“My band and crew hadn’t worked in three years so we plowed on – eight epidurals later and 180 opium tablets, I made it through the tour”: Blackie Lawless on touring, talking solos with David Gilmour – and that time W.A.S.P. bought 52 Marshall h

In 1984, while Eddie Van Halen was merging synths and solos on Jump, Iron Maiden were on their World Slavery Tour and Kiss were going through three lead guitarists, W.A.S.P. were slinging hunks of raw meat at audiences across Los Angeles.

Stories of maggot-infested guitars and razor-kissed shows build a mythology around their 1984 self-titled debut – but not everyone got it.

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Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Rock Candy, Bass Player, Total Guitar, and Classic Rock History. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.