The Plasmatics

The Plasmatics were a New York City-based punk rock band whose frontwoman, Wendy O. Williams, was known for her outrageous stage antics. Though they are often left out of the canon of American punk, few bands have represented so many facets of the punk phenomenon. Punk's shock value was certainly evident, between original guitarist Richie Stotts' transvestitism, Williams' overt sexuality and bizarre, scanty outfits, and the band's destructive onstage antics, involving chainsaws and auto demolition. Punk's artsy roots were represented as well, in the motivations of performance artist Rod Swenson, the band's creator and manager. But the Plasmatics also grew to symbolize the commercialization of punk (going metal and signing to major labels), as well as its political impulses (in the environmentalist commentary of the their last album, Maggots: The Record). The Plasmatics name was retired in 1988, though Swensen and Williams continued to collaborate. She committed a decade later, giving the band's underappreciated career a dark postscript.

Fast Facts

1. Origin: New York City
2. Years Active: 1977–1988

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