Pain Proof Rubber Girls

Queen of Shock Rock
Wendy O' Williams of The Plasmatics
by Ula of the Pain-Proof Rubber Girls

Twenty-five years ago when women's career choices were largely confined to dental assistant, teacher or housewife -
Before Madonna with her microphone antics, and long before Sharon Stone uncrossed her legs--
In the days when tattoos were still considered non-conformist--
In a time when breast implants weren't as common as pierced navels----
One woman broke through all the social barriers to be at the forefront of Rock n Roll, Rebellious Women and Body Modification:

She was Wendy O' Williams, lead singer of the Plasmatics.

In the late seventies if you were passing by CBGB's in the early evening you might hear the Plasmatics sound-checking Wendy's chainsaw - the one she used to cut through guitarist Richie Stott's guitar during his solo on 'Butcher Baby". During the infamously destructive and well-rehearsed Plasmatics' show, Wendy would come out wearing nothing but a g-string and some duck tape covering her nipples. In addition to the chainsaw Wendy would also brandish a sledge-hammer and bust through at least one TV set a night. Speaker cabinets were detonated, lighting trusses collapsed, and at the larger venues like Palladium the set included a Cadillac being driven on stage and blown up.

When it came to shocking people, Wendy would give whatever it took. She had a big set of tits and an even larger set of balls as she proved to everyone by jumping out of an airplane butt-naked (except for her parachute) for the October '86 issue of Playboy. In 1979 she drove a car off New York's Pier 62 into the Hudson River, jumping out seconds before it exploded. For the 1986 film Reform School Girls, Wendy played the rebellious inmate "Charlie", and smashed headfirst through the windshield of a charging school bus, narrowly escaping before it rammed into a wall. More than just stunts, these actions carried all the more impact because they were real and Wendy was doing them for her own satisfaction.

Gene Simmons of Kiss produced her solo W.O.W. album of 1984, she received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1985, and she sang the duet "Stand by your Man" with Lemmy of Motorhead. Wendy wrestled alligators in Florida, and was banned in England. She was an amazing macrobiotic cook, used to help her girlfriend Debbie's daughter with her homework backstage in New York, and could often be found feeding the squirrels in the forest in Connecticut. The legendary stories of Wendy O' Williams go on and on---If only she had been around to do the VH1 "Divas" special instead of Mariah Carey!

Wendy O' Williams' first tattoo was done in 1979, by Margurerite at Peter Tattoo. It was a rose with the words "I love Sex and Rock n Roll". Marguerite also did the chainsaw on Richie Stotts' head and the WOW logo on Wendy's right arm. Around 1985 after the filming of Reform School Girls, Wendy decided she wanted some blackwork - more of a "Mexican Jailhouse" style piece. Naturally, she made an appointment with Jack Rudy, well known for his beautiful black and grey work. At Rudy's studio she got the Aztec feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl put on her arm.

A few years later after a trip to Mexico, she met Rudy again in Los Angeles. "Build your city where the eagle lands on the cactus" (Things come together in cosmic moments), began the story of the founding of the city Tenochtitlán by the Mexica. The eagle devouring the snake on Mexican coinage represents this tale. Wendy brought a coin to Rudy, who pencilled it on her back - tattooing it in about eight hours. "It was the only one-sitting back piece that I ever did.she had a lot of pain tolerance and sat like a rock."

Shortly before her death, Wendy was living in Connecticut. No longer playing music, life had slowed down a little. Wendy was working as an animal rehabilitator and hoping to go up for different movie roles needing a "tough chic". In characteristic Wendy O' Williams style, she decided to go all out and get sleeved to further the tough image. Inker at Guideline Studio began to rework her old tattoos and fill out her arms, but she never completed the project.

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Wendy O' Williams took her own life with a pistol two years ago on April 6. The world lost a great artist and creative soldier. Her effect and the benefit of her life's work is felt even by those who didn't know of Wendy. Plasmatics albums have been hard to come by for the last few years, but this spring four of her most requested CD's have been re-released on the WOW/Gigasaurus label: Beyond the Valley of 1984, WOW, Kommander of Kaos, and Maggots, The Record. They can be purchased along with other W.O.W. memorabilia at www.plasmatics.com.

In the time of Giulliani's reign and NY clubs full of walking Calvin Klein and Gap ads, the memory of Wendy O' Williams is an oasis in a desert of mediocrity. May she never be forgotten. May 28, 1949-April 6, 1998

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Lemmy: I liked her a lot...She came on stage with us and toured with us a couple a times. She was really - hyper you know. And she didn't take drugs or drink. Anything like that. She was just this like loony. I did admire her...--she got beat up by the Detroit cops cause she blew up a cop car on stage. And they nailed her down all three of them and they beat her up using nightsticks - there's photographs of it. Of her downed with a heel on her head. Of some guy smackin her head with a nightstick. So she took em ta court - for assault, and won. And the night she won, she blew up another cop car on stage in Detroit at the same place. I don't think there was any cops there that night... She's some girl ya know.

Ritchie Stotts: When Wendy did something, it was more-- it was another level. She had the sledgehammer, she had the chainsaw and she had the crazy, you know stage antics and rough singing and it was just different..People got really threatened by it, for what reason I don't know. Like, ..- Why is it pushing your button? Why is this upsetting you so much? You know what I mean? .People thought we were doing drugs and all that stuff -That's all bullshit. How are you gonna do all this stuff on drugs? You had to be on your game to do this show. You had to be right on. And it was really complicated. .Everybody was doing something and there was, you know, the chainsaw came out, it was foggy, it was this, it was that---Um, and, and it was, it was an intricate show. It was well rehearsed. It was intricate-

Ritchie Stotts: First I dyed my hair and then I got a mohawk; then I made it blue. And then I thought - if I got a tattoo on my head it would be really cool. So then I got the chainsaw. And the chainsaw obviously was because of the use of a chainsaw in the band. But then I felt like it needed some kind of balance. Something not so violent - a balance of karma on my head. The pyramid was sort of mystical, and you know everybody has these dollar bills and like - Why - What does that thing mean you know? Does anybody really know? It was sort of an interesting symbol.

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Gyda Gash: It's not like today like women feel no qualms about picking up a guitar and writing songs and having a voice. You know - on their own, without any man's help. You know - I mean, that just wasn't happening back then.

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Jack Rudy: She was a great person. She was really cool and she was not anything to me like her movie and stage persona. She was actually quiet and kinda soft-spoken you know and uh -You know, kind of an intense person, but mellow at the same time.

Rod Swenson: She absolutely was herself regardless of the consequences. She was fearless in that way.

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