W.A.S.P. — The Headless Children (1989)

intothewellsabyss
Apr 3, 2023
6 min read

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

W.A.S.P. — The Headless Children (1989)

Tracklist:

𝟶𝟷. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌 (𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍) (𝟽:𝟷𝟼)

𝟶𝟸. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚎 (𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛) (𝟹:𝟸𝟷)

𝟶𝟹. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗 (𝟻:𝟺𝟽)

𝟶𝟺. 𝚃𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 (𝟼:𝟺𝟻)

𝟶𝟻. 𝙼𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚊𝚗 (𝟺:𝟻𝟶)

𝟶𝟼. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚎𝚞𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗 𝙱𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 (𝟺:𝟶𝟹)

𝟶𝟽. 𝙼𝚎𝚙𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚣 (𝟷:𝟸𝟽)

𝟶𝟾. 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎 (𝟻:𝟶𝟿)

𝟶𝟿. 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 (𝟺:𝟺𝟼)

𝟷𝟶. 𝚁𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵.𝙳.𝙶. (𝟻:𝟶𝟾)

W.A.S.P.:

• Blackie Lawless – 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜, 𝚁𝚑𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚖 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛, 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

• Chris Holmes – 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛, 𝙰𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛

• Johnny Rod – 𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚜, 𝙱𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜

Guest Musician:

• Frankie Banali – 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚜, 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗

• Ken Hensley – 𝙺𝚎𝚢𝚋𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜

• Diana Fennell, Lita Ford, Mark Humphreys, Jimi Image, Minka Kelly, Thomas Nellen, Cathi Paige, Mike Solan, Kevin Wallace, Melba Wallace, Ron Wallace – 𝙱𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝚘𝚗 “𝚃𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍“

Production:

• Mikey Davis – 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛, 𝙼𝚒𝚡𝚒𝚗𝚐

• Tom Nellen – 𝙰𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛

• Rhonda Schoen – 𝙴𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛

• Andy Taylor – 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚛

• Rod Smallwood – 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚛

• John Kosh – 𝙰𝚛𝚝 𝙳𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

• Steve Hall – 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝙵𝚞𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚌

• George Marino – 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍, 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝚈𝚘𝚛𝚔

Overview:

W.A.S.P. released their fourth full-length studio album, The Headless Children on April 3rd, 1989 via Capitol Records.

The album reached No. 48 on the US Billboard 200 chart, the band's highest chart position, and remained on that chart for 13 weeks. This was the last album W.A.S.P. released before their temporary breakup in 1990, only to reunite two years later for The Crimson Idol (1992).

(𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛)

Background:

The Headless Children showcases a new level of maturity from the band compared to their previous three albums, which had stereotypically lewd "rock and roll" lyrics. Politics and social issues are now a theme throughout the album.

"It was Ken (Hensley) that helped us get to that next level. His experience and instinct for what was right was amazing. I said earlier: 'years later I'd find out why'. I don't know if most people will ever be able to experience what happens when you have a chance to work with someone you've admired for so long, and then you have a chance to get comfortable with them. Then it happens, that moment where you remember who this person really is and you find yourself thinking: 'holy cow, this is that guy'!. — Blackie Lawless

(𝙺𝚎𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚢)

The cover art, based on "Gateway to Stalingrad", a cartoon by Daniel R. Fitzpatrick, depicts a string of historical figures including Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Benito Mussolini, Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Al Capone and the Ku Klux Klan, with an image of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald shown prominently in the foreground. Later editions of the album have replaced, among others, Ayatollah Khomeini with additional KKK members.

(𝙶𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚍, 𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚢 𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚕 𝚁. 𝙵𝚒𝚝𝚣𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚔)

The Headless Children was the first W.A.S.P. album to feature former Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali and the last studio album to feature guitarist Chris Holmes for six years until he rejoined the band in late 1995 to record Kill Fuck Die. This is also the band's last album to feature bassist Johnny Rod. In 1990, following departures of Holmes and Rod, W.A.S.P. decided to call it quits, but resurfaced about a year later, with only lead singer/bassist Blackie Lawless and Banali remaining; this was because their next album, The Crimson Idol, was originally intended to be a solo album by Lawless, until he agreed to release it under the W.A.S.P. name.

(𝙹𝚘𝚑𝚗𝚗𝚢 𝚁𝚘𝚍 & 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚎 𝙱𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒)

Released in the UK in February of 1989, Mean Man was the first single from the album. Written by Lawless, it is about guitarist Chris Holmes' wild lifestyle and is dedicated to him. Only a promotional CD was released in the US.

(𝙼𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚊𝚗, 𝚄𝙺 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎)

Released in the UK (only a promotional version was released in the US) in May of 1989 as the second single to promote the album, The Real Me is one of two songs the band covered and released as part of The Headless Children release, (the other being Locomotive Breath, by Jethro Tull, which was the b-side of the single Mean Man).

(𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚎, UK 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎)

The Real Me however was the only song of the two to make the album. The song was written by Pete Townshend of The Who and is from their classic rock opera album, Quadrophenia. A promotional video was filmed for the song, which received a fair amount of airtime on MTV.

“We had been in rehearsals for weeks for what would later become the 'Headless Children' album, when one day I walked in the studio. Everybody was already there. The Band were on stage playing, the crew were moving cases around and sorting out the gear. When I walked in the area where the door was it was darkened, so I could see all of them, but they couldn't see me. I stood there and just listened for what seemed like forever. We had been playing around with the idea of doing THE WHO song 'The Real Me', but had not tried it yet. When I got there, they already had the song worked up and were playing it. I stood there, and the absolute ferociousness of the roar that was coming off the stage was stunning. Holmes on guitar, Johnny Rod on bass, Frankie Banali on drums and Ken Hensley on Hammond B-3. It's impossible for me to over exaggerate the power and intensity that was coming off of that stage. The crew didn't even notice me because they had stopped working, and were watching and witnessing this "monster song" being born. When you're a kid, you fantasize a lot about being in some band you had seen on TV or from some record you had bought. I was standing there thinking: 'I’m 15 again and this is that band I fantasized about'. Honestly, the second thought I had was: 'they don't even need me, this is one of the greatest bands in the world!' — Blackie Lawless

(𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎)

Lawless stated in an interview shortly after the release of the album, that The Neutron Bomber, is about Ronald Reagan and the power he and America had over the world, with such a large nuclear arsenal. The song despite most likely being written during his presidency, was however released a few months after his retirement and the election of George H. W. Bush. Alternatively, in an interview entitled "Headhunter" published in the May/June 1989 edition of Metal Forces magazine, Lawless said the song "is about a guy named Ronny who I grew up with over in Staten Island who was the biggest mass fire starter in the history of the Northeast! And Ronny is somewhere right now where he's never ever gonna start fires again. Concrete and steel don't burn. Heh heh. He's in for triple life, you know?"

Released in the UK (only a promotional version was released in the US) as the third and final single to promote the album, Forever Free is a ballad typical of the time in the hard rock/heavy metal genre, which is supposedly a homage to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird. The song is about losing someone and still being haunted by their death.

(𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎, 𝚄𝙺 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎)

"The next time you hear the song 'Forever Free' take a good listen to the ending. That's Ken (Hensley) and his glorious Hammond B-3 playing us out. - Blackie Lawless

According to the liner notes, the "F.D.G." in Rebel in the F.D.G. stands for "Fucking Decadent Generation".

(𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚎 𝙱𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚕 & 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚠𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝚈𝚘𝚛𝚔, 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟿)

Reissues:

The album was reissued in 1998. On the 1998 reissue, The Heretic (The Lost Child) has been edited to remove a small portion of a guitar riff in order to fit all the bonus material on the same CD.

(𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛)

1998 Reissue Bonus Tracks:

𝟷𝟷. 𝙻𝚘𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 (𝙹𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘 𝚃𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛) (𝟸:𝟻𝟿)

𝟷𝟸. 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚆𝚑𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚃𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚜 (𝟹:𝟺𝟽)

𝟷𝟹. 𝙻𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙵𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚜 (𝟻:𝟹𝟹)

𝟷𝟺. 𝚆𝚊𝚛 𝙲𝚛𝚢 (𝟻:𝟹𝟹)

𝟷𝟻. 𝙻.𝙾.𝚅.𝙴. 𝙼𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚎 (𝙻𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙾𝚍𝚎𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗, 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟿) (𝟺:𝟺𝟽)

𝟷𝟼. 𝙱𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚃𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚜 (𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙾𝚍𝚎𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗, 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟿) (𝟼:𝟸𝟹)

(𝟾𝟿 & 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚄𝙺 𝚃𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚘)

Critical Reception:

Quite possibly the best album W.A.S.P. has written, both musically and lyrically, this album is by far my favorite release from Lawless and company. In a contemporary review for the German magazine Rock Hard, Thomas Kupfer considered The Headless Children second only to W.A.S.P. "brilliant debut album" and remarked how the song structures were simpler and the music more melodic than in previous works, but Lawless' voice had "lost nothing of its charisma".

More recently, Greg Prato at AllMusic called The Headless Children W.A.S.P.'s "most accomplished work" and their "best constructed album". He also noted The Real Me, Mean Man, The Heretic, Forever Free and the title track as highlights.

Canadian journalist Martin Popoff described the album as "the W.A.S.P. record for those who don't like W.A.S.P., hollow, damp and alone, integrity discovered, humanity revealed."

Note: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells