W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982 and emerged with the L.A. scene that featured Mötley Crüe, Ratt and Quiet Riot. The band's popularity peaked in the 1980s and yet they continue to record and tour, making them one of the most enduring of the West Coast heavy metal bands. W.A.S.P. gained notoriety for their shock rock themed image, lyrics and live performances.
The band in the mid-1980s were a prominent target of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) led by Tipper Gore, wife of then-Sen. Al Gore (D-Tenn.), an organization that pushed for labels on recorded music. The band immortalized its fight with the PMRC on the song, "Harder, Faster," on their 1987 live album, Live...In the Raw.
The band writes and performs today, though Blackie Lawless remains the only member from the original line-up. They released a new album in April, 2007 entitled Dominator.
