Pure Punk Picks
Butcher Baby – The Plasmatics
“Butcher Baby” was the first song I ever heard by The Plasmatics, I heard it on college radio and it’s their best.
And for those who don’t know- The Plasmatics was a band led by a female lead singer, Wendy O. Williams, who had previously worked as a stripper and performed her rock performances topless with black tape pasted over her nipples along with whipped cream but sadly, no cherries.
Along with a Mohawk wearing, male lead guitarist who stood well over six feet tall and played with high-heeled shoes, fishnet stockings and a ballerina tutu around his waist.
The music of this song, which is great but I feel, pales in comparison to any live video, starts with a grinding, hardcore rush much like a chainsaw cutting through an electric guitar. Which, come to think of it, they did do while playing this song at every performance.
This tune sounds as if The Dead Boys, Judas Priest, The Ramones and GWAR were trapped inside a gladiator’s pit where only one band would survive.
I’m unable to predict the outcome, but in the aftermath I can assure you that they’d be guts spilled, dogmas desecrated and entrails detached with an overdose of destruction, eruption and mayhem.
I guess “Butcher Baby” is not that far off from a killer AC/DC song, though you’d have to imagine Bon Scott with marshmallow fluff plastered on his man boobs and Angus Young playing in a tutu with madness reigning supreme as the band kicks out some hardcore/metal/rock’n’roll full of volume, audacity and pure, outrageous fun.
The Plasmatics were a full frontal assault upon Mom, apple pie and everything the right people, (who of course, are completely wrong) hold to be dear and true in America.
Wendy was no cheap tart playing up her sexuality to appease the male record buyers. She was a threatening, dominating presence that you’d envision not so much succumbing to your desires, but more so taking that
chainsaw to the part of the body, that males hold most dear and true to themselves.
Possibly, this band was America’s Sex Pistols- causing the same kind of disturbance and havoc to the status quo.
“Butcher baby, you’re dressed to kill
Butcher baby, I know you will
Butcher baby, today is your day
Butcher baby, gonna put you away!”
The Plasmatics played The Rat but I didn’t see that show. I can’t imagine they were that out of place except, possibly for the over the top theatrics.
I did see them at The Paradise early on, maybe late seventies. I remember it being a great show.
And Wendy, who after being a musical artist then became an animal activist and veterinarian and finally, took her own life a few decades ago.
I feel sad about that, but everyone has their own path and makes their own choices. I only hope that young female musicians will look upon this strong musical artist and get as much inspiration from her as the equally, inspiring Joan Jett.
One of Boston’s legendary hardcore bands, that is still active, is The FU’s.
It takes no strength of the imagination that their real name is The Fuck You’s!
I asked John Sox once, their lead singer, how they came upon their name and he explained that in an interview someone asked Wendy why they were called The Plasmatics? And she replied, “Well, we really wanted to call ourselves The Fuck You’s but then we knew we’d never get signed to a record contract.”
I don’t really think The Plasmatics were a punk band. (So why is this here song smack dab listed under “Pure Punk Picks”?)
Because though I feel their music would be better categorized in the hard rock/ heavy metal category. And their stage show was more aligned with the theatrical rock of Alice Cooper, David Bowie and The Tubes. (Okay, you might not know that last band!)
Their very essence is punk- their drive, their attitude, their art is a thousand times more punk than thousands of bands that simply play punk by the numbers.
“Butcher baby, dressed up in red
Butcher baby, messed in your head
Butcher baby, go out at night
Butcher baby, turn out the light.
Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, no.”
How punk is it to be, to not really be a punk band but totally encompass and exude, reflect and represent the full spirit, the full feeling, the full essence of punk?
How punk is it that the writer of this item asks his editor to please use a live version of this song because he feels only seeing this band live to be the only way one can get their true effect?
How punk is that? And I’m just realizing now, that even though The Plasmatics weren’t a punk band- this song is very punk, the whole concept of this band is punk. And that they deserve to be mentioned with all the best punk bands of their time?
The answer: Extremely punk.
(Slimedog)
