“Yeah, you gotta see the new records I got,” he said as he walked to a table.
We sat down and he emptied the bag. The first record we looked at was a new band called W.A.S.P. who I recognized from a couple videos I’d seen recently.
“These guys have cool videos,” I said as we stared at the record.
The cover showed them kicking back on some big rocks in front of a skeleton that was tied up to a door frame.
“They look pretty hardcore,” I said.
“Yeah,” said Omar. “But in a cartoonish sort of way.”

That was true. They were definitely going for a shock rock metal image. And Blackie Lawless had this crazy arm band with half of a circular saw blade sticking out. I wasn’t sure if it was cool or ridiculous. Either way, they looked like a group you didn’t want to mess with. Their look was kind of evil, but the cartoonish aspect made it fun somehow. And somewhere in their music and videos was a darkness that I connected to.

This has been an excerpt from the book:
In Search Of The Perfect Buzz: An 80s Metal Memoir
Please see the following links to read more.










Subscribe for news and future offers