Customer Reviews

Wendy O. Williams and The Plasmatics: The DVD - Ten Years of Revolutionary Rock and Roll

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Plasmatics have been my favorite band since 1981, but when I saw this hideous DVD I felt very let down. Rod Swenson should be ashamed of himself for allowing this DVD to see the light of day. It is not a documentary at all. It is nothing but bits and pieces of The Plasmatics and Wendy over a span of 10 years; with half truths, fabrications, and the elimination of most of the other band members.

They knowingly and quite obviously cut Richie Stotts out of the videos. In "The Damned" video, they also added some cheesy effect to make the desert scene look like a moon drenched evening...UGH! It was also implied that Richie's guitar playing was perhaps "not up to snuff" which I found riotous. He and Wes Beech are both great guitar players, and were tremendous assets to the band.

As fans, we are not always privy to the "falling outs" between producers/managers and band members, but I remember reading somewhere that there was no love lost between Swenson and Richie. That must explain Richie's nonexistence on the DVD. It's very sad when disagreements and money issues have to estrange the fans. It is 25 years later; Plasmatics fans deserve a FULL history when making a documentary. Who knows, maybe Richie didn't want to participate or authorize them to do so. We may never know, but it is sad nonetheless. I would love to have seen interviews with Chosei, Chris, Stu, & Jean, reflecting on that charisma that we enjoyed as fans.

The one positive thing I can say about this DVD is that seeing the concert footage after 25 years was wonderful, and brought back many great memories. However, the DVD looks as if it was just strewn together without care and consideration for neither the fans nor the band members that were omitted from the project. The woman narrating the video does an appalling job. She sounds like she is reading cue cards, and at times speaks too fast and with no inflection whatsoever. It is my guess that until she got this gig, she had never heard of the Plasmatics.

This DVD aches to be remade, featuring a COMPREHENSIVE account of ALL band members, unedited music videos/concert footage in their entirety, and less focus on Wendy. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Wendy, but The Plasmatics were more than just "Wendy"...they were an ENSEMBLE. Their success was a group effort.

I do agree with the reviewer about Swenson leading Wendy down the "path of bad metal," and Gene Simmons having a hand in it as well. The "WOW" album was mostly overlooked KISS songs that didn't suit her, and "KOK" was even less enjoyable. "Ultrafly" is just intolerable to listen to, and while "Maggots" is labeled a "Plasmatics" album; it lacks the magic of the 4 prior albums.

I am embarrassed for Rod Swenson, and anyone else involved in making this DVD. It is a disgrace to both the band, and the fans.

This dvd is a lot of fun.I could watch her over and over an not get tired of it.The only lousy part of this is the lady commenting about it.She doesn't need to go on and on and it would be more fun without her talk.

A couple years ago I heard the plasmatics and I fell in love with Wendy and her really cool style.I got this dvd which I just treasure because Wendy is so great and she looks terific in every scene.
I highly recomend this dvd and it's guarenteed to get you exited.And maybe have a major crush on her if she was still here.
I'd buy it again any day

An entertained albeit poorly produced ¨rockumentary ¨on this legendary american punk/metal band; this is one of those products good enough as to make it something you just HAVE to have if you're a fan of the band, but leaves you with a sensation of incompleteness. Why ? Apparently the producers of the dvd and/or band had some sort of disagreement with guitarrist Richie Stotts and left him out of the documentary, not an interview or reference to him, and what is worst, the clips have been edited so as not to show the man ( except on some of the live clips), mutilating their artistic integrity. These people should have left these quarrels aside for 2 main reasons :

1- They should have foreseen this fact would reflect on the sales.
2- They should have bitten the bullet an respected the fans.

This said; the documentary is mainly stills and newspapers/magazines clippings,making off of videoclips, interwiews and some good footage of the band that's linked to the clips section via easter eggs-like buttons and a somewhat indifferent female narrator in off. The editing is jerky but effective, compressing as much info as possible in a generous 120'; the sound is loud, crisp and clear and the picture is excellent 4:3. There's a 1 hour full clips section comprising scarce live footage from Bond's Casino and Perkins Palace in `81, with excellent sound (no complete shows)some videoclips (though only a few seconds of Pier 17, which was the biggest letdown to me )some bootleg, low fi but interesting live footage of the later WOW lineup and several songs from the Bump ^N Grind dvd.
Not a must buy and you can always rent it but this particular fan thinks this dvd is good enough till some complete live performances are released.NOT BAD AT ALL !!!

With all the crummy bootlegs of the same old tired footage that has been circulationg for years, to finally have not only something of this quality but real rare concert footage (not just the TV shows which made for culture bending TV but were clearly watered down from the real live shows) as well as the best of the classic vids on this legendary performer and band is a truly momentous occasion, and one well worth the wait. As other reviewers have pointed out this DVD stands alone as a rockumentary that covers the 10 year story of Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics with tons of pictures, interviews and clips and also stands alone with over an hour of just straight music video clips (the whole thing is like 3 hours long). In this sense it's two DVDs in one and so a great bargain. The menus and buttons allow you to navigate back and forth between the two sections or you can watch them separately. Very cool! The live footage by and large is amazing and the sound overall kills. The breathtaking story of the arrests the explosive shows, the transformation of the music from one historic milestone to the next and most of all Willams energy and amazing voice filled with power, passion and just plain guts all add up to make this an absolute must have for any true fan (I'll exclude the sorry bunch that wanted Williams to stay in a rut and do the same thing over and over and thus who never had a clue as to what she was about anyway) and for anyone who has only heard the rumors or stories and wants to find out for themselves. More power to the folks who brought this out. If there are any sexist morons left in the world who think a woman can't rock this DVD will send them eating their words and running for cover. Get it!

Richie was deliberately edited out of the Damned video and just about every single clip on the disc. There must be some seriously bad blood between the producers of the disc and Richie - with him being edited out of clips and his playing ability slammed constantly. It was sickening. I can't believe a history of the Plasmatics doesn't even show his face. So disappointing. I'm in shock. Truly a sad spectacle.

Let me start by saying I LOVE the Plasmatics. They were an amazing band, until Rod Swenson, Butch Star, Axeman or whatever he goes by these days, led Wendy down a path of bad metal (K.O.K & Maggots) and even a rap record. WOW, is this the same person that sang "Tight Black Pants"? What a let down, and so was this terrible DVD. After viewing this DVD I realized that amazing footage does exist, but it's unfortunate you barely get a taste. The Rockumentary (total cheese) was so poorly edited a blind person could have done a better job. The thing that really bothered me was Richie Stotts wasn't even mentioned, and seemed to be edited out completely. Not sure why, since he was the co-founder and the FIRST person in the Punk world to have a mowhawk. FACT! Where were the other living members? Where's Rod? Who are these people and who cares what they have to say? I don't! I felt like I was watching the worst "Under Review" DVD ever made. And the annoying narrator only made it worst. I had no idea what she was talking about half the time. I give this release 1 star. The Bonds & Perkins Palace footage is great. Even though the audio isn't really live, it's still pretty cool. In my opinion, this DVD should have been filled with complete performances of the era that most Plasmatics fans would care about. All in all, I say save your money. I wish I did.

Being an old Punk Rock fan, after having purchased the "Ramones End of the Century" documentary and being so impressed, I couldn't wait to get "10 years of Revolutionary Rock and Roll from the Plasmatics" to add to my DVD collection. To this day, I believe that "New Hope for the Wretched" is the CLASSIC recording that was years ahead of its time!

The good news is that this DVD was given to me as a gift and being a Plasmatics fan since 1980, having caught them live in 1982, and still enjoying them to this day, I was so looking forward to this documentary, especially since all the cool video clips such as their performance of "Butcher Baby" on FRIDAYS, their performance of "Squirm", "Tight Black Pants", etc at the pier in New York, (which to me were classic performances beyond belief) were removed from youtube.

This documentary was nothing like I expected.

For a start, never have I heard such indifference in a narrator and especially talking so fast that a few rewinds were a must to catch everything that was said.

I enjoyed the interview they did with Wes Beech as he was definitely a key player. But what about Richie Stotts, Stu Deutsch, Jean Beauvoir
or perhaps even Chosei Funahara if that were possible?

What was disturbing was no mention of Richie. If you watch the videos, he's been removed from significant scenes that we all remember, particularly when it is mentioned (without mentioning Richies name) that his guitar playing was substandard and how they had to bring another guitarist at some point (this is the period when Gene Simmons got involved) I thought that was asinine because if you listen to "New Hope For The Wretched", Richie Stotts, Stu Deutsch, Jean Beauvoir were tight musicians, not to mention their stage presence (listen to Jean Beauvoirs bass lines). I believe they really shaped the sound of the Plasmatics in those days; especially Richies stage presence, showmanship and flash! Nevertheless one would almost never even know about them after watching this documentary.

I did notice that emphasis was placed on Rod Swenson, Hilly Kristal, Gene Simmons, and the period that the band sounded more metal then the trademark punk sound that defined their image and originality in my opinion.

The bottom line: I believe that somebody just wanted to capitalize on this project and did the least in putting this documentary together, deliberately altering it so that certain individuals would not get any kind of recognition for all of the blood sweat and grind that they contributed to the Plasmatics and in the end, roll profit into the hands of people that don't even need it.

And if so, I wonder what Wendy would have thought if she was still with us, since she appeared to be such an opponent of materialism and capital gain at the expense of others which I admired about her.

My final verdict: One could argue that this is a must if you totally missed out on the Plasmatics and need a crash course to catch up and that this is a "must have" for Plasmatics fans.

But for those of us who either caught them live or remember those killer moments that we can identify with such as their performance on FRIDAYS, their performance at the pier in New York with the classic line up (which are not included in the clip section of the video) in addition to others, I would say try not to spend too much money on this documentary or you may be disappointed.

After looking forward to the release of this dvd, I was as bitterly disappointed as most of the reviewers here. To slam Richie Stotts and not accord him the respect he deserves is the equivalent of the surviving members of Queen slamming Freddie Mercury for his falsetto. Unthinkable! Yet, it happens on this dvd. Worse, the "producers" go out of their way to cut him out of every piece of video footage on the dvd. Yet, they also have the nerve to use his music throughout the dvd. Most appalling is editing Stotts out of the video for The Damned and calling it a "director's cut" Who are these people kidding? It gets one star for some good footage and the memories, but there is an alternative, there is a dvd called "Chainsaws, Shotguns and Rock and Roll" It is hard to find ( I got my copy on Ebay) but it is a great collection and a fitting tribute to the Plasmatics. As far as this dvd is concerned the Plasmatics and Wendy deserved better!

To begin with, I have to rate this DVD with an I for INCOMPLETE as it far from finished. After watching I was unsatisfied and in utter disbelief. The other reviews here are not off the mark except for the one 5 star rating that seems as if it was probably written by someone with a financial interest in the sale of this excuse of a Rockumentary. The filthy hypocrits are those that had anything to do with piece of crap. The live footage is worth having but man I hate having to support whomever slapped this together just to get my hands on it.