The Great Kat is the stage name of Katherine Thomas (born June
6, 1966 in Swindon) England, an
English-born, New York-raised, musician best known for her thrash metal interpretations
of well-known pieces of classical music. Most feature her
using the electric
guitar, but some have her on violin.
Thomas is a classically-trained violinist, graduating from the Juilliard School and
touring for a time playing conventional classical music before crossing over to
metal. Guitar
One magazine listed her as one of the "Top Shredders of All Time",[1][2] and many media
reviews of her work have praised the speed and clarity of her playing. Her
classical background, technical skills and self-promotion are sometimes compared
to Yngwie
Malmsteen. In an interview in metallian.com she claimed to be the
reincarnation of Beethoven.
Kat's public persona, as portrayed in her publicity photos and videos, is
mainly that of a dominatrix,
albeit in a somewhat over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek manner.[neutrality
is disputed] Discography
Wendy Orlean Williams (May 28, 1949 – April 6, 1998), better known as
Wendy O. Williams, was the lead singer for the American punk band the Plasmatics, as well as a solo artist. Her stage
theatrics included blowing up equipment, near nudity and chain-sawingguitars.
Dubbed "The Queen of Shock Rock," Williams was widely considered the most
controversial and radical female singer of her day.[1] She often sported a
Mohawk haircut.
Williams was nominated in 1985 for a Grammy in the Best Female
Rock Vocal Performance category during the height of her popularity as a
solo artist.
Biography
Early life
Williams was born in Webster, New York. Early on, she was destined
to be in the music industry, as she studied clarinet at the Eastman School of
Music. She even appeared on the "Howdy Doody Show" as a member of the "Peanut
Gallery". She attended R.L. Thomas (public) High School in Webster at least
partway through the tenth grade, but apparently left school before graduating.
At the age of 16, she hitchhiked her way to Colorado where she earned money
selling crocheted string bikinis.[2][3] She headed for Florida and then to Europe, where she worked as a macrobiotic cook in London and then as a dancer with a gypsy
dance troupe.[4] In 1976 she arrived
at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City where she saw
an ad in Show Business Magazine that lay open on the bus station floor. It was a
casting call for radical anti-artist and Yale MFA graduate Rod
Swenson's experimental "Captain Kink's Theatre". She replied to the ad and
there was immediate chemistry between Swenson, known as Captain Kink, and
Williams, which began a 22-year relationship that would see her launched as lead
singer of the punk/metal rock group the Plasmatics some two years later.
With the Plasmatics
In January 1981, Milwaukee police arrested her for
simulating sex on stage. Also charged with battery to an officer and obscene
conduct, she was later cleared. Later that same year in Cleveland, Ohio,
Williams was acquitted of an obscenity charge for simulating sex on stage
wearing only shaving cream (she subsequently covered her nipples with electrical
tape to avoid arrest).[5][6] Then, in November,
an Illinois judge sentenced her to
one year supervision and fined her $35 for roughing up a freelance photographer
who had attempted to take her picture as she jogged along the Chicago
lakefront.
Meanwhile, the Plasmatics toured the world, having a concert in London
cancelled on safety grounds, where the press dubbed them "anarchists." During shooting of an appearance on
NBC's SCTV comedy program in 1981, studio
heads said they would not air Williams unless she changed out of a stage costume
that revealed her nipples. Williams refused. The show's make-up artists found a
compromise and painted her breasts black.
Solo career
In 1979 she appeared in Gail
Palmer's XXX-rated adult production, Candy Goes to Hollywood playing
herself (though she is credited as Wendy Williams). She is featured as a
performer on a parody of The Gong Show where she shoots ping pong
balls across the set from her vagina.[7]
Wendy recorded a duet of the country hit "Stand by Your Man" with Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead in 1982.
In 1984, she released the W.O.W. album, produced by Gene Simmons of Kiss. Kiss members Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Eric Carr, and Vinnie Vincent also
perform on the album.
In 1985 Wendy starred in The Rocky Horror Show at the Westport
Playhouse in St. Louis. The show played for over six months, but a nationwide
tour fell through.
In 1986, she starred in Tom
DeSimone's indie-film Reform School Girls. Neither she nor
manager Rod Swenson liked the film when it came out, but at this point the
producers had heard Kommander of Kaos (her second solo album) and wanted
to include 3 tracks from the album in the movie score. They approached Rod about
producing the title track for the film and having Wendy sing it. The band
reluctantly agreed to do it. Uncle Brian from the Broc joined Rod as co-producer
and also played sax. He also appeared in the video that the film company had
asked Rod to produce and direct, playing the sax and wearing a tutu.
In 1987, she starred as the part-time friend/enemy in the underground spy
world to the title character on Fox's The New Adventures of Beans
Baxter. The Plasmatics' last tour was in late 1988. Williams appeared in
Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog, directed by Paul S. Parco, in 1990.
In 1988, Wendy put out another solo album, this time a "thrash rap" album
called Deffest! and Baddest! under the name "Ultrafly and the Hometown
Girls."
Wendy's last known performance of a Plasmatics song occurred due to the prompting of Joey Ramone. She performed
"Masterplan" one final time with Richie Stotts, when Richie's band opened for the
Ramones on New Year's Eve, 1988.[8][9]
Retirement
In 1991, Williams moved to Storrs, Connecticut, where she lived with
her long-time companion and former manager, Rod Swenson, and worked as an animal
rehabilitator and at a food co-op in Willimantic.[10] She explained
this move by saying that she "was pretty fed up dealing with people."[11]
Despite her reputation as a fearsome performer, Williams in her personal life
was deeply devoted to the welfare of animals, a passion that included a vegetarian diet,
working as a wildlife rehabilitator and being a natural foods activist. In one
TV talk show appearance on KPIX's The Morning Show, she accused Debbi Fields (of "Mrs.
Fields" cookies) of being "no better than a heroin pusher" for using so much processed white sugar
in her products.[12]
Death
Williams had first attempted suicide in 1993 by hammering a knife into her
chest; the knife lodged in her sternum and she changed her mind, calling Swenson
to take her to hospital.[5] She
attempted suicide again in 1997 with an overdose of ephedrine.[5]
Williams died at age 48 on April 6, 1998 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in
a wooded area near her home. Rod Swenson, who had been Wendy's significant other
for more than twenty years, returned from shopping to the wooded area where the
two had lived since moving to Connecticut from New York. He found a package that
Wendy had left him with some special noodles he liked, a packet of seeds for
growing garden greens, some oriental massage balm, and sealed letters from
Wendy. The suicide letters which included a "living will" denying life support,
a love letter to Swenson, and various lists of things to do set Swenson
searching the woods looking for her. After about an hour, and after it was
almost dark, he found the body in woods near an area where she loved to feed the
wildlife. Several nut shells were on a nearby rock where she had apparently been
feeding some of the squirrels before she died. Swenson checked the body for a
pulse, and there was none. A pistol lay on the ground nearby, and he returned to
the house to call the local authorities. "Wendy's act was not an irrational
in-the-moment act," he said, she had been talking about taking her own life for
almost four years. Swenson reportedly described her as "despondent" at the time
of her suicide.[13] This is what she
is said to have written[14] in a suicide note regarding her
decision:
“
I
don't believe that people should take their own lives without deep and
thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time. I do believe strongly,
however, that the right to do so is one of the most fundamental rights that
anyone in a free society should have. For me, much of the world makes no sense,
but my feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner ear and a
place where there is no self, only calm.
The Plasmatics were an American heavy metal and punk band formed by Yale University art school graduate Rod
Swenson with Wendy O. Williams. The band was 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.[1]
The Plasmatics' career spanned five studio albums, and multiple EPs. The band
was composed of vocalist/front person Wendy O. Williams and various other musicians
rotated behind her over time. Aside from Wendy and manager Rod Swenson,
Guitarist Wes Beech
was the only other permanent member of the group. Guitarist Richie Stotts was a
co-founder of the band and a mainstay of the pre-breakup core group
(1978–1983).[2] After the breakup of
the band following the release of Coup d'Etat, Richie was edited
out of band videos and not referred to by name in a 2006 compilation DVD
released by Plasmatics Media LLC (via plasmatics.com).
History
Formation
(1977-1979)
In 1977, Rod Swenson, who received his MFA in 1969[3] from Yale where he
specialized in conceptual, performance, and neo-dadaist art, held the view that
the measure of true or high art is how confrontational it is. He began a series
of counter-culture projects which, by the mid-70s, found him in the heart of Times Square producing
experimental counter-culture theater as well as video and shows with the likes
of the then-little-known bands The Dead Boys, The Ramones, Patti Smith, and others. It was there that he met
Wendy O.
Williams (her actual birth-given name, the O. standing for Orlean and her
initials spelling "WOW") after Wendy happened upon a copy of Show Business Weekly someone had
discarded on the bus station floor. The issue lay open to a page with an ad in
the casting calls section for Rod's theater show Captain Kink's Sex Fantasy
Theater.[4] She
answered the ad and applied for a job.
Wendy and Rod began auditioning potential band members in 1977 and, in July
1978, the "Plasmatics" gave their first public performance at what would later
become the rock shrine CBGB on New York City's Bowery.[4] The
earliest version of the band was a three piece put together with a strong
emphasis on visuals. The band quickly realized they needed another guitarist to
hold them together musically. Guitarist Wes Beech joined the group; he would
become, after Wendy, the only permanent member of the group playing or touring
behind or involved in the production of every Plasmatics and Wendy O. Williams
record ever recorded.
From their initial gig at CBGB's, The Plasmatics quickly rose in the New York
City Punk Underground scene of the time. From playing a single weekday night,
they moved quickly to playing repeated stands of four nights straight with two
sold-out shows each night. They had lines stretching around the block and
brought more fans into CBGB's during this time than any other band in its
history. The group quickly outgrew CBGB's, largely because there were no
intermediate rock venues to play in New York City at that time. The band's stage
show soon became notorious, with acts such as chainsawing guitars in half part
of their performance.[5] Jim Farber
of Sounds
described the show: "Lead singer/ex-porn star/current weight lifter Wendy
Orleans Williams (W.O.W. for short) spends most of the Plasmatics' show fondling
her family size breasts, scratching her sweaty snatch and eating the drum kit,
among other playful events".[5]
Rod Swenson soon made a deal to book what was then a little known polka hall
called Irving Plaza from
the Polish War Veterans who ran it at the time. The band repeatedly sold out the
venue, with The Plasmatics helping to give Irving Plaza national recognition and
launch it on the path to becoming an established rock venue in New York City.
Having then caught the full attention of the most important people in the
entertainment world of New York City, the Plasmatics headlined the Palladium Theater on November 16, 1979,
the first group in history to do so at full ticket prices and without a major
label recording contract.[6]
New
Hope for the Wretched Era (1980-1981)
The Plasmatics were soon selling out shows in Philadelphia, Boston, venues in New Jersey, and elsewhere in the Northeast. Chris
Knowles of Classic Rock magazine wrote: The
Plasmatics "were the biggest live attraction in New York... and the media was on
them like white on rice... It's one thing to play at subversiveness, but The
Plasmatics, unlike other Punk bands... put their Punk philosophy into action."
Many U.S. record labels were afraid to sign the band; The band was signed by Stiff Records, a British label, in March
1980, and appeared on the cover of Sounds in June that year.[7][8] Artists
and Repertoire (A&R) from Stiff Records flew to New York City to see
a show in person to determine if what they had been reading and hearing could
possibly be real. The day after seeing the performance, Stiff put in an offer
and a deal was inked within a month. A few months later, The Plasmatics began to
record songs in New York City for what would become the album New
Hope for the Wretched.
In addition to songs like "Corruption" and "Living Dead", which were linked
to TV smashing and automobile destruction, the song "Butcher Baby" featured a
chainsaw sawing through a guitar in place of a guitar solo which also took place
during their live shows. The Plasmatics visited the UK for a tour, which met
with opposition from some quarters including the Greater
London Council (GLC), particularly for their intention to blow up a car as
part of their stage show and Williams' semi-nudity, and the GLC cancelled the
band's show at the Hammersmith Odeon after fire inspectors
decided the show would not meet safety requirements, although police had already
arrived to disperse the gathering crowd before the decision had officially been
taken.[7][9] Stiff
released "Butcher Baby" as a single where it reached No. 55 on the UK Singles Chart.[7]
Stiff America had scheduled a release and a US tour. To capitalize on the
band's popularity, the US edition of the album came packaged with a poster for
the cancelled Hammersmith Odeon show and an insert for the Plasmatics Secret
Service, the official fan club. The album reached No. 55 on the UK Albums Chart.[7] The band was
set to tour the West Coast for the first time after the London cancellation and
get their momentum back. To kick off the tour, Wendy drove a Cadillac towards a stage at a free concert on New York
City's Pier 62 loaded with explosives, jumping out moments before the car would
hit the stage, blowing up all the equipment.[4][10] The permits needed
for this were hard to get and only allowed for an estimated 5-6,000 people. The
day of the performance, 10,000 showed up,[11] jamming the
downtown streets and lining the rooftops. Even though it cost virtually the
entire advance for the US release of New Hope for the Wretched to do it,
Wendy was quoted by a reporter from the Associated Press as saying, "It was worth it
because it showed that these are just things and... people shouldn't worship
them," a point she'd repeat more than once.
The Plasmatics debut in Los Angeles was at the famed Whisky a Go Go. The show
was originally planned for only 2 nights, but was later expanded to 4 due to
large sold-out crowds.
The ABC
show Fridays, which was looking to be a
more cutting-edge version of Saturday Night Live, booked Wendy and
the Plasmatics to appear in late December to go live on national TV.[6]
In January 1981, Wiliams' stage performance in Milwaukee led to her arrest on
charges of indecency after she reportedly "simulated masturbation with a sledge
hammer in front of an audience".[12] After
objecting to being searched she was thrown to the ground and reportedly kicked
in the face (later requiring a dozen stitches), with manager Rod Swenson also
beaten unconscious when he tried to intervene.[12] Williams
was charged with battery of a police officer, resisting arrest, and "conduct in
violation of a Milwaukee city ordnance pertaining to establishments that sell
liquor",[12] with
Swenson also charged, but both were later cleared of all charges.[1][13] A
subsequent performance at the Palm Club sold out, and passed without incident,
although the venue was raided after the show by the vice squad, with more than
30 police officers in attendance in case of trouble.[12] Williams
was also arrested on obscenity charges in Cleveland, but she was again
acquitted.[4]
Beyond
the Valley of 1984 Era (1981-1982)
A second album was long overdue but due to the ongoing legal battles and the
Miller debacle with the first album, which was costly both in terms of time and
money, it was agreed that this one had to be lean and mean. Bruce Kirkland at
Stiff agreed to put up the funds as long as Rod produced and the album was done
in less than 3 weeks at a quarter of the cost of the first.
Given the recent turn of events, Rod proposed the name Beyond
the Valley of 1984 and the tour, in 1981, became "The 1984 World Tour".
In between touring drummers, Alice Cooper'sNeal Smith was brought in to do the
drumming for the record,[6] and the
album, with its Orwellian and
apocalyptic theme and songs such as "Masterplan", "Pig is a Pig", and "Sex
Junkie", was released a few months later. During recording for the album, The
Plasmatics were booked on the Tom
Snyder late night TV show, where Tom Snyder introduced them as possibly 'the
greatest punk rock band in the entire world."
The album cover for Beyond the Valley was photographed in the Arizona
desert where Wendy appears on horseback with the band (without a drummer) as the
"Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse".
The 1984 World Tour continued with the bold slogan "Down On Your Knees and
Pledge Allegiance!".
Metal Priestess EP
During the last part of the tour Rod had been contacted by American singer,
songwriter and record producer Dan Hartman's office asking that Dan have a meeting
with Wendy and Rod. Hartman, who produced acts .38 Special, James Brown, and others, had been working on a
session in LA when he picked up a copy of Beyond the Valley of 1984 and
could not stop playing it. He felt it was "ground breaking". He said, "I knew I
wanted to meet these people and do something with them." Dan came down to the
Tribeca loft, met Wendy and Rod, and a month later he and Rod were working on
the production of the Metal Priestessmini-LP. The band needed more product but another album
was premature, partly because Capitol Records was now making overtures for
the next one. Bruce at Stiff was ready to release it and that summer Metal
Priestess was recorded at Dan's private studio off his schoolhouse turned home
and studio in Connecticut and
released early that fall. Metal Priestess saw the band move closer to heavy metal, and
also included new members Chris "Junior" Romanelli (replacing Jean Beauvoir) and
Joey Reese.[14]
The band made an appearance on SCTVs "Fishin'
Musician" shortly after releasing Metal Priestess.
Coup d'Etat and the Electric Lady Land Sessions
(1982-1983)
By the spring of 1982, a worldwide deal was inked with Capitol Records, and
Dan Hartman offered to produce a demo of the album for Capitol with Rod at Electric Lady
Studios, Jimi Hendrix's old studio, in NY. The whole album
was arranged, recorded and mixed within a week. Dieter Dierks, who had just come off a number one
album with the Scorpions, also expressed interest in
producing.
Coup d'Etat was a
breakthrough album that began to blend the punk and metal genres, something that
would later be done time and time again by bands such as S.O.D.,
Anthrax, and the Cro-Mags by the end of the 1980s. Wendy
also broke ground for her unique singing style. She pushed her vocals so hard
she had to make trips into Cologne, Germany, where the album was being
recorded, each day for treatments to avoid permanent damage to her vocal
cords.
The Hartman demo was released 20 years later under the name Coup de Grace. The
rawer version of Coup d'Etat, which took
less than a tenth of the time and a fraction of the budget, is hailed by many
fans as the true version of the album.
The video Rod produced and directed of "The Damned" featured Wendy driving a
school bus through a wall of TVs, climbing onto the roof of a moving bus which
had been loaded with explosives, and then singing from the roof and jumping off
a few moments before the bus goes through a second wall of TVs and then blows
sky high.[15]
As touring began, it became clear that Capitol was beginning to turn away
from the group in favor of groups such as Duran Duran, who could generate ten times the sales
with none of the political liability and fallout. Soon after the album was
released, Capitol Records dropped The Plasmatics.[4]
Plasmatics "break-up", Wendy O. Williams' solo career
(1983-1986)
In 1982, KISS asked for Wendy and the Plasmatics to appear
as a special guest on their tour. KISS wanted the controversial street edge that
Wendy would bring as part of their tour and for the Plasmatics it was a chance
to play in front of different audiences in different markets than they would
ordinarily play. By the end of the tour with KISS it was clear that, although
the formal notice that Capitol would not pick up their option for a second album
did not come in for six months, the relationship with Capitol was done. It had
taken months and months for the deal to be done, months to record and release
the album and now months to get out of the deal. Gene Simmons approached Wendy and Rod about
producing the next Wendy O. Williams album. So as to avoid any wasted time in
legal issues with Capitol Records, it was decided not to use the Plasmatics name
on the record at all and was simply called W.O.W., the initials for Wendy O. Williams. Gene
Simmons felt it would give him the freedom he wanted to add more new players to
the album.
Wes Beech remained to play rhythm and lead and T.C. Tolliver, the drummer on
Coup d'Etat, remained to play on the new album. Gene Simmons played bass under the pseudonym of
"Reginald Van Helsing". The only other new player on the album was lead
guitarist Michael Ray, brought in to solve the technical challenges that had
been a problem for several albums and had come to a head with the more complex
music of Coup D'Etat. Gene also pulled in the talents of Ace Frehley, who had not played with KISS since
leaving the band years before, Paul Stanley, and then-current KISS drummer Eric Carr did one song as guests.
The record was released on Passport (international and U.S. distribution by
JEM).
Review copies were sent out to the various media outlets. Malcolm Dome, a
reviewer for KERRANG!
magazine, had picked the WOW album as his album of the year. Williams
received a Grammy nomination for 'Best Female Rock Vocal' in 1985.[1]
With Mohawks now starting to become common, Wendy decided to let her hair
grow in, and the cover Rod shot for what would be called the "album of the year"
in the pages of KERRANG! was the very opposite of the earlier covers;
total simplicity.
Wes Beech took a sabbatical for personal reasons and would not tour with the
band on the next tour. The band decided to return to being a 3-Piece. Wes came
in as Associate Producer with Rod on the album and worked on writing, arranging
and recording, but the recording would be Michael, TC, and Greg (who would go on
to play with Alice Cooper,
Richie Blackmore and others and who had been
brought in as the touring bassist for the WOW album). There was
tremendous excitement in tackling the project a kind of minimalist, stripped
down concept, or rite of purification. The songs, including the lyrics would be
also be minimalistic or archetypal again giving Wendy a chance to take her
vocals step further. The tempo of the WOW album had been slower than previous
albums in an effort to open it up, but the new album Kommander of Kaos
(a.k.a. KOK) was to bring back the speed and then some. Songs would be
played at breakneck speeds, with screaming leads and vocals. The recording was
done in Fairfield NJ at the giant Broccoli Rabe Recording complex which would be
home to numerous Wendy O./Plasmatics Projects including three studio albums with
what the group fondly called "The Fairfield Sound".
Maggots: The
Record Era (1987)
Wes had rejoined the band to both tour and play on the next album where the
re-formed 4 piece band became a centerpiece for perhaps the most complex
arrangements in the band's career. After the archetypal minimalism, both
lyrically and musically of Komander, the new album, which would again carry the
Plasmatics name, was again filled with complexity and returned to the social and
political themes previously found most strongly in Coup but in 1984 before it:
environmental decay and a world where excess and abuse led directly to a
doomsday scenario. Maggots:
The Record was recorded in 1987 and set 25 years in the future where
environmental abuse and the burning of fossil fuels have created a greenhouse
effect leading to an end of the world scenario. Called by many the first "thrash
metal opera", the central theme of the album is an end of the world scenario
that follows from genetic engineering and global warming, something that was not
at all part of the general public awareness of the time. A group of scientists
trying to eliminate pollution in the rivers and oceans develop an RNA retro
virus designed to eat it all up and then die once the pollution has been
consumed. But global warming leading to the flooding of land areas instead puts
the virus in contact with the "common maggot" leading to a mutated form of
maggot that doubles in size with each generation looking for more and more
things to consume. In the 'end of the world' finale cities are being destroyed
and humans consumed by giant maggots a horrific metaphorical end to a world
blind to human consumption and environmental destruction.
The album features various scenes of The White Family over the course of
three days. The family is devoured while watching a TV game show. Valerie, the
girlfriend of hot-shot television reporter Bruce is devoured by three massive
maggots while lying in her boyfriend's bed. The final scene has Cindy White
trying to fight off the attacking maggots and running out onto a fire escape
where she sees the crowded streets below as the record shows the entire human
population is headed for imminent annihilation. The album was on the WOW label;
distributed by Profile
Records in the U.S. and overseas by GWR Records, which had been started by Motörhead's longtime manager
Doug Smith.
Wendy did a performance piece to inaugurate the album at NYC's Palladium, which had been transformed
from a proscenium theater into huge multi-level club where she sledgehammered
and chainsawed to smithereens a facsimile all-American living room. "Maggots:
The Tour" began a week later using the Plasmatics name for the first time in two
albums with slogans such as "Those Now Eating Will Soon Be Eaten," "The Day of
the Humans is Gone," and lyrics such as "soldiers for the DNA dissidents are put
away, dragged off in the dead of night, disappear without a sight". Rear screen
projectors ran film of human disasters, fascists and other historical horrors,
environmental carnage and human rights violations on huge screens behind the
band during all the songs from the Maggots album.
A review in Kerrang! came
out shortly thereafter: A 5 out of 5 Ks, "Quite simply a masterpiece... a work
of genius." Wendy's vocals "reduces Celtic Frost's Tom G. Warrior's 'death
grunts' to mere whimpers" it went on coupled with "a mixture of hedonistic
operatic melodies..gut forged to some of the heaviest armadillo beats you're
ever like to hear committed to vinyl."
Motörhead collaboration and the Stand by Your Man (EP)
In 1982, Lemmy of Motörhead was
approached by his label to do a follow-up to his successful Motörhead/Girlschool collaboration, St. Valentine's Day
Massacre EP and Motorhead's manager Doug Smith got in touch with Rod
Swenson in the states and proposed a Wendy and Lemmy duet of the country classic
"Stand By Your Man". The B side would have two
tracks, the Plasmatics "Masterplan" sung by Lemmy and Motorhead's "No Class" sung by Williams. The A
side would have Wendy and Lemmy do a duet of the title track of the EP.[16]
Tracked at a Canadian recording studio, the Stand by Your
Man sessions proved to be tumultuous as guitarist Eddie Clarke (who was
producing the tracks, but not playing on them) quit Motorhead in the middle of
the project. Rod Swenson and Dan Hartman, who had finished demoing the
Plasmatics Coup d'Etat album together, were called upon to finish the rough and
raw project in the mix which they did at Electric Lady Studios in New York. Rod
then shot the cover with Lemmy and Wendy on it and the raw crude project was put
out by Bronze records.
A reviewer concluded "their sandpaper-throated duet on Tammy Wynette's country
standard "Stand By Your Man" has to be one of hard rock's greatest-ever middle
fingers to the mainstream." The review goes on to say, "The Plasmatics,
therefore, wreaked havoc on 'No Class' while Motörhead hammered out a leering
take of 'Masterplan.'[17]
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