Green of Alfra Rock 105.7FM and Metal Messiah Radio, the bassist had this to say about getting back together with guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss:

“There will be one more time when we play together. Sometime in the future there’s going to be a last show. Sometime in the future we’ll be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. There will be one more time when we do it together to honour the beginning.”

The current Kiss incarnation – Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer – are working on a new album, for release later in the year.

Find out more at www.kissonline.com

Words: Malcolm Dome

Death Angel have always been among the classiest of all thrash-related bands. And Relentless Retrubution (Nuclear Blast) is a highly skilled yet combative album. The riffs are bigger than Jordan’s chest size, the melodies neat and the pace so quick it makes Usain Bolt seem sluggish, Feel the power.

Indica are the sort of all-girl band  who clearly know how to write a good tune. The Finns call their style Mystic Romantic Pop Rock, and their album A Way Away (Nuclear Blast) fits in somewhere between HIM and The Bangles. They’re not unattractive either. Kinda Medieval Baebes with cheekier pouts.

Metal Inquisitor sound like they belong to the NWOBHM movement. In actuality they’re German, but Unconditional Absolution (Hellion) could have been released by Neat or Heavy Metal Records in 1981. Is that a good thing? Of course. The Germans have a long-standing fascination for that era, and the Inquisitor actually do it a lot better than a lot of the authentic bands from 30 years ago.

There are two Giuffria reissues to tempt those who like their music with hair teased to a bouffant, while keyboards (courtesy of former Angel man Gregg Giuffria) are manicured right at the front of the mix. Both Giuffria and Silk And Steel (Metal Mind Productions) drip with tasty 80s melodic rock honey. The former (originally out in 1984) has the edge, thanks to hit singles Call To Your Heart and Lonely In Love. But the latter (1986) is no lame affair either.

The Metal Suvivor Kit (Earache) features three CDs, a DVD, ear plugs, key ring, patch and sticker. All the metalhead could ask for, except a miniature bottle of JD. In reality it’s a huge sample of the label’s wares, from Carcass to White Wizzard, via Evile, Napalm Death and Municipal Waste. It’s a box set available for the price of one CD – well worth it.

Therapy? have always been a fine live band, and We’re Here To The End (DR2) showcases their talents well enough. It’s a double CD recorded when the band played three sold out shows at The Water Rats in London in March. And the songs span the band’s entire career to date.

From Florida, Bang were a hard rock band around in the early 1970s. Despite having a sound that mixed Black Sabbath and Grand Funk Railroad, they never really achieved anything like the success that was deserved.  But Bullets (Rise Above) proves their music has stood up brilliantly. This is a four-CD box set, put together with all the love and attention to detail for which the label have become associated.

Finally, Mountain are caught in their pomp on the compilation Crossroader – An Anthology 1970-1974 (Esoteric). When you hear the band both in the studio (on C D one) and live (CD two), you quickly realise why they’re so revered as one of the best bands of the era. Leslie West is a true guitar god.

And if none of that lot appeals, then you could always go for the Gene Simmons Mr. Potatohead. Now that’s a winner. Merry Xmas and don’t forget Santa is just a dyslexic Satan.

The band are The Envy, a Toronto five-piece who’ll release their debut album early next year. It was co-produced by Desmond Child and Gavin Brown.

Find out more at www.myspace.com/theenvymusic

Words: Malcolm Dome

I still recall the first, and only, time I saw Witch – and it was by accident. The date was April 20, 1985. The location was The Troubadour in West Hollywood. The whole thing was down to Venom, actually.

What happened was this. I was in Los Angeles covering a Venom/ Slayer show at the Palace, which had happened the previous night. It was for Kerrang!, and the photographer with me was one Pete ‘Big Nose’ Cronin. The gig itself was tremendous – and I’m talking about the Venom one here. Slayer were imperiously Slayer-like, and then Venom tore up the venue with the sort of tirade that made their name – and the Slayer chaps were right at the front of the stage during Venom’s set. Headbanging ferociously. All of which is utterly irrelevant, but I thought I’d mention it anyway.

So, the next night, there we were at a loose end. Myself, ‘Big Nose’, Venom, their manager Eric Cooke…when somebody made the suggestion of going to The Troubadour. Don’t ask me who, because it was 25 years ago. All I know is that the whole entourage, more like a rag tag of Englishmen, ended up in that club, not knowing what was to happen, or who was playing. And as it turned out, the band we saw were Witch. Now, they were typically trashy, sleazy in a Hollywood style. Cronos from Venom was so appalled by them that he spent the whole of their set leaning over the balcony, trying to goad some sort of comment out of them…anything which could allow him to let loose and give them a right old Geordie smacking. He hated them.

Me? I loved what they did. Sure, it was obvious. But here was a real spandex clad, souped-up sybaritic sensibility. They had simple, strutting songs and a lascivious eye for the ladies. They even mounted their own Cinderella In Black Leather beauty contest, titled after probably their best song. It was like watching Baywatch populated with extras from a Ron Jeremy movie – great fun. I could understand why Cronos hated it. This was everything he loathed. Fair enough. But the little girls, and their older sisters, understood.

Now, this should have been the start of a glorious chapter in rock history – one to make Motley Crue’s look like a charter for abstinence, because this lot did have a reputation for the sort of behaviour that put the ‘nit’ in insanity. But, they never really got going. And one can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for one of the biggest and hottest bands in LA at the time to watch history glide by without even offering them a quick shag.

“At first it wasn’t frustrating because I would say Great White, Witch, and W.A.S.P. were probably the three biggest bands in LA,” says drummer Punky Peru. “W.A.S.P. and Great White both signed with Capitol Records, and went into the studio leaving Witch the top selling LA band.

“For the next year everyone opened for us, from Slayer to Poison to Guns N’ Roses. In the middle of 85 the rest of the guys in Witch made the mistake of firing me, and within three shows the band broke up. A year later I put the band back together with two new guitarists and we were bigger than ever sound-wise and draw-wise. But by that point, bands such as the aforementioned Guns N’ Roses, Poison and Slayer had already signed major deals.

“Six months later we were selling out clubs in Orange County and Los Angeles once again. And with (Runaways guru) Kim Fowley wanting to produce us, our momentum was brought to a halt once again when I was sent to jail for a year. So, it wasn’t as much frustrating watching bands make it as it was to face all the obstacles that kept us from making it.”

Yes, we have got ahead of ourselves a little. So, let’s backtrack. It all started with a band called Ampage, who started in Huntingdon Beach, California during 1980. Their vocalist was the impwobably (sic) named Peter Wabbit. A year later, Peru joined, and for about year, there was confusion, line-up changes and the general melee one might expect from a young band trying to find a direction and stability.

By the beginning of 1983, Witch were in place, with guitarist Ronny Too and bassist Michael Williams-St. John (we’ll call him Michael Williams from now on) bringing with them connections to Metallica (Ronny had auditioned unsuccessfully for an early James Hetfield band) and Armored Saint (Michael had briefly been in the band). In the meantime, Punky had been the first drummer for Leatherwolf and had also been in a band called Damian with the crazy Don Costa (he of the cheese grater on the back on his bass, which was there so he could literally shred – his hands!), before the latter joined Ozzy’s band.

“When Ozzy snatched Costa out from Damien, Peter and I decided to make a band together,” recalls Peru. “We wanted something heavy yet theatrical, and we started auditioning guitar players for what would become Witch. We were trying to take part of our influences from Alice Cooper and Sweet and mix it together with Motorhead and Dio. The outcome was Witch.”

Witch showed their attitude from the start, typified by a show at The Troubadour in June, 1983, when supporting W.A.S.P. Specifically told by Blackie Lawless they couldn’t use pyros or any effects, what did the band do? Yep, you got it. Punky also showed a healthy disdain for such headliner egomania by clambering all over the W.A.S.P.  metal logo hanging above his drum kit. The two bands would never play together again, although there are reports that Peru was offered, and turned down, the chance to join W.A.S.P. in early 84.

ByAugust of 1983, the band fired their bassist, replacing him with Jim Warman, who’d previously rejected an offer from Witch.He didn’t make the same mistake again. Incidentally, Williams very nearly replaced Francis Buchholz in the Scorpions. But it didn’t quite come off, after the Scorps had a change of heart and stuck with the man in situ.

Now with what’s regarded as their classic line-up in place, Witch pushed on. In March 1984, they recorded what would become their debut EP The Hex Is On. Now, they already had a three-track demo done in July the previous year, featuring the songs Nervous Wreck, Damnation and Bewitched. On these they removed the bass lines put down by Williams, replacing them with Warman’s own interpretation. To these they added Cinderella (In Black Leather) and Wet N Wild. We’ll come back to this EP a little later. But in the meantime, the band signed a management deal with Tapesty (who’d looked after Y&T at one point) and got a cameo role as a mutant metal band in the futuristic SF movie Radioactive Dreams, set in the year 2010 (seriously!), 15 years after a nuclear holocaust.

On July 26,. The Hex Is On was finally released by O.T.T. Records, which was effectively a self-release. However, the elusive big deal, on which they’d  banked for ages, was never to materialise. Here’s Peru’s insight into that ongoing non-going deal scenario:

“There were bad decisions from the beginning between Tapestry Artists and the band, followed by my trouble with the law, and then by bad timing because all the 80s bands were done being signed.”

For a short time, it seemed as if the band would sign to Metal Blade, but that went wrong, amidst reports that Peru had agreed a deal with label owner Brian Slagel, only for Tapestry to cancel the deal at the last minute.

“Well, at the time Combat Records and Metal Blade were the two leading small metal record labels. Combat approached us first, and we decided to go with them. Then at the last minute we decided to independently release through Important Records, who owned Combat (it eventually came out in the UK on Heavy Metal Records). This was a mistake, because at the same time Metallica released an album on Combat (Ride The Lightning) and received all the marketing that went along with their signing, which landed them a major deal.

“We opted to go independent which hurt us, and when Metal Blade offered us a deal it was too late to change the contracts that were already signed. So Tapestry Artists advised us to stick with the deal that we had and not to worry, because we were going to get a bigger deal (apparently with Capitol, but this fell through).”

By June 1985 things were going horribly wrong for the band. Under the influence of their new manager, Shawn Damien Barusch, the band fired Peru (despite the fact that it was his band!), and within three months the band had split up.

But by the summer of 1986, the band were back, albeit without Ronny. Two new guitarists Davin St. John and Scott Ricketts came in, and by the end of the year the new-look Witch had a 12” single ready to go, featuring the songs Can’t Take Our Rock and Victory Without Pain. The single was eventually released the following April, with a suitably manic launch party at Jezabel’s in Anaheim, California.

At the start of 1988, the band added keyboard player David Ezrin (ex-Lita Ford; there had been an alleged dalliance between Lita and Peru the previous year, although whether this is relevant to Ezrin’s arrival is a moot point!). But this six-piece line-up didn’t last long. St. John quit after one show with the expanded line-up. But by July of the same year, Witch were back to the classic foursome, with Ronny returning as Ezrin and Ricketts left for various reasons. Are you keeping up? There will be a quiz later!

In April 1989, the band played their last show, before finally splitting up, having failed to turn all their potential and connections into gold. Peru has his own insight into what went wrong.

“I moved to Hollywood and the (rest of) the band were living in Orange County. We had showcased for Atlantic Records and they flew out to see us twice. They even flew me to New York once to meet with (A&R man) Jason Flom and they paid for a lot of Witch’s expenses for months. We also showcased and had major interest from Polygram Records, and many others, but no one in the industry wanted to sign us.

“I started projects while playing with members of Keel, Shark Island, Black ’N Blue, Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot, Ratt, Dokken and Alice Cooper, writing with various artists, working on soundtracks and movies. I decided it was time to end Witch and made April 13, 1989 our final show. It just did not seem worth it anymore. Everyone in the band was getting aggravated and were worn out.”

However, in 2008, Witch returned, albeit without Wabbit. In his place, the band brought in Betsey from the notorious early 80s LA band Bitch.

“In 2007 Mark Piotrowski put together a website (http://www.witchtheband.com/) which showed the complete history of Witch,” explains Peru on the band’s surprise return. “First it got all the members back into contact, since we hadn’t all four talked since 1989. It also expressed re-releasing The Hex Is On with additional live tracks and studio tracks previously unreleased on CD.

“Finally what got the four of us together was the fact that a lot of 80s bands were touring in 2008 and we were offered some European festivals for 2009, so we all got back together for a reunion in September 2008. We all flew into California from four separate states. We had a photo session, dinner and one day of planned rehearsal and one day set aside for interviews, but due to Pete’s illness we were unable to complete the weekend and carry on. We decided to replace Pete with Betsy Bitch and move forward with our reunion shows. We played a half-dozen shows in 2009, but due to the fact that the line-up was not all original members, the offers to play the festivals fell through. Now in 2010 the 1980s metal hair band reunions are not demanded by the public. therefore future Witch shows are unclear.”

So, there you have it. A concise (hopefully) introduction to one of the best LA bands of the 1980s, one that deserved so much more than was to be their lot. And one most of you will probably never have heard of, because Witch only ever played in California (with the exception of a handful of shows in Phoenix, Arizona). So, they never even got to tour America, let alone other countries.

“It’s a long story, but without a product to sell it didn’t make sense to travel very far,” says Peru of the band’s limited touring. “Tapestry Artists, our management company, talked us into releasing The Hex Is On independently on Important Records, so we wouldn’t get tied up in a contract that might keep a major label from snatching us up. Since The Hex Is On was put out independently it was released  without any marketing efforts. Therefore, the sales were very low, and the demand for us to play nationwide was not very strong. So we concentrated on showcasing in Los Angeles and Orange County where our following was huge and we would be more attractive for a major label.

“Also, at the time all but Atlantic and Chrysalis Records were based in Los Angeles, so it made sense to us to just play LA and showcase for major record labels, rather than to go out across the US playing small venues.”

If you ever saw Witch, or heard The Hex Is On, you’ll appreciate that they were the sort of band for whom outrage, sensationalism, glitz and blitz were second nature. Honestly, they really could out Crue da Motleys, make W.A.S.P. seem more like comatose ants and leave Poison blushing with their musical dirty talking. They should have been a major force, but have ended up as one of those bands for whom the word ‘Who?!’ was invented. But if the above has done anything, hopefully it’s persuaded you to at least listen to the following tracks:

This is Cinderella (In Black Leather).

This is Blond Alert, recorded during The Hex Is On sessions, but left off the final record.

Here comes Wet N Wild.

And there goes Bewitched.

Oh, and this is worth checking out. A phone message left by Gene Simmons for the band, after they sent him a demo hoping to get a deal with Simmons Records (they failed). Scroll down to October 8, 1988

For a lot more info, go to the website mentioned earlier: http://www.witchtheband.com/1988.html.

Today the game Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock is been officially launched – and it’s narrated by Gene Simmons.

The Kiss bassist has signed one of the gaming guitars, which was unveiled by Kiss megafan Kevin Curtis.

A member of Dressed To Kill, the world’s longest-running Kiss tribute band, celebrated the guitar’s induction in full Simmons make-up and costume, as pictured below.

Words: Malcolm Dome

Wendy Orlean Williams.  Has there ever been anyone quite like her in the history of rock. Unshockable, unshakeable, unswervingly dedicated to her art.  Yet, there was always so much to Wendy O, greater than most people realised. She was articulate, intelligent and more in control of her life than most folk you’ll ever meet – rock stars or not.

Nobody manipulated Wendy. Unlike The Runaways, she wasn’t some priapic teen lust fodder. Unlike Pat Benatar, she wasn’t a slave to the charts. Wendy had her own vision of life, and determinedly pursued those dreams.

After various jobs, including a stint with a gypsy dance troupe and also in the porn industry, she teamed up with longtime manager and mentor Rod Swenson in 1976.  Two years later, the pair formed one of the most controversial and sensational bands of the era: The Plasmatics.

Renowned for their outrageous live shows, in reality there was a cunning about this band, because they got their message across through the fine art of misdirection. You see, while everyone concentrated on Wendy blowing up Cadillacs onstage and smashing up TV sets, wearing virtually nothing but her charisma, the truth of the band lay beyond the superficial.

You see, everybody was so engrossed in ‘The Big Picture’, getting lost in the explosive nature of the band’s live show that they missed the important part, the way we were all being guided by Wendy and Rod. It was the counter-culture at its most informative. Because if you could get past what was going in front of your eyes, there was a lesson to be discovered. The pair showed that getting people to focus on the unimportant meant you could get away with so much. Has the point struck home? It proved just how clever governments were at using images and statements to lure us all away from the real agendas they were operating. Anti propaganda, if you want.

Sure, that all seems too esoteric for a band who were mostly about big bangs, in every sense. But that was the sharpness of Wendy and Rod – and the pair really were that formidable. Most, of course, never realised what was happening. In fact, I only saw the truth when first meeting Wendy, and coming to the conclusion that here was a woman totally removed from the mainstream of the music business, existing in a Twilight Zone of her own creation, yet completely in tune with the world at large.

It was 1984 when I initially encountered Wendy. She was just about to release the W.O.W. album, her debut solo record. I was in New York for Kerrang!, and went to meet her and Rod at the loft they shared downtown. Now, us Brits are used to lofts being dusty, spider-riddled affairs, where we keep old books and spooky costumes from long-forgotten parties. But in New York, lofts meant elegance and space.

To gain access to this converted warehouse, you had to ride up in one of those vast lifts which became the setting for so many fights in spy movies and TV series during the 60s and 70s – where would those have been without such old-fashioned contraptions, eh?

Fortunately, there were no such pugilistic problems going up in this one, and the sight that met myself and photographer Ray Palmer was of a very warm and friendly Wendy, looking resplendent and anxious that we were both given drinks (non-alcoholic – boo!) and something to eat. She didn’t fuss over us in a ‘Let’s make sure the media write something positive’ attitude, but in a genuinely caring fashion. Hard to equate this with the women who’d been arrested twice in 1981 – in Milwaukee and Cleveland – for lewd acts onstage, and also in the former case for hitting a police officer. But that was the dichotomy of Wendy O – she had so many exposed sides to her personality.

During the interview, it was clear that, while Kiss’ Gene Simmons had produced the new album, it was Wendy who was in charge. She also had little time for former label Capitol Records, who’d failed to promote the last Plasmatics album, 1982’s Coup d’Etat.

“It was too much like doing some work,” said Wendy. “It was easier for them to sell Billy Squier albums (he was a big noise at the time). That was simple, because every radio station wanted to play his music. But The Plasmatics? This meant trying to convince everyone in radio – and the big record labels are full of people who want to do no work and want to hang out with the big stars.”

Typical Wendy, really. And it was all said without rancour. This was her truth, and she was prepared to spell it out for everyone. If she upset the establishment, then…so what?

Ray and I spent a couple of fascinating hours with Wendy and Rod, during which time both of us grew to like them as people, not as commodities with some product to promote. Wendy was heavily into physical fitness – there was gym equipment all over the place – and was also a macrobiotic cook. It was one of the most surprising assignments I ever undertook at Kerrang! – because Wendy O. Williams was so…different.

Over the next several years, our paths crossed a lot. Sometimes in the professional line of duty. Others just for social occasions. In London, New York and Los Angeles. One night, when Wendy and Rod were in London, I went out for dinner with them and took along Krusher, Kerrang!’s insane designer, who’d always declared that Wendy was his ultimate woman. I think dear old Krusher was dumbfounded by the night, because Rod, Wendy and I spent a lot of time talking about…quantum mechanics! It was a cutting edge scientific area that interested Rod and me, and Wendy was also very well versed in it all. Now, how many singers do you know who can do that?

Krusher actually came away even more impressed with Wendy than he’d been at first. I think he realised that her musical career was only a small part of what Wendy wanted to do. She ended up acting in various low-budget movies (Reform School Girls, anyone?) and also became a lecturer in macrobiotic cooking.

In 1991, Wendy and Rod moved to Connecticut, where she worked as an animal rehabilitator and in a health food store. At the time she told me that she was “Fed up dealing with people”. The joie de vivre that had driven her for so long seemed sadly to be ebbing away.

A fierce proponent of animal welfare and also a natural food activist, she once famously accused Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies in America, of being no better than a heroin pusher, because her food contained so much white sugar. But the passion that had driven her for so long was no longer evident by the start of the 90s.

I lost contact with Wendy and Rod in 1991, only re-establishing dialogue with Rod a few years ago. By that time Wendy was dead. On April 6, 1998, she went into the woods close to her home and shot herself. It was the third attempt she’d made to commit suicide – this time it worked. Sadly. Wendy was 48 years old. She left behind the following note:

“I don’t believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time. I do believe strongly, however, that the right to do so is one of the most fundamental rights that anyone in a free society should have. For me, much of the world makes no sense, but my feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner ear and a place where there is no self, only calm”.

I was deeply shocked by what Wendy had done. Not having contact with her for several years, I was naive enough to believe – and hope – she’d found peace and tranquillity in her new life. I was wrong.

Wendy O has left behind a massive legacy.  Musically, there are those Plasmatics albums and also a plethora of excellent solo releases. There are the films, of course, and also that single she did with Lemmy, a version of Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man. But none of that truly matters. It’s the person I am trying to celebrate and portray here. Obviously, Wendy was so larger than life that I can give just a taste of what she was like. But perhaps the best thing I can say about her is that she made you think. Because she thought deeply.

Some will never get past the gaffa tape on the nipples. Or the mohawk haircut she regularly sported.  But Wendy O. Williams was more punk than the Sex Pistols, more metal than Metallica and more rock ’n’ roll than Keith Richards (well, maybe all three are exaggerations, but ones worth making). Because she used superficiality to encourage people to question assumptions.

No, Wendy wasn’t a politician or a philosopher – she was for real. That made her so much more important. And more of a threat.

As Wendy herself said in the lyrics to It’s My Life: ‘I’ve got a reputation, people know who I am. Rules are made to be broken, can’t kill what you don’t understand. I see you’re running scared, I never knew you cared. Go hide your head in the sand’.

Right enough of the waffle, on with the music:

Here are The Plasmatics doing Butcher Baby.

And The Plasmatics again doing The Damned.

Wendy’s famous video for It’s My Life – and, yes, that really is her climbing out of the car and onto the rope ladder!

Wendy and Lemmy cover Stand By Your Man.

Wendy going for an Oscar in Reform School Girls.

Finally, Wendy being interviewed by Dweezil Zappa.

Find out more at www.wendyowilliams.com