Description
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Plasmatics were an American punk rock and heavy metal band formed by Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams in New York City in 1977.
They were a controversial group known for wild live shows that broke countless taboos. In addition to chainsawing guitars, blowing up speaker cabinets and sledgehammering television sets, Williams and the Plasmatics blew up automobiles live on stage. Williams was arrested in Milwaukee by the Milwaukee police before being charged with public indecency.
Plasmatics – New Hope For The Wretched LP
Label: Stiff Records – 15514
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: Greece
Released: 1980
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk
A1 Tight Black Pants 1:44
A2 Monkey Suit 3:19
A3 Living Dead 1:31
A4 Test Tube Babies 1:51
A5 Won’t You 2:25
A6 Concrete Shoes 2:52
A7 Squirm (Live) 3:29
B1 Want You Baby 1:53
B2 Dreamlover 5:35
B3 Sometimes I 3:51
B4 Corruption 2:36
B5 Butcher Baby 3:20
Licensed To – POLYGRAM – 15514
New Hope for the Wretched is the debut studio album by American punk rock band Plasmatics. It was released on October 2, 1980, by Stiff Records.
Jimmy Miller, former producer of the Rolling Stones and Motörhead (a band Plasmatics would collaborate with in the future), was the initial producer for the album. He had a heroin addiction from the day he arrived in New York City and he was virtually useless to the project, nearly bringing the whole project down with him. Stiff Records fired Miller, and the album was finished by engineer Ed Stasium and manager Rod Swenson over in England. In addition to songs like “Corruption” and “Living Dead”, linked to TV smashing and automobile destruction, the song “Butcher Baby” featured, as with the live shows, a chainsaw sawing through a guitar in place of a guitar solo. Stiff released it as single and it peaked at No. 55 on the UK Singles Chart, with the album reaching the same position on the UK Albums Chart.
The liner notes for the record proudly proclaimed that during the recording of the cover of “Dream Lover” (originally by Bobby Darin) the musicians were isolated from each other while recording and, during the instrumental break, could not hear what each other were playing.
Reception
New Hope for the Wretched would become the Plasmatics’ most successful album, charting for 10 weeks and peaking at 134 on the Billboard 200 in 1981, a few months before the release of their follow-up album, Beyond the Valley of 1984. The album proved a bigger success in the U.K., peaking at 55 in November 1980.
Plasmatics
Wendy O. Williams – vocals, saxophone, chainsaw, machine gun
Richie Stotts – lead guitar
Wes Beech – rhythm guitar
Jean Beauvoir – bass guitar
Stu Deutsch – drums, synthdrums
Charts
Chart (1980) Peak position
UK Albums (OCC) : 55
Chart (1981) Peak position
US Billboard 200: 134
