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Thu. December 31.1998 3:01 AM EST |
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'98's Best: Shock-Punker Wendy O. Williams Takes Own LifeEx-Leader of controversial Plasmatics is dead. by Staff Writer Chris Nelson |
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Wendy O. Williams and Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister covered "Stand By Your Man." ( ) |
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[Editor's note: Over the holiday season, SonicNet is looking back at
1998's top stories, chosen by our editors and writers. This story originally ran on Wednesday, Apr. 8.] Chainsaw-wielding punk singer Wendy O. Williams, leader of
"It really shook me up," said Joey Ramone, singer for punk pioneers the Ramones and a peer of Williams', shortly after hearing of her death. "She was never that type of person [to take her own life]. She was a vegetarian, she was really into health. She was vivacious, someone who really goes for the gusto." Rod Swenson, the Plasmatics' former manager and Williams' companion of many years, said he found Williams' body Monday in the woods near their Storrs, Conn., home, according to a report from the Associated Press. The singer, described as despondent by Swenson, had shot herself. The Plasmatics rose to prominence in the late '70s with an outrageous stage show that carried the shock tactics of predecessor Alice Cooper to new heights and presaged current bands such as Marilyn Manson. Their concerts included visual effects ranging from guitars sliced by chainsaws to exploding vehicles, and Williams' stage costumes often incorporated bondage gear as well as electrical tape and whipped cream. "It was sex, it was violence, it was rock 'n' roll, it was explosives -- it was great, it was pure insanity," Ramone said. "They would always push the envelope. That's when rock 'n' roll was free and loose, exciting and loaded with character." A 1981 Creem magazine feature on the Plasmatics described the band as "the most visually bizarre and exciting group since Attila the Hun ... "During the two-hour performance, she will systematically take a sledgehammer to a television set (made some nice sparks), annihilate an electric guitar and explode the Milwaukee cop car, reducing it to a pile of rubble," the magazine wrote of one of Williams' shows. Williams was arrested numerous times on obscenity charges stemming from alleged simulated sex acts onstage as well as for performing in various states of undress. In 1982, Williams re-recorded Tammy Wynette's country anthem "Stand By Your Man" with Motorhead leader Lemmy Kilmister. Wynette, 55, died on Monday. In 1985, Williams was nominated for a Grammy in the "Female Rock Vocal" category. Williams also issued several solo albums in the second half of the '80s and toured with various Plasmatics incarnations until 1988. In addition to her career as a singer, Williams also dabbled in acting. She appeared in the 1979 porn film "Candy Goes To Hollywood," as well as in the more mainstream release "Reform School Girls" (1986), for which she recorded four songs. Since the Plasmatics' heyday, Williams had taken roles in an episode of the "McGyver" TV show and in a stage production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Williams most recently worked as an animal rehabilitator, according to AP. She is survived by her mother and two sisters. |
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