Plasmatics - Beyond The Valley Of 1984 - Vinyl

The late, confrontational Wendy O. Williams was, for a few years at least, the battered face of punk rock. She and her Plasmatics were one of the first acts of the punk era to push their performances beyond the club scene--blowing up cars, smashing televisions, and engaging in public nudity and other acts that made them a police target. BEYOND THE VALLEY OF 1984 addresses the storm of chaos that accompanied their first album and re-focuses the attention on the music. At times as much metal and New Wave as it is punk, the album features the meaty drums of Alice Cooper's Neil Smith and increasingly metallic guitars. Williams uses her croak to maximum effect, flirting with Blondie girl-group pop on "Summer Night" and approaching hardcore on "Sex Junkie." The album's finale, "Pig is a Pig," is Williams's revenge on the Milwaukee police who beat her following an arrest.

• Genre: Metal
• Format: Vinyl