Wendy O. Williams Interview on Night Flight - Women in Heavy Metal

Wendy O. Williams wants to be known as "the heaviest woman in heavy metal" and loves giving it all she's got...check out www.nightflight.com for more information...

[@tomrb2297]

It’s fun to see all the pop stars of today trying to be edgy, original, and controversial while they have no idea Wendy did it all before most of them were even born. RIP Wendy.

[@assurdo8888]

TOO TRUE, MATE!!! TOO TRUE!

[@nyguy5370]

Wendy didn’t have to try to be edgy. She defined it.

[@matsumoku1]

They're really just doing what they're told today. Back in the day true edginess was allowed to exist with some bands. But in today's society a pop star has to back black lives matter or me too, or they don't get a career. The people running today's society can't separate politics and power out of music

[@nyguy5370]

@@EstebanAlvarez_ What are you? Maybe 20, 25 years old? Wendy was a pioneer. It wasn’t just what she wore. What woman fronted a metal band before her? Having seen her with the Plasmatics several times, I was blown away by what she was doing in concert literally 40 years ago. She was a huge influence on todays female fronted metal bands, and for that mater Miley Cyrus as well.

[@nyguy5370]

@@EstebanAlvarez_ I don’t know how or on what basis you can call WOW a poser. You may as well call Lemmy or Dimebag a poser. If you don’t like female fronted metal, thats your call, but how you can ignore current bands like Jinjer, Infected Rain, Butcher Babies, Ad Infinitum, and even some more enduring bands like Arch Enemy, and call them boring or musical conformists? Where the hair metal comment comes from. Believe me son, I can tell the difference. I prescribe some time in the pit to cure your ills.

[@jaypickett3552]

She loved and cared for animals. I’m sorry that she’s gone.

[@vectorm4]

Today that is a fashion statement. Everyone has a "rescue animal."

[@davewhiting9730]

Don't be sorry. It wasn't your fault

[@TheTraveler33]

I don't think that is what she is remembered for.

[@chuckles3265]

She was an animal (in the best ways possible)

[@TheChef470]

She was an intelligent, articulate and sensitive lady worn down by the world. While I don't agree with what she ultimately did I also don't judge her for it. I am sorry that her pain became overwhelming and this was her only option. R.I.P. Wendy.

[@knucklesneanderthal]

I wish he hadn't taken her life.

[@felix121984]

I see her as Grace Jones wild white conterpart.

[@jeffl977]

I read about her suicide and felt both saddened and grateful. She seemed like such a wonderful soul that was so misunderstood due to the angst and anger in her music. And as someone that’s experienced some crippling bouts of depression since my teens, I have such admiration for the compassionate and thoughtful insights about suicide that she left behind before ending her own life.

[@Vixinaful]

She was a vegetarian and they are usually low in vitamin D and B causing depression. :)

[@jessvolina6007]

Can you imagine if she had to endure what pop music is today? What an awesome chick. Love you forever.

[@goulartaf66]

I think she foreseen the future! Left this crap planet!

[@ladyrachel13]

She was a sweet person who had deep thoughts. She was into organic and no sugar before it was popular to do so. She didn't take cr@p from anyone and thumbed her nose at convention. When I hear about Lady Gaga or any of the other female singers and how people act like they were the first of their kind I just shake my head. Women like Wendy O. Williams, Dale Bozzio and Nina Hagen to name a few who thought outside the box and used their talents in a way that women had never done before was groundbreaking and innovative. These women were the first because it was a man's world, a real boys club. May she rest in peace.

[@Vixinaful]

Yeah, they went their intelligence and didnt follow the pack. They knew better. Rare kinds.

[@Valeriazane]

they were pioneers for the women who came after, no doubt

[@FractAlkemist]

Saw her with her Plasmatics band in '86. A quirky little club called "Manhattans" in Rockland county, NY.

[@Senator107]

When you watch a Plasmatics performance you don't expect her to sound so sweet in like in this interview.

[@PAULLONDEN]

You expected her to be all "Hell's Angel and Sid Vicious-like" ?..... it's all show business , in other words, an act. With the Plasmatics she literally was a circus act. On the side she was a sensitive housewife doing porn and prone to depressions. She sounds very snobbish here about "pop" ,as if her "heavy metal" wasn't an industry , and prone to become parody. (Mütly Crud anyone ?) Besides appreciating heavy metal, one can also dig well constructed pop; like that of Todd Rundgren , Aerosmith ,Iggy Pop, Beatles for example, who were also able to play heavy metal(rock).

[@65rowan]

***** Totally agree her voice would never match Janice's ever. Debbie Harry who basically sang Pop, New Wave could blow her out of the water. Listen to Victor Or Living In The Real World By Blondie. She could do pop or Metal if so.

[@jas22]

+PAULLONDEN i disagree a bit - from what I absorbed listening to Wendy so long ago, the performance, and the music were her way of getting out her aggression. that was her physical and mental workout. her shyness was put away and her inner feelings of anger and aggression were allowed to run free....yes, she's realized it was an art form, but to her it was a therapy, maybe.

[@PAULLONDEN]

jas22 That certainly is true;...although that _therapy_ didn't do her much good though...probably because inside she knew she was just performing another unconvincing circus act, which made her even more depressed.Maybe she shoud've played some blues,the age old therapy for letting out demons. Now *_that_* would've been a serious spectacle.

[@jas22]

+PAULLONDEN well, i do not like most blues music and hear nothing therapeutic about it. and again, im not a biographer on W.O.W., but her depression was not how you stated it. it was a probably a lifelong thing - notice how in old interviews she totally sidesteps any questions on family and her rearing/childhood, for the most part. her demise was because she could not adjust to a "normal" life, not because of some disenchantment or questioning of her self-value as a performer. i can't be 100% sure, but my life experiences and how i read her hints that.

[@sorrynotsorry5589]

Funny, compared to todays music, Huey Lewis and the news, & Duran Duran are actually welcome to my ears.

[@oldnatty61]

Yeah. Even then why them? Love her! But so much more low hanging fruit.

[@film79]

And yet their still awful

[@wam44]

This is a great interview and spot on. I respect Wendy. RIP

[@deplorabledave1048]

I watched Wendy and her motely crew blow up a Caddy on stage at the Palladium, Nov. 1979. 7th row, stage right. Epic!!!!

[@danielscissorhands]

@wall875 She wrote in her suicide note: "I don't believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time. I do believe strongly, however, that the right to do so is one of the most fundamental rights that anyone in a free society should have. For me, much of the world makes no sense, but my feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner ear and a place where there is no self, only calm." RIP Wendy.

[@adami2140]

One of the most beautiful and un-self serving things I have ever read

[@wam44]

I am sad she chose to end her life and respect her decision to do it. I agree with her statement and have always maintained that it should be everyone's right to end their own life if they so choose. RIP Wendy.

[@marklacroix373]

@@adami2140 Wrong. It is the ultimate self serving act (or ego based).

[@DavidSmith-ss1cg]

@@marklacroix373 - Na-aah. The corporate creeps that run the world - and wear the name of Christ like a badge of honor - don't want their sheep to control the ending of their lives(although they'd have no problem with THEM ending somebody's life - they'd sell tickets and take pictures) and preach that if you take your life, you're going to Hell. Death is no secret; and for the authorities to make people afraid of it is a horrible crime. It's handled terribly badly - just so they can make money from it. And that's not even mentioning the funeral industry(Read "The American Way of Death" by Jessica Mitford or watch "Ask A Mortician" on KZbin), which more people should know about. Wendy was a bright spark, a furious bundle of energy onstage, and it's terrible that she saw no way out of whatever situation she was in. RIP Wendy O Williams.

[@wataboutya9310]

@@DavidSmith-ss1cg The corporate creeps you speak of do run the world but the name of Christ many of them claim to wear is phony. They are akin to the Pharisees and Sadducees from the time that Jesus walked the earth in the flesh. They had taken the law of Moses and interpreted it to meet their own greedy needs and manipulate the masses. Jesus pointed this out to them and they had him killed. Just like the modern day ones eliminate anyone who becomes a threat to them.

[@sidDkid87]

*_Hey, Wendy! I'm over 40! In my 60's as a matter of fact! And I loved you (RIP) and shared your disdain for Duran Duran and Huey Lewis AND the news! REST IN POWER!!!_* 🎸🎶💪

[@irishguy13]

I really had no idea she was that thoughtful and well-spoken. That shocked me more than her wonderful stage act.

[@sharonjensen3016]

The stage act stayed on the stage obviously. Just as it should.

[@gayskunk]

If she thought that pop music was bad, i wonder what she would have thought about it today. I wish she was still here damn it! WE NEED WENDY!

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

We never need another shock punk poser like her.

[@groovywitch1955]

Eleven years later and it just got worse :( wish Wendy was still around

[@bluewater21456]

She was a living Goddess she rocked!!!

[@nigelcarren]

Relevant story from a music shop in England in 1985: I am a keyboard guy but on a Saturday my job was to deal with customers and deal with all the repairs. Once including a string-reverb that a Motorhead roadie called Fungus had broken and he didn't want anyone to know... It was a mad place for a 16 year old Virgin like me to be. Something happened in that shop one Saturday there that I will never forget. Like all music shops, the guitar room was always a battlefield on a Saturday and there were always MANY Ego's to 'deal with' (shall we say). But on this day two guys were duelling at opposite ends of the shop, one screaming lick after another, each faster than the last. Then Frank (The boss ) walked out of the back office grabbed both guitars and hung them back up. Pointed at both the young men and boomed like Christopher Lee: "Music is about expression... it is not... a competition!" Something I didn't quite get as a teenager I admit, but now as a songwriter that resonates, and Wendy says something similar here. Have fun people... Now go and make some noise!!! 😎🇬🇧

[@kirbythecomputerguy7610]

Careful my friend ...you may wake the segment of metal heads out there who are sleepwalking through the greatest resurgence of Metal in history .

[@edfalconi5022]

I would have loved to had been there for that. You must have been like Holy Shit WTF just happened? 😆

[@shaneshamblin1983]

"I can never be 50." Love you, Wendy.

[@aprilcarter7089]

She was so cool.

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

Said no one.

[@ryankieth1675]

Ever

[@steveziv]

I met her after a show in the 80's and she was very friendly, charming actually.

[@dwaynejohnson8858]

Wow i was born 1983 may 22th RIP she and lemmy was awesome Unbelievable its 38 years later now

[@conservativehippie9736]

My favorite yr...15 yrs old and loving life

[@MarkGelderland]

Saw her with the Plasmatics live in '81 ( Stokvishal Arnhem); i was deaf for a week -for real !!! :)

[@connyeriksson138]

So long as we play your songs you will live Wendy

[@randyerb6839]

She was incredible. I miss her. TY for sharing this.

[@winkelman1969]

A trully heavy metal singer heart and soul. The message is so true and clear. She is Heavy Metal. Thank you Wendy you were the best. 🍻

[@infernumterram]

"They'd sooner die or throw up." Love and miss ya, Wendy O.! Should've held on, babe.

[@HappyWolverine]

Legend, Pioneer and genuine article RIP Wendy you are missed

[@keithurquhart2581]

She looking great I had the pleasure of seeing her in Worcester mass at emlows now the palladium great show so cool monkey suit they played

[@TheSWolfe]

Oh, Wendy O. I'm no corporate bureaucrat, but I'm way over 40 & still love you! And you were & still are right, we will puke if we have to listen to another song by Huey Lewis & the Old News. You shall always be the Queen of brazen, badass heavy metal/punk rock. You left us way too soon gurl - it's not for me to question your reasons and/or choices, I'm just saying, we miss you - your fearlessness, your beauty, your musicianship (yeah, I said it, Wendy worked hard & gave her all at everything she did). So glad I got to see you when I did, way back in the day. Rock in Peace, Sister, and Blessed Be.

[@davidshort8344]

Wendy was so intelligent and a beautiful human soul. And yes, very very heavy. The best. A legend. I'll cherish her music for the rest of my days. She took no prisoners...❤

[@johnRpico]

She had this punk sound that a heavy metalist can groove to. When she turned WOW I was like-I knew it!

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

Exactly. Punk, NOT metal.

[@angryagain3801]

thanks 4 posting this.

[@at6686]

It’s amazing how far down hill music has gone since that interview. The bands she talks about have 1000% more integrity than the shit put out today.

[@adami2140]

At least we had grunge

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

Her shit house band was part of the beginning of garbage music packaged as "edgy"........total poser music.

[@at1970]

@@leopardcubpupkryky6940 As opposed to say people like cardio B and and virtually everybody doing “crap”

[@kirbythecomputerguy7610]

@@leopardcubpupkryky6940 I couldn't disagree more, she was doing what she wanted to do DESPITE the fact that women metal lead singers were not considered bankable by the record industry, not considered anything other than a novelty by the Metal/Punk community / and despised by other male front men/ the genre also had it's share of influential bigots , that made having a black bass player an unnecessary liability BUT STILL she prevailed .

[@kirbythecomputerguy7610]

i disagree here too ... DUDE i can name 10 CURRENT bands who she without question has had a profound influence on....READY? ....In this Moment , Junger , the butcher babies , Arch Enemy , Spirtbox , Otep ,Kittie the list is endless , within temptation, L7 ETC

[@michaelwilson2340]

Night Flight was so good! It really influenced my musical taste in the late 80's. Plus you got your Bob Dobbs fix as well.

[@larrylemons9058]

She was way before her time She kicked the door down for alot of Women to front METAL BANDS !! THANK You W.O.W

[@BlasphometicHermetic]

She was the greatest! Nobody could wail like Wendy O. Williams! We miss you Wendy!

[@bernieleenercranz9046]

I remember this show from way back, had a lot of good episodes. Wish I could buy it on DVD.

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

It's still on cable tv

[@psychochicken9535]

@@shannonm.townsend1232 Where? Service and channel?

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

@@psychochicken9535 in central valley of CA, Showtime I think, in the 800's

[@reporteciudad7591]

Te sigo extrañando aunque tenga mucho tiempo te fuiste, que gran personalidad, en el escenario

[@LouisFLamas]

Years ago I saw Wendy O Williams open for KISS on their tour.

[@highjinxwillie62]

Gene Simmons said Wendy was the real deal

[@lionofusa1]

She was an original with a great sound, but that only goes so far in the Music Industry, you either bend to the times, break or get out and she "JUST WALKED OUT". G-D BLESS YOU WENDY, wherever you are?

[@VeronicaV70]

I hope she's in a better world and happy now. RIP Wendy.

[@terrylumpkin4219]

A big fan and I miss Wendy O Williams🤘🤘🤘

[@kennywilson3755]

So ahead of her time,wonder if she even realized ,God Bless you Wenndy

[@davidpar2]

for being almost 3O year old footage, this video looks as if it were filmed in HD yesterday. super high quality

[@ellouco1020]

That seemed to be from 2000! So now its 21 years ago. Your commen t is even 8 years old so who am I talking to?!

[@Mysteriuminiquitatis1998]

@@ellouco1020 she wasn’t even alive in 2000. She died in 98. This may be from the mid to late 90s

[@lloydfranks1357]

Yes Wendy!! You tell them what it is! What it is! Is Metal!! Give it your all and soak up the love. Take the show to a new level or go home knowing you could have done better!!! I love you Wendy! Wendy O!!

[@D.A.Hanks14]

She was very well spoken.

[@jaysonlee4394]

You are the Heaviest woman in metal.....

[@jameskonners8304]

Truth! Telling it like it is...RIP....Wendy O

[@paultricker]

a true human XXX I fucking love her and I'm 53 !!!

[@bernardolarroza6745]

Unica, diosa!! La gran WENDY O WILLIAMS!! Tuvo una vida tan original como su muerte.

[@jackpagliacci]

1983... and she has YET to be surpassed!

[@Blumoon_vii]

She doesn't get enough credit. What a super star her soul was so pure for this world

[@mikereiss4216]

I always thought of Wendy O and or the Plasmatics as more punk than heavy metal. Interesting to hear her talk about HM. I guess punk was pretty much dead by 1983 so...

[@markfrancis1210]

R I P Wendy, You Rock

[@ninamc6116]

I loved Night Flight! Was on USA network

[@PatBenatarRulz]

RIP Wendy!! You rock!!!

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

No she doesn't.

[@davidcoombsbestmegadethalb9780]

yes she does dont be stupid@@leopardcubpupkryky6940

[@elihyland4781]

Doesn’t she just inspire you to live the coolest version of your life that you possibly can? 🦄🌊🪁🦇❤️‍🔥

[@pissed555]

She does!

[@scotabot7826]

Aaahhh...... NO, not in the least bit. Although I do see a great, great sadness and sickness in her that made me have great compassion for her. So sad the way she chose to end it all. There is help for these kinds of issues. Seek help!!

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

Nope, she enspires me to not write garbage music and dress like a poser.

[@SweetTeaConnoisseur]

@@leopardcubpupkryky6940 I'm genuinely curious, what's your grudge with Wendy? You've left hundreds of replies here shitting on her but haven't given a single logical reason for doing so. (Other than making music you dislike and "dressing like a poser", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.)

[@TheTheLeeloo]

Absolute queen, love her so much

[@imhereforthememes2735]

Wendy is selling herself, still being honest, and holding own. Every man wishes they met a Wendy O. Williams who keeps it honest.

[@allanallione4766]

ALL MY BLESSINGS ! TO MY QUEEN GODDESS ! WENDY O WILLIAMS !

[@ricardoybarra5056]

She was ahead of her time.R.I.P W.O.W !

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

Not

[@krisscanlon4051]

She was soft spoken which is very interesting and rather well spoken on music.

[@infoscholar5221]

RIP, Wendy O.

[@shadowplay2801]

remember hearing a promo on the radio for the plasmatic's "see wendy thrash a caddilac on stage"

[@DryadRoot]

1:26 "... a pop musician couldn't play heavy metal... but a heavy metal musician could play pop music" ahhahaha so true!!! I MISS YOU WENDY!

[@srtawilliamss]

ella fue una gran mujer!!!!

[@PlayitagainVHS]

I bet if she was alive today , she wouldn't like alot of these current bands today.RIP Wendy.🙏❤️

[@gmrios]

This is a real interview!

[@theoryg]

I wish I had really experienced the Plasmatics in the 80s but I wasnt even in high school at the time. I became aware of her officially during her performance on late night comedy show

[@mauriciodesouzadias4728]

Eu AMO Wendy O. Williams

[@chuckdeezul2180]

Wendy... Nt much has changed with the music business. You would HATE today's music as I do.

[@NewYorkS4U]

I LOVE Wendy, both inside and out. She's my queen and I'm her peasant. She makes Gaga seem like a follower.

[@edfalconi5022]

Gaga is a follower. Dale Bosio of Missing Persons set the pace for Gaga and others. I think Dale probably knew of Wendy. Williams however was in a class of her own. She was as they say the "High Priestess of Metal and Punk" She was it. There was no equal.

[@stevecavagan4259]

It's always been the same and always will be. As long as the public allow themselves to be force fed corporate product, we will always have a sanitised and safe entertainment industry. She talks a lot of sense here.

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

Listen to some brutal death metal you will not feel safe..

[@blaqbond2162]

True Metal Queen. RIP Icon!🖤🖤🖤

[@MrAliquippawill1]

It's a little difficult to conceive of a level-headed, intelligent, articulate individual as Wendy appears to be during this interview, becoming so despondent with the ways of the world that she sacrifices her own life. One of the most admirable attributes of Wendy Williams was the very tenacity she displayed in attacking life......pure strength & courage. That same courage should have prevented her from"giving in" to her various demons of self-destruction.

[@meself349]

Supposedly she killed herself, according to Rod Swenson, because life became too boring for her after she settled down in Connecticut with him. I can tell you from personal experience that Connecticut is a state that would kill anybody who had any real creativity. Not just a boring place with a startling absence of thinking, creative individuals, but the majority of "Nutmeggers" are narrow-minded, intolerant, miserable, competitive, money grubbing and mean spirited. And that's on a good day. Maybe Wendy would still be alive if she had moved somewhere else. Connecticut does not really welcome anybody with spirit and creativity. Those things are considered too threatening.

[@hardrockinmofo9742]

I Love And Miss You, Wendy O.!

[@joeblow1115]

Wendy is my hero. I have seriously thought that I want to follow her footsteps.

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

LMFAO, yeah right

[@joeblow1115]

@@leopardcubpupkryky6940 Not her musical career, her demise. Some people are not meant for this world and they know it.

Love and miss you, WOW.

[@crusty21]

01:42 What about Hall and Oats Wendy ?...They were also a staple of the 80's home slice.

[@scooch2010]

she was amazing!!!!

[@JOStaal]

In memory of our beloved WENDY O. WILLIAMS (May 28 1949 - April 6 1998)

[@paulorojas6863]

Amor eterno WOW!

[@johnnyamadhi2333]

MY IDOL!!!

[@toma.4808]

I still cant believe shes gone. RIP

[@ninjasupreme5966]

I feel how she looked at things. And all the way back then, what a bad ass! Rock in peace..

[@eugvh18]

she made point there, rip my queen

[@zaratustra06]

Classic act. Timeless words in this interview.

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

Class act????? LMFAO

[@PsychedelicFunkLover]

she was awesome !

[@imhereforthememes5063]

I miss her.

[@gretscher]

Yeah I agree with what you are saying. Your points are pretty much on the mark. I didn't think of it that way but now that you mention it I do agree with what you say and see what Wendy O. Williams means.

[@maureenwagg5305]

She shocked me at the time but I learned to really appreciate her. She is bang on about female metal singers. Even some "metal" singers aren't encouraged to sing metal. They try and pop it up for a wider audience. I'm with Wendy. F 'em.

[@rizon72]

Yet to get to metal you had to experiment and expand. I feel elitists are ruining metal now. If you are not what you say metal is, you are not metal, elitist stupidity.

[@MariUSukulele]

✨blessed she be✨

[@debgibsonfan]

She was so beautiful.

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

🤮🤮🤮

[@badbrain7163]

I 🖤 Wendy. RIP😢

[@BazookaToe]

Like her tattoo says “WoW”, she was awesome.

[@Triangulove]

I agree with her about everything but Duran Duran. I like one album by them.

[@Renegade666]

Im sure she would have appreciated Angela Gossow, Alisa Glutz White, Tatiana from Jinjer etc for being some of the heaviest women in metal!

[@slowdancer5563]

The hardest rocking chic that I've ever heard of.

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

LOL, not even close.

[@MENFUSSMIKE]

Happy Birthday. You are missed!!!

[@debgibsonfan]

So beautiful.....R.I.P. Wendy.

[@leopardcubpupkryky6940]

🤮🤮

[@cookiepartyyy]

RIP THE BADDEST EVER