𝗪.𝗔.𝗦.𝗣. - 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙊𝙣 𝙏𝙤 𝙈𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 1992

W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982. They emerged from the early 1980s Los Angeles heavy metal scene. The band's popularity peaked that decade, 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. They are estimated to have sold over twelve million records worldwide, with their first two albums, W.A.S.P. (1984) and The Last Command (1985), being certified as gold by the RIAA.

W.A.S.P. was a prominent target in the mid-1980s of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), an organization that pushed for warning labels on recorded music. The band immortalized its fight with the PMRC on the song "Harder, Faster" from their 1987 live album, Live...In the Raw. Their most well-known songs include "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", "I Wanna Be Somebody", "L.O.V.E. Machine", "Wild Child", "Blind in Texas", "Forever Free", "Mean Man", "Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)" and "The Idol", as well as their cover versions of Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No Doctor" and The Who's "The Real Me". The band's most recent album, Golgotha, was released in 2015 and they have reportedly been working on new material.

Band name meaning
There has been much speculation over the origin of the band's name, and whether it actually stands for anything, since it is written as an acronym. One possible interpretation is "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants", being the original meaning of the acronym. The song "Show No Mercy", the B-side of the band's first single "Animal", contains the repeated lyric, "White Anglo-Saxon / A violent reaction".

The original U.S. release of the band's debut album W.A.S.P. had the words "We Are Sexual Perverts" inscribed on both sides around the label in the center, while "Winged Assassins" is inscribed on the spine of the first vinyl pressing. When asked about the band's name, Lawless has avoided giving a straight answer. In one interview he answered, "We Ain't Sure, Pal."

In a February 2010 interview, Lawless stated the main reason for the name was the periods. He claimed no band had ever used them before (although R.E.M. formed two years earlier) and, in essence, the periods created a "question mark of uncertainty" to make W.A.S.P. stand out more. He then went on to say, "Look where we are: it did!"

In an interview published on YouTube in 2020, former bassist Rik Fox explained that the name came about after an incident outside Lawless' home, in which Fox happened across a hornet and tried to kill it before it could sting him. The sight of the insect's throbbing stinger brought to mind the image of the Green Hornet logo. According to Fox, this happened while the band was still under the moniker of "Sister" and Lawless was looking for a new name. When Fox explained what happened to Lawless, the band's leader liked the idea and ultimately adopted it. Fox's story has been corroborated by former guitarist Randy Piper, who while agreeing with him, did acknowledge Lawless as being the one who came up with the idea of the band's name being written like an acronym.