The Wendy O. Williams Appreciation Post
I've been seeing a lot of memes going around my f-list on the subject of 'Female actors/characters/creators that inspire you'. This is sort of a difficult subject for me, as many of my interests are in heavily male-dominated fields, plus I've been in a near-total pop culture blackout since HBO's OZ went off the air in 2003.
And then I thought... WENDY O. WILLIAMS!
Wendy Orleans Williams was a punk and metal pioneer, the popularizer of the mohawk haircut in music, a badass performance artist, and an animal lover. If you need an introduction to her in an easily digestible 1.07 format, here's this clip from the '10 Years of Revolutionary Rock-n-Roll' DVD:
What amazes me about Wendy is that she did everything she did with really NO female role models. Metal and punk were almost totally male-dominated musical art forms (and still are, to a lesser extent, today). She had to find her own way all by herself. She would get onstage wearing little more than a leather thong and electrical tape over her nipples, be WILD and AGGRESSIVE at a time when female singers were never like that, and chainsaw guitars in half because she wanted to make a statement on materialism. She rejected what the music industry wanted female metal singers to be, and had a passionate love of her music. I think every contemporary female artist who trades on their 'kooky' and 'confrontational' image owes a BIG debt to Wendy O. Williams.
Check out this badass video for "The Damned". Wendy drives a school bus through a wall of televisions, then climbs on top of the still-rolling school bus (apparently sans a harness, which is fucking insane and amazing) and rocking out just for the hell of it.
Wendy also starred in an awesomely schlocky 'women in prison' movie called Reform School Girls, which, like Snakes on a Plane, is one of those movies that lets you know whether you'll like it or not just from the title alone. She plays, of course, the baddest of the titular Reform School Girls. Her character has an epic introductory scene, where we see Wendy laying on a cot, lifting weights with one hand while paging through a nudie magazine with the other.
Reform School Girls (Wendy O. Williams) by luchagringo
This movie has the most unbelievable plot in history, because in real life there'd be no way in hell either of those doe-eyed beauties would fuck with Wendy O. Williams. She looks like she would break them in half and eat them for fish-sticks. I mean, look at her body! I wouldn't fuck with her.
Wendy died tragically by her own hand in 1998 at the age of 48. All I can hope is that she escaped her demons. In her suicide note, she stated that she felt that it was her right as a human being to be able to end her life the way she wanted, just as she lived it as she wanted. R.I.P. Wendy O. Williams. And here's to you; I can only hope to have a little of your fire and power in my life.
And then I thought... WENDY O. WILLIAMS!
Wendy Orleans Williams was a punk and metal pioneer, the popularizer of the mohawk haircut in music, a badass performance artist, and an animal lover. If you need an introduction to her in an easily digestible 1.07 format, here's this clip from the '10 Years of Revolutionary Rock-n-Roll' DVD:
Click to viewWhat amazes me about Wendy is that she did everything she did with really NO female role models. Metal and punk were almost totally male-dominated musical art forms (and still are, to a lesser extent, today). She had to find her own way all by herself. She would get onstage wearing little more than a leather thong and electrical tape over her nipples, be WILD and AGGRESSIVE at a time when female singers were never like that, and chainsaw guitars in half because she wanted to make a statement on materialism. She rejected what the music industry wanted female metal singers to be, and had a passionate love of her music. I think every contemporary female artist who trades on their 'kooky' and 'confrontational' image owes a BIG debt to Wendy O. Williams.
Check out this badass video for "The Damned". Wendy drives a school bus through a wall of televisions, then climbs on top of the still-rolling school bus (apparently sans a harness, which is fucking insane and amazing) and rocking out just for the hell of it.
Wendy also starred in an awesomely schlocky 'women in prison' movie called Reform School Girls, which, like Snakes on a Plane, is one of those movies that lets you know whether you'll like it or not just from the title alone. She plays, of course, the baddest of the titular Reform School Girls. Her character has an epic introductory scene, where we see Wendy laying on a cot, lifting weights with one hand while paging through a nudie magazine with the other.
Reform School Girls (Wendy O. Williams) by luchagringo
This movie has the most unbelievable plot in history, because in real life there'd be no way in hell either of those doe-eyed beauties would fuck with Wendy O. Williams. She looks like she would break them in half and eat them for fish-sticks. I mean, look at her body! I wouldn't fuck with her.
Wendy died tragically by her own hand in 1998 at the age of 48. All I can hope is that she escaped her demons. In her suicide note, she stated that she felt that it was her right as a human being to be able to end her life the way she wanted, just as she lived it as she wanted. R.I.P. Wendy O. Williams. And here's to you; I can only hope to have a little of your fire and power in my life.