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Sound Opinions Message Board _ Music Discussion _ Andrew W.K.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 8 2006, 04:16 PM
several years removed, what is to be made of this cultural artifact?
i get a strange sensation listening to "party hard" in 2006.
discuss.
Posted by: Films Camera Jul 8 2006, 04:20 PM
Was it indicative of anything? I just thought it sucked.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 8 2006, 04:21 PM
Was it indicative of anything?
it is if you think he's a complete and utter fraud.
i just wish he'd come out and say it now that any hopes he had of going multi-platinum have been extinguished.
Posted by: deej Jul 8 2006, 04:22 PM
"I Get Wet" = classic album
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 8 2006, 04:25 PM
"I Get Wet" = classic album
it's certainly not a CLASSIC -- although perhaps subversively brilliant even if it failed in its ultimate aim.
Posted by: Films Camera Jul 8 2006, 04:27 PM
Andrew W.K. is laughing all the way to the bank.
well not so much anymore though.
Posted by: The Good Dr Bill Jul 8 2006, 04:31 PM
W.K. is still pretty amazing in small doses. "Party Hard," "She is Beautiful" and Your Friend, Andrew W.K. have been definite highlights of the decade. He even called a friend of mine on the phone after he submitted some card from the liner noteos to The Wolf, gave him some solid advice.
Posted by: BobtheSquid Jul 8 2006, 04:34 PM
He even called a friend of mine on the phone after he submitted some card from the liner noteos to The Wolf, gave him some solid advice.
Advice on partying?
Posted by: Slackmo Jul 8 2006, 04:35 PM
Music for beer commercials.
Posted by: MitchellStirling Jul 8 2006, 04:39 PM
NME in 2001; Strokes. White Stripes and Andrew WK. 2/3 ain't bad.
Remember you can't spell Andrew WK without 'wank'.
Posted by: solace Jul 8 2006, 04:45 PM
i used to hate him until i saw this:
http://homepage.mac.com/brokenhomeproduction/partyhard/iMovieTheater6.html
may be down right now, but it's brilliant
Posted by: Zero As A Limit Jul 8 2006, 05:14 PM
Party hard has been one of the few gems of a song in an otherwise dry decade.
Posted by: le chaton Jul 8 2006, 05:19 PM
our radio station hosts a large, free, outdoor music festival every year. 2 yrs ago Andrew WK headlined; i literally could not stop laughing during the performance. fucking hilarious.
before the show he actually changed from normal attrire into his typical dirty white garb. he had a whole closet of them.
we got smashed w/his band afterwards. classic.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 8 2006, 05:24 PM
oh my god, "I Get Wet" is truly one of my top 25 of the 2000's hands down. Seriously, it packs so much retarded fun into a short little ball. I will never forget the first time I heard "I Love New York." I was in tears from the opening chantings of "I love New York City! OH YEAH! New York City!" He totally backs the retarded fun of the disc up in his live show, too. Yeah, I totally am an AWK mark, but that's fine. He's earned my respect throughout the years.
Damned shame that "The Wolf" is one of the most attrocious discs in recent memory, sans "Never Let Down" which is such a pump-yourself-up anthem. Another classic track.
Posted by: themeparkexperience Jul 8 2006, 05:26 PM
Great music to play video game hockey to.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jul 8 2006, 05:30 PM
"We Want Fun" is an awesome, awesome song. Remember that MTV special where he went to the all black girls college? Weird.
Posted by: deja andyroo Jul 8 2006, 05:44 PM
"I Get Wet" = Awesome.
"The Wolf" = Overkill.
It's highly unlikely that I'd pick up a third album, but at least the first one was grand.
Posted by: Ben Jul 8 2006, 08:42 PM
So Bill, how does this one rank compared to "Black and White Town."
No. I kid. I kid. I really haven't listened to any of this since the time it came out. I'm surprised, and a bit amused that everybody is still digging on it. Hell, have fun.
Did this guy used to give interviews about what a deep dude he was. Talking about his piano lessons and whatnot.
Posted by: avatar_ackbar Jul 8 2006, 08:55 PM
a couple years back I found "I get wet" at a thrift store and bought it for 1.99.
It was worth the money, there are some good tracks. It serves it's purpose,
dumb as rocks pop punk with a metal edge.
I like to wake up to it blasting on my stereo. good music to wake up to.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jul 8 2006, 09:11 PM
You know, he hit himself in the face with a brick for this photograph.
That's so fucking cool.
Posted by: ryan Jul 8 2006, 09:22 PM
"We Want Fun" is an awesome, awesome song. Remember that MTV special where he went to the all black girls college? Weird.
I'd pay good money for a copy of this -- it was beyond weird.
By the end of that special I totally thought he was pegged for an MTV vj spot, but apparently that never materialized. For whatever it's worth, I haven't listened to that AWK debut since about three months after it came out, but I have it buried amongst my music somewhere. The second it surfaces, I'm listening.
Posted by: Wolfgang Jul 8 2006, 09:37 PM
I dragged a couple friends to the show on the I Get Wet tour and to this day they still thank me for doing so.
My friend's band made a doc for their first east coast tour and the footage they have driving up to and thru Manhattan is set to "I Love NYC", it's a pivital moment in music documentry footage.
Oh yeah, and Andrew W.K. could kick the shit out of Chuck Norris. FWD that to your friends.
Posted by: ryan Jul 8 2006, 09:37 PM
Oh yeah, and Andrew W.K. could kick the shit out of Chuck Norris. FWD that to your friends.
Posted by: Scarymuppet Jul 8 2006, 09:53 PM
I loved all the people saying "No, see, it's ironic!" back when this came out. I laughed when everyone else finally realized that he's just a retard that likes to party.
Posted by: Burzum Jul 8 2006, 09:54 PM
AWK on some crazy japanese show (apparently filmed in L.A.?) with Marty Friedman. I guess he released an album over there this week. I'm not much of an AWK fan but this is an amazing show and definitely worth watching.
Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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Posted by: Diesel Jul 8 2006, 10:20 PM
I Get Wet will rank very highly on my albums list when we get to that decade. No joke. Its one of the most fun, stoopid in a good way, infectious, energetic records I've heard in recent years. I still get pumped up whenever I hear it. "Party Hard" will rank quite highly on my singles list too, if I bother to do one for this era. The Wolf, sans a few songs, was a big letdown. He went far too overboard in Meat Loaf/Jim Steinman territory. I did get the chance to see him live once ... great show. Even my wife, who doesn't like his music, sang along to "We Want Fun" and enjoyed his energy. It looks like he's flamed out, but I'd accept him back with open arms if the next record (if there is one in the U.S., anyway) is any good. His TV show was a lot of fun too. Again, there's no deep meaning in his songs besides "Live Life to the Fullest," but its far better than many of the mopey indie rockers out there today.
I miss you, A.W.K.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jul 8 2006, 10:26 PM
"We Want Fun" is an awesome, awesome song. Remember that MTV special where he went to the all black girls college? Weird.
I'd pay good money for a copy of this -- it was beyond weird.
By the end of that special I totally thought he was pegged for an MTV vj spot, but apparently that never materialized. For whatever it's worth, I haven't listened to that AWK debut since about three months after it came out, but I have it buried amongst my music somewhere. The second it surfaces, I'm listening.
Remember the part where he was playing drums in the middle of a football field? It was pretty cool.
Posted by: ash Jul 8 2006, 10:45 PM
that tv show is fucking incredible. i have never seen something capture the feeling of being in japan better. insane.
Posted by: ryan Jul 8 2006, 11:55 PM
"We Want Fun" is an awesome, awesome song. Remember that MTV special where he went to the all black girls college? Weird.
I'd pay good money for a copy of this -- it was beyond weird.
By the end of that special I totally thought he was pegged for an MTV vj spot, but apparently that never materialized. For whatever it's worth, I haven't listened to that AWK debut since about three months after it came out, but I have it buried amongst my music somewhere. The second it surfaces, I'm listening.
Remember the part where he was playing drums in the middle of a football field? It was pretty cool.
That was prime.
All the "humorous" tension was so fucking priceless. You find yourself just waiting for something really stereotypical or racist to stumble out of somebody's mouth the entire time. From what I remember (which isn't enough, so if anyone finds this shit on YouTube, let me know), it was the greatest thing ever in the history of television.
Posted by: The Good Dr Bill Jul 9 2006, 12:28 AM
Andrew W.K. was like The Darkness, in that people like Sickpup assumed that they must be doing it tongue-and-cheek because they couldn't understand why other people liked them, these same people probably never really enjoyed listening to Boston and Journey in the first place. To people who do enjoy these bands, there's no reason to really assume that it's ironic, it makes sense in a very basic sort of way.
Posted by: ryan Jul 9 2006, 12:44 AM
Andrew W.K. was like The Darkness, in that people like Sickpup assumed that they must be doing it tongue-and-cheek because they couldn't understand why other people liked them, these same people probably never really enjoyed listening to Boston and Journey in the first place. To people who do enjoy these bands, there's no reason to really assume that it's ironic, it makes sense in a very basic sort of way.
Yes.
Posted by: More Haxx Jul 9 2006, 12:55 AM
I never knew whether hardcore kids making themselves barf during "Party 'Til You Puke" was tongue-in-cheek or not.
Posted by: undo Jul 9 2006, 01:12 AM
I bought I Get Wet, sold it, and then later regretted getting rid of it. Still have a CD-R of it, though. Great songs. I've never heard The Wolf but few here seem to like it, and Andrew WK is one artist that I really feel I can trust the board on.
Great live show. Made the otherwise awful Warped Tour of 2003 worth going to, and sticking around until the end for.
Also, if we really had to compare him to the Darkness, then I'd be using lots of ">" symbols in my post.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jul 9 2006, 02:00 AM
He just seems like such a nice guy. And he makes fun music. There's nothing to hate about him.. plus his website used to,or still does, have a video game starring him kicking ass double dragon style.
Posted by: Bhickman Jul 9 2006, 07:38 AM
fun album that, if you didn't get that it was a gag when it came out, something was definitely wrong with your brain.
Posted by: Ted Falconi Jul 9 2006, 08:28 AM
http://awilkeskrier.homestead.com/
More interesting in concept than content, but still good to know these people are out there.
Oh! and link gets nsfw if you scroll down far enough.
Posted by: Gbro Jul 9 2006, 09:14 AM
AWK live is an amazing experience. I saw him two nights in a row in a club here in town several years ago and left both concerts with a smile a mile wide both nights. Such great infectious fun--what's not to like?
Posted by: brent_D Jul 9 2006, 09:42 AM
wasn't this guy in the Fader about 6 months ago wearing a white suit and looking like Falco? He was talking about his new direction and comeback, and it pretty much seemed like a total admission that the previous incarnation was indeed an act and ironic. He had on aligator shoes and his hair was slicked back like "Wall Street." His new music was said to sound like Billy Joel and Human League. Ironic or not, I just thought he was too redundant and best remembered as a one hit wonder. Ronnie, back me up on this one. Where was that article?
In any case, I didn't hate him. I just never truly cared. At least he makes for an intriguing pop star. He deserves some limelight if Panic At The Disco is going to be the biggest new band.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 9 2006, 10:05 AM
Ronnie, back me up on this one. Where was that article?
he posted the photos to his web site, but i never saw the accompanying article.
i always secretly hoped he would hit it big and then reveal himself to be a complete fraud -- kind of like a big "joke's on you, america. ssssssssssssuckas." he never made it, but it would still be somewhat amusing if he admitted it was all an act anyway.
Posted by: MitchellStirling Jul 9 2006, 10:12 AM
I think that he's an invention of KLF.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 9 2006, 10:36 AM
I think that he's an invention of KLF.
the libertines would instantaneously become my favorite group of all time if the KLF thing were true.
Posted by: brent_D Jul 9 2006, 11:48 AM
the KLF hypothesis would be even better if it ran as deep as Kate Moss' inclusion and the junkie antics of Pete. So what we're agreeing on is that the music world needs more serreptitious contrivance?
Posted by: More Haxx Jul 9 2006, 11:51 AM
I'm doing my best.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 9 2006, 12:24 PM
it's quite appropriate that his lone american gig this summer is in the land of make-believe that is Orlando, FL.
he's also going to be "retiring" a set of his trademark white jeans/white shirt attire for display in the Hard Rock Cafe. Surprised they'd even be interested in using it. No one's going to know what the hell it is.
Posted by: UselessRocker Jul 9 2006, 01:37 PM
In England 2001, a music fan could not escape Andrew W.K. Like Mitchell said, the NME seemed to only talk about the Strokes, the Stripes and AWK. I remember I bought the album without having heard a note of it. It was fun, it had some campy almost Meatloaf-ish moments, but it rocked and hey, after hearing another Starsailor single on the radio, followed by "Trouble" for the millionth time,etc etc. - it was really was quite refreshing.
AWK seems like the nicest guy on the planet. I think there's obviously some tongue-in-cheek contrviance and some pretense to the whole act. But you need that sometimes. I don't mind indie guys who wear their everday attire and just play their stuff, without stage banter or light shows. But the greatest show I've ever been to was Prince, who joked with the crowd, danced, had purple rain and beads falling from the ceiling and oh yeah, he's like the best musician ever and the songs kick ass. Jack White wears only two colors and he doesn't get "he's a fraud" accusations (unless you're a jealous musician from Detroit). Michael Jackson wore fucking tasseled shoulderpads and he still sang "Man in the Mirror" like it was saving African kids. If AWK is in the Fader with slicked-back hair, new attire and talking about doing Billy Joel songs, then that doesn't make him a phony. Madonna gets herself a new outfit every few years and everyone cries "Reinvention!".
Lisa: "Don't you see? It's the same Malibu Stacy as before!"
Smithers: "But she's got a new hat!!"
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 9 2006, 02:01 PM
"Never Let Down" is seriously a great great song. I'm listening to it now and just wanting to scream along. And I think I will. It's so uneccessarily epic. Seriously this would have been a huge arena smash had it been by anyone else other than Andrew WK.
Posted by: Sausage II: Pornograffitti Jul 9 2006, 02:02 PM
How did none of this guys stuff chart that high? I can't believe it. Everyone knows who Andrew W.K. is.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 9 2006, 02:05 PM
Seriously. I think people found him to be too much of a joke. His music is ridiculous fun, though. And I really really wish I could find more episodes of "Your Friend, Andrew WK" somewhere. That show was the shit.
Posted by: Salve Jul 9 2006, 05:07 PM
Andrew W.K. was the first show I had ever seen before. Unlike most musical acts who just drive by our town or stop to eat Pancakes, he actually put on a show and opened up for Danko Jones. It was alot of fun too. I wish I had a copy of I Get Wet. I never heard anything from the Wolf and I just forgot about him until know. Good times.
Posted by: MitchellStirling Jul 9 2006, 05:36 PM
How did none of this guys stuff chart that high? I can't believe it. Everyone knows who Andrew W.K. is.
"Party Hard" made #19 and I bought it for 49p in a clearance about a month after it was released.
Posted by: Midnite_Vulture Jul 9 2006, 07:41 PM
I think I Get Wet was my #3 album of 2002. Count me among the few that actually like The Wolf. Regardless of irony or not, I can't deny the smiles that his music puts on my face.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 9 2006, 07:54 PM
I think I Get Wet was my #3 album of 2002. Count me among the few that actually like The Wolf. Regardless of irony or not, I can't deny the smiles that his music puts on my face.
yeah, listening to him is kinda like mainlining dopamine.
maybe I Get Wet should be prescribed for those suffering from clinical depression.
Posted by: deja andyroo Jul 10 2006, 12:10 PM
New W.K. just leaked, apparently it's a Japan-only release. "Close Calls With Brick Walls."
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 10 2006, 12:57 PM
oh shit i'm getting me that now.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 10 2006, 02:19 PM
Ok so I just listened to the new AWK straight through. It's definitely not bad. It's definitely not good, either. It's better than The Wolf, that's for sure. But the low production quality on it definitely hurts it a bit. I'll try and y'all send the thing it in a bit. But yea, any Andrew fan should check it out.
Posted by: deej Jul 10 2006, 02:57 PM
Deisel is most-right on this thread. You people can't just enjoy music can you.
The Darkness was much more deserving of the shit that AWK gets. They had 2 good songs on an album of crap. AWK was hooks hooks hooks. That album is unbelievably consistent. They should reissue it w/ "We Want Fun" as a bonus track.
Posted by: MitchellStirling Jul 10 2006, 03:06 PM
Darkness were being so ironic they didn't realise themselves.
Posted by: Ben Jul 10 2006, 08:15 PM
The first Darkness album has at least four good songs on it.
"Growing on Me"
"Love is Only A Feeling"
"Friday Night"
"I Believe in a Thing Called Love"
Darkness were being so ironic they didn't realise themselves.
I Get Wet
[Island; 2002]
Rating: 0.6
Alright, this is bullshit. I've had it. Is this what we've been reduced to? Michigan metalheads copping ESPN Jock Jams, capitalizing on the shameful worst of the 1980s and bellowing incessantly about the wondrous virtues of the all-nighter? Rock critics who dissed this entire genre in its heyday now glorifying its second coming as somehow superior? If this is what the future of music has in store for us, why no apocalypse on New Year's Eve '99? Doesn't God care? Shit, maybe Y2K really was Armageddon, launching us headfirst into a great black nü-metal abyss, and maybe Andrew W.K. is just the first of four pending horsemen.
And that, boys and girls, was about all I could muster on March 20th, just as the stormclouds began to crash together for what would soon spin into a torrential whirlwind of one-sheets and NMEs-- maybe one of the scariest hypes this planet's ever seen. I was overwhelmed!
But now it's July, and almost as quickly as he arrived, Andrew Wilkes-Krier has been rudely ushered off the Apollo soundstage and scribbled as a footnote into history's textbook of rock novelties. Been months since I last heard "Party Hard" on the radio or saw WK thrashing about on M2 like a hyperactive retarded kid whose parents failed to give him a disciplinary shaking. If it hadn't been for this meddling CD-R I was sent by Island Records' promotions team, I might already have forgotten the guy. Ahh, but yes, in due time. I take immense comfort in the realization that, at some distant point in the future, I won't be able to recall any of I Get Wet, and whether that'll be due to its legitimate forgetability or a future struggle with Alzheimer's I don't much care, so long as I never again have to envision his mangy "RAW is WAR" hairswath (wash it!), or listen to these unshakable cro-magnon shoutathons. And so, this is where I get to say that, as evidenced in italics above, I almost told you so.
A few weeks prior to my first attempt at taking down this sorry sack, my old pal Brent DiCrescenzo, who as a culture addict spends a fair bit of his spare time scouring the British music rags, had swung by to write up the Promise Ring's Wood/Water. He'd read about I Get Wet in Mojo or something, and saw it amongst the promo stacks on my windowsill. "Have you heard this?"
Now, Brent and I like to hook up and get cynical from time to time-- we'll even bash the bands we're into just for shits-- so I was patiently waiting for D to reel one off so I could start in, casting to the wind that fact that I, in fact, hadn't yet heard it. "It's pretty funny, it's basically these huge guitar riffs, sort of soccer anthems." He quickly unloaded Von Bohlen from the disc-changer (well into Wood/Water's second half, any excuse would have sufficed) and tossed in the CD-R. Instantly, blaring multitracked guitars and shooting-range stadium drums came accosting. I tried to yell something, but my exclamation was swallowed by the immense wind-tunnel attack of the clenched-fist maelstrom.
"WHAT?"
It was hopeless. Nothing could penetrate a sound that dense. I was overcome. I tried to remember the last time anyone dared to push rock so poppily over the top, and figured it must have been some time around Hysteria. I sat rapt by the simple barbarity of that sound, Andrew barking adamantly over the exploding plastic fury. The gall! WK demanded respect, whether he deserved it or not. His conviction was startling, and the sound so scrutinously polished it lapped itself back into rawness. Indeed, it was time to party.
The party, as it just so happened, lasted all of three minutes-- appropriately, about the same lifespan as a pinch of Big League Chew. For this was bubblegum in its purest, stickiest form, designed for the sole purpose of imminent pop. To be packaged, marketed, and shipped by a grand corporation, and to be enjoyed by the consumer for a few moments before being spit or swallowed. I spat, and with the poisonous substance expelled from my system, I saw it for what it is:
I Get Wet is an insidious beast, planting itself into the deepest instinctual recesses of your brainstem, where it instantly detonates in a visceral adrenal charge. There is suddenly no respect for proper behavior, just the urge to turn acrobatic flips and smash everything within a fifty-foot radius. You're Genghis Khan in the San Dimas Sportmart somersaulting over Nike racks to the Slippery When Wet synth-metal of Beethoven's Schmidt Music foray into Bachman-Turner Overdrive. And then you wake up the next morning, hazy-headed and groggy, humiliated by the preceding night's incidents. Don't blame yourself. This music is evil in its purest form, wafting through air, waiting to possess every decent person in the entire room until they're flat on their backs in bed, wrists tied to the headboard, with drunken priests standing holy at their sides to exorcise the demon.
And the demon is a tricky sonofabitch, spinning you in circles of confusion and chanting its life-affirming message to brainwash you into truly believing, right to the core of your soul, that what it speaks is the Good Truth. Read any interview with WK (they're all the same-- just like the songs!) in which he spews naïve positivity like dad's warbly old self-help cassettes. There is no irony about Andrew. He is, in fact, so earnest it sends any straight-thinking individual into epileptic fits of shivers and winces. For christ's sake, the man opens the second paragraph of his self-writ bio with "I will work every day to feel O.K." before finally getting around to calling the music "perfect" because "all it wants is for people to be happy." LIES!
This here is about as empty as rock music gets, right down to the tinny, digitally processed tonebank noise that passes for 'guitars.' You think otherwise? Then let's have a moment to look at the obvious points of reference-- the songs and bands to which I Get Wet rightfully owes a sizable chunk of its royalties:
# Def Leppard: "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
Oooooh, in the name of love! This one boomed from your older sister's boyfriend's Thunderbird all 1987 long. You'd look out on the driveway with envy from your bedroom window. Dude is BAD!, you'd mouth, examining just exactly the angle and velocity at which he'd bang that head, his bleached-blonde mane tossing about in a fire-eyed, glorious salute to Rick Allen's one-armed colossus. But that one time he drove you to your girlfriend's house and you excitedly rummaged through his tapes, you saw truth in his glove compartment: this guy only listened to Def Leppard! And you turned to him wondering, "Hey, don't you have any real rock in here?" And that's when he stomped the brake and charlie-horsed your bicep with the force of ten silverbacks.
# Gary Glitter: "Rock & Roll, Part Two"
You know this one, even if you don't know it by name. Bah-badahhhhhh-- HAY! Bah-badah. And repeat. That's all there is to this one, kiddies. You hear it at soccer games. Maybe football half-times, too, or anywhere there's a bunch of boneheaded fools spraying each other with keg nozzles in fits of homoerotic glory. "HAY!," the song's sacred battle cry, really drives home the victory, even when the hometeam gets their ass handed to 'em by Kansas City. You only need to hear one bar of this song to know it forward and back for the rest of your days. It also screams "beer" louder than any Anheiser-Busch logo or beef-eating Steelers fan un-pantsing himself to reveal a secret team-praising message on his pimpled asscheeks.
# Baha Men: "Who Let the Dogs Out?"
A song whose chorus roused Arsenio crowds and 6-year-olds with the life-bending lyric, "OOF! OOF! OOF OOF!" Like an inescapable, overlong Geico commercial booming from Jeeps, Escalades and Honda Civics across this nation's every city, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" was at once your worst nightmare and the everyman's personal nirvana. If this song had a verse, it was added as an afterthought to give this asinine catchphrase the illusion of being an actual song. And it's not over yet: I'm thinking three months tops before we see it pushing Beggin' Strips between 'boot camp' segments on Maury.
Hmm, incriminating. Not the kind of legacy one works toward securing, and certainly not the kind of music you'd find in the collection of any self-respecting rock elitist. In fact, if I knew a rock elitist with this record, I'd smack them up 'long side the head, 'cause who the fuck are you to tell me I can't own the Sophie B. Hawkins "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" CD5 when just last week you subjected the entire fucking interstate to "Fun Night"? I'll cripple ya!
And yet, some of these 'punk' and 'indie' kids are still willing to back WK up with a number of ridiculous excuses that they deep-down know are inherently flawed. "It's catchy" is no kind of argument. Every pop song you've ever truly hated is catchy. "It's ironic" is wack, too, since there's exactly zero irony to be had on any of I Get Wet or in WK's motivational interviews. "It's fun" is about the only legitimate excuse a guy could come up with-- and that's the one thing I'll give it to warrant the .6 in the rating-- but this world of music which history has graced us with is loaded with fun music. Even fun music with substance, fun music that doesn't talk to you like you're some kinda total dipshit that wouldn't know Boredoms from buzzworthy. And you don't even have to look that hard! So then, what is the excuse for a typically elitist music nerd to bow to Andrew WK's blistering tard-rock? That's right, folks: there isn't one.
-Ryan Schreiber, July 08, 2002
Posted by: Films Camera Jul 10 2006, 08:17 PM
I don't know how the fuck you can decide something is a "0.6" but cool.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 10 2006, 08:24 PM
in case you haven't noticed, they've done an about-face editorial stance on awk... at least if their news section is any indication.
he's unpopular enough now to qualify as indie.
Posted by: Ben Jul 10 2006, 08:28 PM
It looks like they didn't even bother to review The Wolf.
It's simple enough once you accept it for what it is, which is as hard as the music is simple (and hard). It's a Ramones album for an era when "Blitzkrieg Bop" is on the Shea p.a. and professional wrestling is on drugs. It's a Gary Glitter/Kiss/Quiet Riot album with no lyrical lapses, tempo shifts, self-expression, or other concessions to human fallibility. The songs don't all sound the same because if they did the thing would be perfect. And it isn't. A-
The Wolf [Island, 2003]
Median track length, I Get Wet: 3:07. Median track length, The Wolf: 3:59. The steroids or the frat boys have gone to his head. C+
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Jul 10 2006, 08:35 PM
thanks, but i can consult robertchristgau.com on my own time.
now, why don't you share your thoughts on awk? you might like the feeling.
Posted by: Ben Jul 10 2006, 08:46 PM
Eh. He's okay. I think it's cool you guys get so excited about it. Want to hear a raved out version of "Tubular Bells?"
Posted by: solace Jul 11 2006, 10:33 AM
speaking of...
The party-metal rocker revealed that he’s spent the past three years following the release of his The Wolf (2003, Island) at work on a trio of new albums. Although no release dates for any of the three records, Close Calls with Brick Walls, The Carrier and Young Lord, are expected to surface by the end of 2007.
He’s also on tap to play a single U.S. show this summer, Aug. 3 at the Hard Rock Café in Orlando, Fla."
here's Close Calls with Brick Walls:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=E8C1E9152E915269
through 3 songs this is pretty fucking awful (shocker i know)
Posted by: deej Jul 11 2006, 10:49 AM
Eh. He's okay. I think it's cool you guys get so excited about it. Want to hear a raved out version of "Tubular Bells?"
But you've lost it for Lily Allen?
Posted by: Diesel Jul 11 2006, 11:42 AM
I'm curious to hear the new one, and will download when I get home. Thanks, Solace!
(Though, hopes = low).
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 11 2006, 12:11 PM
through 3 songs this is pretty fucking awful (shocker i know)
I don't think it's as awful as you say. it's more hit or miss than anything. the quality on it is pretty terrible, though, which hurts it alot. but some of the songs seem like they could have made for a decent followup to 'i get wet.'
Posted by: Hero Jul 11 2006, 12:13 PM
i play "She is Beautiful" for my g/f and dedicate it to her, but she hates the song
Posted by: solace Jul 11 2006, 12:14 PM
through 3 songs this is pretty fucking awful (shocker i know)
I don't think it's as awful as you say. it's more hit or miss than anything. the quality on it is pretty terrible, though, which hurts it alot. but some of the songs seem like they could have made for a decent followup to 'i get wet.'
well that was only through 3 songs, you gotta admit tracks 3 & 4 are f'n terrible. i had to turn it off about half way in.
Posted by: deej Jul 11 2006, 12:15 PM
It looks like they didn't even bother to review The Wolf.
It's simple enough once you accept it for what it is, which is as hard as the music is simple (and hard). It's a Ramones album for an era when "Blitzkrieg Bop" is on the Shea p.a. and professional wrestling is on drugs. It's a Gary Glitter/Kiss/Quiet Riot album with no lyrical lapses, tempo shifts, self-expression, or other concessions to human fallibility. The songs don't all sound the same because if they did the thing would be perfect. And it isn't. A-
The Wolf [Island, 2003]
Median track length, I Get Wet: 3:07. Median track length, The Wolf: 3:59. The steroids or the frat boys have gone to his head. C+
xgau otm
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 11 2006, 12:18 PM
well that was only through 3 songs, you gotta admit tracks 3 & 4 are f'n terrible. i had to turn it off about half way in.
Oh man, I have to say that the opening of the cd is effen awful. It made me laugh more than I have in a long, long time.
Posted by: undo Jul 11 2006, 01:36 PM
Did Pitchfork actually delete their review of Remastered Hits: The Best of... by Bachman-Turner Overdrive? Please tell me someone else here remembers that.
It was pretty funny but definitely a skeleton in their closet they'd like to get rid of.
Posted by: deej Jul 11 2006, 01:51 PM
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15262/BachmanTurner_Overdrive_Remastered_Hits_The_Best_Of_
Posted by: Ben Jul 12 2006, 12:27 AM
Eh. He's okay. I think it's cool you guys get so excited about it. Want to hear a raved out version of "Tubular Bells?"
But you've lost it for Lily Allen?
Posted by: deej Jul 12 2006, 10:16 AM
YOU BETTER GET READY TO RUN CUZ HERE WE CUUUU-UUUU-UUUUM
Posted by: Ben Jul 12 2006, 12:56 PM
Sounds like he's the right man for you.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 12 2006, 01:04 PM
and now because I want to, I shall post the pictures of my legendary Andrew W-Cake and the experience that went along with it back on that hot fall night in 2002.
The A.W.-Cake complete with the phrase "Cake it Off" in honor of his smash hit "Take it Off." Man you should have seen the ladies face behind the counter at Meijer when we gave her the cd booklet and told her that was what we wanted on our cake. She almost died from laughing and vomiting.
Andrew likes the cake....alot.
I am pretty sure that is Matt Sweeny behind us in this picture...he was AWK's manager for some time before Zwan took off. It would only make sense, no?
Our cake group and our boy, Andrew "Dont call me Andy" W.K.
Posted by: Dan Jul 12 2006, 01:10 PM
Interesting.
Posted by: deej Jul 12 2006, 01:20 PM
5,000/5
Posted by: Uncle O'Grimacey Aug 15 2006, 01:00 PM
pitchfork reviewed 'you will remember tonight' today. they gave it 4.5 stars. wow. it is a really great song, so yeah, good for pfork actually enjoying andy for once.
Close Calls With Brick Walls is Andrew W.K.'s "weird" album, the one where he finally indulges his Zappa complex and lets his roots in the Midwestern noise scene show, and that's probably why it isn't coming out in the U.S. But even when he tries to get experimental, Your Friend can't help but whip out ridiculously epic stadium-stompers about the transformative power of music. Even with the multitracked guitar-squall freakout that ends the song, this one is huge, a fist-pumping pileup of Meat Loaf pianos and whiplash guitars. It's all chorus, no verse, and it's the sort of hedonistic call-to-arms that everyone thought he'd never write again after The Wolf. And all of a sudden, it comes roaring back: the balcony dives, the stages jammed with revelers, the sweat condensing on club ceilings in provincial cities. Some of us always loved this dude.
Posted by: yancy Aug 15 2006, 01:41 PM
I fucking love that song. Surprised the fork does as well.
Posted by: Uncle O'Grimacey Aug 15 2006, 05:14 PM
yeah...pitchfruck hates AWK. this was the most pleasant surprise of the day.
Posted by: Uncle O'Grimacey Aug 15 2006, 05:44 PM
i just relistened to this and i like this alot i think. fuck. why can't it come out in the US of A?
Posted by: undo Aug 16 2006, 12:45 AM
Obviously, someone Y-Essss-I this, if it hasn't happened already.
Posted by: Gbro Aug 16 2006, 10:27 AM
I'd love to hear this as well. Didn't even know it was coming out. Anybody know why it's not coming out stateside?
Posted by: Ronald Reagan Aug 16 2006, 11:32 AM
Anybody know why it's not coming out stateside?
same reason anything doesn't come out in the states. nobody thinks there's any money to be made by releasing it...
Posted by: MattDrufke Aug 16 2006, 06:54 PM
I Get Wet is one of my favorite CDs of this decade. The Wolf is a little crappy, but with a few outstanding moments. Take this passage from the last track, "I Love Music":
"I want you to remember all the things that I've said
I want you to remember that you're not better off DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!
Classic
Posted by: Gluehead Aug 18 2006, 07:22 PM
I've never been a fan of Andrew W.K but Close Calls really surprised me. It sounds like some weird lost Meatloaf album from the 70's. It's insanely over the top and incredibly silly, but it's done with such heart and energy that it never ventures into being laughably ridiculous. This is the perfect Summer album.
Posted by: Uncle O'Grimacey Aug 18 2006, 07:31 PM
I WANT TO HAVE A PARTY
I WANT TO HAVE A PARTY
I WANT TO HAVE A PARTY
I WANT TO HAVE A PARTY
YOU CANNOT KILL THE PARTY
YOU CANNOT KILL THE PARTY
YOU CANNOT KILL THE PARTY
YOU CANNOT KILL THE PARTY
!!!LONG LIVE THE PARTY!!!!
Posted by: MCF Aug 21 2006, 08:28 PM
gave him some solid advice.
Don't eat the yellow snow with a massive nose bleed if you suck badly.
Posted by: The Good Dr Bill Aug 21 2006, 08:30 PM
wow, that post was totally worth bumping this thread for
Posted by: MCF Aug 21 2006, 08:34 PM
wow, that post was totally worth bumping this thread for
WOW
Posted by: Gbro Aug 22 2006, 09:21 AM
Anybody able to y'all send the thing a song or two off the new one?
Posted by: Ted Falconi Sep 18 2006, 05:10 PM
Excerpt from an email I got today from Drag City:
...By 12:30 Eastern and Pacific/11:30 Central, you'll be ready to bellow tunelessly along with the 'Prince' when he hits the stage. He'll perform "Strange Form of Life" from The Letting Go with a band of Paul Oldham, Matt Sweeney, Jim White and Andrew WK in support.
Posted by: Diesel Sep 18 2006, 06:17 PM
Anybody able to y'all send the thing a song or two off the new one?
http://www.sendspace.com/file/w74boo
Posted by: yancy Feb 21 2007, 12:10 PM
From andrewwk.com:
This June, 2007, Andrew W.K. and Load Records will release a special limited U.S.A. edition of Andrew's latest album, Close Calls With Brick Walls on double colored vinyl.
This 2-LP album will include a deluxe-bound full color gatefold jacket, an eight page full color 11" x 11" insert booklet with special artwork, plus 5 ALL NEW unreleased bonus tracks (these bonus tracks have not appeared on any other version of CCWBW).
This vinyl edition is scheduled for release on 6/19/07. Copies will be available for pre-order soon. Stay tuned for more information.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Feb 21 2007, 12:37 PM
i read this on pfork earlier along with how AWK is now basically touring, but doing lectures and discussions.
why won't he just come back and smash our faces off with his fist pumping greatness? it's been something like three years since he's had a Chicago show. what's the deal with that?!
Posted by: crazytwoknobs Feb 21 2007, 12:40 PM
"We Want Fun" is an awesome, awesome song. Remember that MTV special where he went to the all black girls college? Weird.
I'd pay good money for a copy of this -- it was beyond weird.
By the end of that special I totally thought he was pegged for an MTV vj spot, but apparently that never materialized. For whatever it's worth, I haven't listened to that AWK debut since about three months after it came out, but I have it buried amongst my music somewhere. The second it surfaces, I'm listening.
Remember the part where he was playing drums in the middle of a football field? It was pretty cool.
That was prime.
All the "humorous" tension was so fucking priceless. You find yourself just waiting for something really stereotypical or racist to stumble out of somebody's mouth the entire time. From what I remember (which isn't enough, so if anyone finds this shit on YouTube, let me know), it was the greatest thing ever in the history of television.
Agreed. I'd really like to see that show again, I asked around at work, and my dad and one of our coworkers totally remembered it too, which is odd... very odd....
Also, I think it's great he didn't associate himself too closely with the "jackass" dudes. or did he? I don't remember seeing him in any of their stuff, but someone said he did a skit or two with them.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Feb 21 2007, 07:20 PM
Oh, man, I read through this whole thread yesterday!
I'm on a monster Andrew W.K. kick right now. Dude is the shit. Needs to tour soon.
Posted by: crazytwoknobs Feb 21 2007, 07:45 PM
I've discovered the name of the program we've been talking about:
Crashing with Andrew W.K.
Not, "your friend andrew w.k.", which had 9 episodes.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 10:54 AM
a photo of the "new, improved" Andrew W.K. at the Boredom's 77-drum circle jerk thing from a few weeks back. He looks like a normal dude, now. Weird....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jberg/751298513/in/set-72157600709263593/
Posted by: Bhickman Aug 1 2007, 10:58 AM
that's an odd pic...I just saw him at some SXSW thing a few months back and he just scaled back his usual look a bit, but not that drastically.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Aug 1 2007, 10:58 AM
That looks nothing like AWK. Hm, well, we can all rest assured knowing that he in fact is not a normal guy, because no normal guy would be playing drums at an event put on by the Boredoms.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Aug 1 2007, 10:59 AM
Whoa, he looks like someone's dad.
You guys know he has something like three albums planned for release within the next year and a half or so? I'm shitting myself with anticipation as we speak.
Posted by: Bhickman Aug 1 2007, 11:00 AM
They will all reference "Partying", I'm sure.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 11:02 AM
One of said albums is supposedly going to be a piano album or something. The dude is a helluva pianist, so i would love to hear a solo piano/keyboard album.
Speaking of which, he just played a solo keyboard show in Michigan last weekend or something. I can only imagine hearing "Long Live the Party" as a solo piano number, with him pounding the keys with his left hand while viciously fistpumping with the right.
Shit, AWK, come to town again soon, please. Do a dj set, a lecture, I don't care. Just please come back to Chicago.
Posted by: nobodies Aug 1 2007, 11:07 AM
He still owes me a phone call from when I purchased the Wolf...but phone call or not, I'll buy whatever he's selling.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Aug 1 2007, 11:08 AM
The general public never understood. And they never will.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Aug 1 2007, 11:08 AM
Gotta love the wikipedia day by day updates on AWK's hair/style:
On July 7th, 2007, Andrew WK played drums as part of the Boredoms 20th anniversary show with 77 drummers. His look was drastically different, as he cut his hair short, had no beard, and wore very different clothing from his usual attire. [1] However, pictures from Andrew's official site conflict with the fan pictures, as the pictures from Andew's official site show him with medium, shoulder-length hair. It is suspected that the fan pictures have been editied or doctored to remove some of Andrew's hair.
On July 28, 2007, Andrew played a solo piano concert in Lansing, Michigan. At the concert, he had short hair covered with a baseball cap. Also, he wore orange sunglasses throughout the entire set.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 11:09 AM
The general public never understood. And they never will.
so true
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Aug 1 2007, 11:09 AM
Now, this is awesome. Next piano recital I do, I'm going for this look.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 11:12 AM
for those lucky AWK fans in New York, please go to this and report back post-haste
Posted by: yancy Aug 1 2007, 11:13 AM
Close Calls With Brick Walls is finally being released in the US this month via Load Records on limited double vinyl, with five bonus tracks.
You can order it http://www.loadrecords.com/bands/andrewwk.html. One of the bonus tracks is available for download on that page, too.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Aug 1 2007, 11:14 AM
Fantastic album.
"Don't Call Me Andy" = one of the best ever.
Posted by: yancy Aug 1 2007, 11:15 AM
Fucking love that tune. Should be Twisted Misters' theme song next season.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 11:16 AM
anyone who doesn't love "You Will Remember Tonight" obviously doesn't love music
and i'm pretty excited to say i've already pre-ordered my AWK vinyl and anxiously await its arrival
Posted by: undo Aug 1 2007, 11:26 AM
^ double vinyl?
"Don't Call Me Andy" is the best.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Aug 1 2007, 11:27 AM
"One Brother" is awesome, too, yeah.
I'm so happy that the very top of the Discussion forum is being inhabited by threads on Andrew W.K., King Khan, and Jay Reatard. Glorious day.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 11:30 AM
one of the best wikipedia rumors I have ever read....
Rumors began circulating in early Summer of 2007, when a much younger and much different looking Andrew W.K. began making appearances across the country and on television.
Andrew himself has neither confirmed nor denied any of the rumors about plastic surgery specifically, leading some to the conclusion that a new person has essentially taken on the role of being Andrew W.K., or that there are multiple people playing the Andrew W.K. role.
Regarding the rumor of "multiple people playing the Andrew W.K. role", as of the summer of 2007 pictures in groups of 4 on Andrew's myspace have been said by some to contain 4 different people resembling him. One of them is said to be the real Andrew and whether the other three are other people who play the role, or are just edited or doctored photos has yet to be confirmed.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Aug 1 2007, 11:36 AM
Ha, ha, I love all the nonexistent "controversy" surrounding AWK (Steev Mike, anyone?) Highly amusing.
Also, "The Moving Room" might be his must triumphant sounding jam since "Take It Off." RIDE DOWN THE HIGHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! INTO A DREAMLAAAAAAAAND!!!!!! I fucking love this shit.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 11:41 AM
"The Moving Room" is your textbook great song that, if it were written by Arcade Fire, people would be gay for. But because it's by Andrew WK, people dismiss it as probably being a party song and refuse to ever hear it. Stupid people.
I really like the quick glockenspiel sixteenth note part that kicks in briefly in the middle of that song right after the "see through the picture/picture/picture....." part.
Fucking killer track. It's epic and bombastic in so many great ways.
Posted by: The Good Dr Bill Aug 1 2007, 11:56 AM
what is "this"?
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 11:57 AM
Andrew WK solo performance this Saturday with the promise of "non-stop partying" from 11 pm until 4 am. It also says "ADULTS ONLY" which gives me the feeling there will be porno or something there.
Posted by: The Good Dr Bill Aug 1 2007, 12:11 PM
dammit
Posted by: sosodeej Aug 1 2007, 12:21 PM
in ny or here?
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 12:27 PM
New York, sadly.
He seems to be taking his lectures, solo performances and DJ sets everywhere but Chicago. He's hit pretty much every major city in the US with at least one of them. But here we sit, twittling our thumbs and awaiting his next big party.
Posted by: scarymuppet Aug 1 2007, 12:44 PM
Despite my hatred for his music, I'm tempted. Mainly because I think the whole mythology is hilarious.
Anyone see him on Kathy Griffin's show? His idea of a date is bring her to one of his weird-ass lectures (at an improv theatre I've performed in before).
Posted by: 54cermak Aug 1 2007, 12:44 PM
He seems to be taking his lectures, solo performances and DJ sets everywhere but Chicago. He's hit pretty much every major city in the US with at least one of them. But here we sit, twittling our thumbs and awaiting his next big party.
I've probably seen your signature 100 times, and its only now I'm realizing its the all time Cleveland Cavs players: Mark Price, Larry Nance, Brad Daugherty, Shawn Kemp (?!), and Austin Carr.
To keep this on topic: You podcast listening people might want to check out The Sound of Young America from a few months back. Great Andrew WK interview. He talks about sincerity, taking drugs and Close Calls With Brick Walls among other things.
Find it here: www.maximumfun.org
Posted by: beadsman Aug 1 2007, 12:52 PM
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jberg/751298513/in/set-72157600709263593/
He looks like the son of a midwestern public university law professor...
http://cgi2.www.law.umich.edu/_FacultyBioPage/facultybiopagenew.asp?ID=8
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 01:14 PM
Your hatred of Andrew WK's music is asinine and wrong at best. Don't you have some Justice to be listening to or something?
And if you go to this show and are not converted, well, there is no hope for you. Andrew WK shows appeal to everyone who likes fun. You like fun, don't you?
Posted by: yancy Aug 1 2007, 01:42 PM
She dated Andrew? I thought Kathy couldn't stoop any lower on the pseudo-celebrity dating scale than Mike Matusow.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Aug 1 2007, 01:46 PM
i'm pretty sure they aren't dating
andrew wk is asexual and only reproduces with andrew wk using andrew wk's own rock jucie
at least that's what the report on andrew wk says
Posted by: yancy Aug 1 2007, 01:48 PM
Well, "dating" as in one date for her stupid TV show.
Posted by: beadsman Aug 1 2007, 04:23 PM
Eastside: 
Far Westside:
Detroit City:
Posted by: typical pickle conflicts Aug 1 2007, 05:15 PM
please repost the AWKake
Posted by: wakingrufus Aug 1 2007, 05:16 PM
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Posted by: The Good Dr Bill Aug 1 2007, 05:38 PM
WANNA MAKE SEX WANNA MAKE SEX HOOOHHHHHH
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Aug 1 2007, 06:46 PM
Over a year later, Pavement Ist Rad has grown to agree with this statement on all conceivable levels.
Posted by: scarymuppet Aug 1 2007, 11:38 PM
Your hatred of Andrew WK's music is asinine and wrong at best. Don't you have some Justice to be listening to or something?
And if you go to this show and are not converted, well, there is no hope for you. Andrew WK shows appeal to everyone who likes fun. You like fun, don't you?
I do, actually seeing as I bought it yesterday. I don't doubt his show would appeal to me. I actually am seriously considering going. However, his music sucks balls.
Posted by: solace May 7 2008, 01:24 AM
wtf.
Posted by: Sickpup May 7 2008, 06:38 AM
the fewer people care, the better this guy gets...
Posted by: Badger May 7 2008, 06:59 AM
I saw Andrew WK play guitar as a member of Current 93 in London a few weeks ago. The C93 line-up also included Matt Sweeney (fresh from the new Neil Diamond record) and Baby Dee (whose recent album AWK also helped produce). I'm not making this up.
New Current 93 material sounds fucking magnificent btw.
Posted by: Bleep Blop May 7 2008, 09:11 AM
This guy is awesome.
Posted by: The Luscious Phil May 7 2008, 10:30 AM
has close calls with brick walls been released in the US by now?
Posted by: JeffTweedysFatStomach May 7 2008, 10:37 AM
What are those pictures from?
Posted by: solace May 7 2008, 10:38 AM
his myspace
Posted by: Duff. May 7 2008, 10:56 AM
Well I just don't know what to say.
Posted by: yancy May 7 2008, 11:01 AM
Vinyl yes, CD dunno. If you're bored, search somb for the hassle Derek and I encountered getting said vinyl from Load Records.
Posted by: avec May 7 2008, 06:39 PM
http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=626967009
soft focus interview
Posted by: typical pickle conflicts May 7 2008, 08:05 PM
oh man
he looks like a grown up sam weir
Posted by: flyin j May 7 2008, 08:12 PM
I love I Get Wet. Keep it in the car cd player at all times just in case everyone needs to get pumped up. My wife also plays "Ready To Die" on the way to her Roller Derby bouts to get energized.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter May 7 2008, 08:12 PM
Yancy, I will see your avatar and raise you....
Posted by: pantisocracy May 7 2008, 08:38 PM
He looks like Sarah Silverman.
Posted by: tomatofaced May 7 2008, 11:29 PM
oh man
he looks like a grown up sam weir
i wonder if he still has that parisian nightsuit?
edit: i'm not sure if this makes me gay or what, but i think he's kinda hot in the way that i could totally see him being the chick in an old meatloaf video.
Posted by: honey lingers May 8 2008, 12:44 PM
that explains why i want to make sweet love to him
Posted by: nobodies May 8 2008, 12:52 PM
yeah, he's the greatest. Although I'm still pissed off at him cause he never gave me that phone call I won when I bought The Wolf.
Posted by: Sausage May 8 2008, 02:06 PM
what the fuck
Posted by: nagode May 8 2008, 02:09 PM
Remember you can't spell Andrew WK without 'wank'.
wanker
Posted by: Diesel May 8 2008, 02:09 PM
Perhaps the biggest disappointment about AWK going new-wave (or something ... we only have pictures to judge) and abandoning pop metal is that now he's even less likely to hire "Mutt" Lange to produce a record.
I was really hoping that day would come, because an AWK/Lange record would pretty much be the best thing ever.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter May 8 2008, 02:18 PM
the only disappointment I can express with Andrew WK is that he hasn't come back to Chicago in how many years to play another face-smashing set
like, seriously.
mpshows, if you happen to stumble across this thread, please work your magic and book this guy somewhere doing something again and soon
he needs to get the fuck out of new york and do some other stuff in better places
Posted by: scarymuppet May 8 2008, 02:35 PM
Andrew W.K. is opening a venue in NYC called Santa's Party House.
Posted by: Diesel May 8 2008, 02:43 PM
like, seriously.
mpshows, if you happen to stumble across this thread, please work your magic and book this guy somewhere doing something again and soon
he needs to get the fuck out of new york and do some other stuff in better places
OTM. It's been, what, five years or something? I only saw him once when he was in town (out of however many area shows he did), at the Metro in like 2003 or something (shortly before The Wolf came out). Incredible fucking show ... he makes it virtually impossible not to get totally into his show on some level. You have to have a black heart indeed to not get into this guy live.
Posted by: honey lingers May 8 2008, 02:46 PM
I was really hoping that day would come, because an AWK/Lange record would pretty much be the best thing ever.
i dunno man. awk kinda transcended lange on his debut.
besides... would mr. twain do anything other than dilute the greatness?
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter May 8 2008, 02:49 PM
I was at that show, too. The one where High on Fire opened and before playing one of their songs said "this next song is about motorcycles!" and then blasted in to like "Drawn, Hung, and Quartered" or something. It ruled.
And I think the last time he was out here was the Bottom Lounge show that was packed. I think it was the only AWK show I didn't really like simply because it was so crowded and the pole in the middle of the BL made the pit an abysmal nightmare. I thought I was going to break my neck at various points during the night. He did, however, play that song he wrote and put in a Kit Kat commercial during that show. He played it TWICE.
I've also seen him at the Vic, Northern Illinois, and the parking lot of the All State Arena. I'd happily see him at any of these venues again.
Posted by: JeffTweedysFatStomach May 8 2008, 03:00 PM
I sent those latest pictures to a friend from college. His reply:
"I just died a little inside...He's lost his party, and picked up lipstick...what happened to the guy who I saw screaming and dancing in a wheelchair??!! He was my party idol...now he's all gayed up"
Posted by: honey lingers May 8 2008, 03:03 PM
your friend got worked
Posted by: Diesel May 8 2008, 03:04 PM
I was really hoping that day would come, because an AWK/Lange record would pretty much be the best thing ever.
i dunno man. awk kinda transcended lange on his debut.
besides... would mr. twain do anything other than dilute the greatness?
I'd like to hope Lange would completely forget about the fact that he ever married Shania Twain, produced Bryan Adams records, etc., and remember the fact that he helmed some of the best mainstream hard rock/metal records ever. (Or at least those totally awesome AC/DC and Def Leppard records). I'd hope he'd just greatly amplify the awesomeness, myself.
Could be too much to hope for, I know. Still ... if there's any one artist who seems tailor fit for the classic multi-tracked/uber-glossy treatment of Lange, its AWK.
And, yeah, Hewlett, I was at the show where HOF opened. And they also ruled, of course, as its fucking High on Motherfucking Fire.
Posted by: theremin May 8 2008, 03:19 PM
What the fuck??
This dude mostly bores the shit out of me, but I opened this thread for one reason and one reason only:
<object width="540" height="425"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="movie" value="http://video.pitchfork.tv/mediaplayer.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="file=http://pitchfork.tv/node/830/embed.xml" /><embed src="http://video.pitchfork.tv/mediaplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars="file=http://pitchfork.tv/node/830/embed.xml" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="425"></embed></object>
I saw this the other day, and assumed that this thread was resurrected to discuss it.
WTF! Discuss!
Posted by: nobodies May 8 2008, 03:56 PM
And I think the last time he was out here was the Bottom Lounge show that was packed. I think it was the only AWK show I didn't really like simply because it was so crowded and the pole in the middle of the BL made the pit an abysmal nightmare. I thought I was going to break my neck at various points during the night. He did, however, play that song he wrote and put in a Kit Kat commercial during that show. He played it TWICE.
I've also seen him at the Vic, Northern Illinois, and the parking lot of the All State Arena. I'd happily see him at any of these venues again.
Within the span of like two years he played in or around Chicago five or six times that I can count...and then virtual nothingness.
I saw him at the Vic (opening for Flogging Molly???), Metro, Bottom Lounge, NIU, World Theatre during the Warped tour (I have no idea what the World is called now); and some venue in Madison, WI that I don't think exists anymore.
Posted by: Gbro May 8 2008, 08:22 PM
Does he still play live? Did he do any dates for that last release? He seems to have a lot going on, but performing live doesn't seem to be a priority right now. Too bad. I've seen him four times and each time was transcendant--exactly what a rock show ought to be.
Posted by: flyin j May 8 2008, 09:15 PM
i just heard Party Hard on the trailer for that ashton kutcher cameron diaz move.
Posted by: spiritofeden May 8 2008, 09:39 PM
He played in Toronto not to long ago at Sound Academy.
It was AWK, a keyboard, and and ipod that did his backing track. there was also a look a like contest held. all 30 of them joined him on stage. they partied on stage for about 30 mins, and that was it.
shit was crazy.
Posted by: Clem The Gem May 9 2008, 04:45 AM
Remember you can't spell Andrew WK without 'wank'.
wanker
Yeah firstly the first two have had nearly twenty top 40 singles and 6 top ten albums in the UK so tipping Andrew WK as another big thing didn't work for the NME.
The second part featured in the letters section for about four months after.
Posted by: honey lingers May 9 2008, 11:20 AM
he had way the best 2001 album of the lot though.
Posted by: Waylon May 14 2008, 08:26 AM
http://www.papermag.com/blogs/2008/05/party_is_on_at_santas_100_lafa_1.php
p.s. As of now, the club is only partially open -- in the basement, for dance parties. The upper half, which will be a live music venue, is still locked away. The Santos' boys, we hear, are confident that they got the best sound system in all of New York City. It's about time.
Posted by: undo May 24 2008, 09:58 AM
http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/712/
Posted by: solace Jul 15 2008, 02:10 PM
From www.andrewwk.com:
Juggalos Gathering:
Andrew has been invited by Insane Clown Posse to give a special solo performance at their yearly music festival, The Gathering Of The Juggalos.
Andrew says: "Thank you to ICP and the Juggalos for this amazing opportunity. I'm extremely honored to be asked to play this show. I grew up in Southeast Michigan and witnessed the rise of ICP, Psychopathic Records, and the Juggalos to unimaginable heights."
"A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope in San Francisco. That night, they gave one of the most exciting performances I had ever seen in my life. I've remained a fan and an huge admirer ever since. They brought so much fun to so many people, and they've done it completely on their own terms. There's nothing else like them!"
Andrew's performance will be at 9pm on August 8th, at Cave-In-Rock, Illinois. Also on this year's bill are Ice-T, Three Six Mafia, and Afroman, as well as Twizted, ICP, and many more.
Posted by: yancy Jul 15 2008, 02:27 PM
Motherfucker can't be bothered to visit Chicago but he's playing downstate with inbred juggalos. I see how it is.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 17 2008, 10:27 AM
Juggalos? Andrew WK? WHAT?! Bleeargh....
So on Monday night I went to Santos' Party House in New York (that bar/club place co-owned by Andrew WK). Overall, I really really liked the vibe of the place. Really friendly staff (the doorman told us there was a $10 cover to get in to which we all sort of groaned at and he just responded and went 'ya know what, just give us $5 and it's cool') and really great music. They were playing a lot of obscure garage rock throughout the night mixed in with really old dance numbers. Overall, I highly recommend the place to any New Yorker. Even though it was pretty empty, I could see the place having a lot of potential for awesomeness.
Posted by: Badger Aug 13 2008, 04:33 AM
Andrew WK in The Guardian:
'I have decided to love everyone'
My story is about someone trying to expand his ability to love the world, and through that, maybe others will love the world more too, in their own way
Hello. My name is Andrew WK. I've been invited by Abeano Music to visit London and give a lecture at Madame JoJo's on September 19. This will be my first performance of this type in the UK, but I've done more and more of these lectures recently. About two years ago, New York University asked if I'd give a lecture at their Skirball Center auditorium. I had never given a lecture before, so I asked what they wanted me to talk about. They said I could take about anything I wanted. This really appealed to me, so I said yes and went into the lecture without any topic except the idea of spontaneity. That lecture ended up being a four-hour discussion with 900 people. I was thrilled and very grateful for the amazing response.
Since then, I've lectured at other colleges, concert halls, churches, and music festivals. Although they were all different, they shared the intensity of an improvised performance. I felt completely exposed and vulnerable, and I think the audience did too. It was thrilling and terrifying in the best way.
Since the last time I was in the UK, I've been interested in doing the opposite of what I had done before with music. I was trying to do what seemed new and insane - maybe even impossible.
I recently produced an album for the reggae artist Lee "Scratch" Perry (called Repentance and will be released on August 19 2008). Three friends and I opened up a brand new nightclub and music venue in downtown Manhattan - Santa's Party House.
Doing something we never thought we would doesn't necessarily compromise our spirit - I think it can deepen our realisation of who we really are. Ultimately, I strive for that experience of personal unfolding and discovery in all that I do, whether it be music, talking or even writing this. I think creating experiences where it's OK to challenge our idea of who we are helps us get closer to the meaning of life.
I've had a lot of fun experiences in the UK, and many of them were challenging. When my first album was released in 2001, there seemed to be a lot of intense reactions. Some people enjoyed it and others did not. I was very happy when people told me they felt something good from what I did. And I used to feel mad and hurt when someone said I was bad or that they didn't like what I did. Then one day I realised that all the different reactions and opinions people had were valid and, ultimately, contributed energy to my idea - I decided to embrace all the energy as much as possible, even the negative words and reactions. I figured the negative energy was just as powerful as "positive" energy, and why not use it all and try to turn it into something exciting and fun? I decided to love everyone, and really go with that feeling, because no matter what anyone said, I could never feel stupid for trying to love everyone. And if that remained at the core of my fundamental mindset, than life would probably feel more fun. And maybe the haters were right? What if I could learn to love the feeling of looking at myself from a hater's point of view? Could I handle it?
I also tried to remember that everybody was once a baby, and that we're all just children of different ages. And I also keep in mind that we all just want to be loved, appreciated and valued. I also like to remember - especially when dealing with negative criticism - that every opinion is only a subjective perspective, and it's not a definitive fact (not even to them - they can change their mind at any time). When someone called my music "bad", they really weren't describing the sound of my music, but rather their own taste and personality. It may seem simple, but sometimes people were so strong about their opinions, that they stated them like rock-solid scientific fact. Perhaps what we can ultimately learn from reading criticism is a glimpse into someone else's mind - we can learn nothing about the experience of listening to the music until we listen to the song.
I think my story is about someone trying to expand his ability to love the world, and through that, maybe others will love the world more too, in their own way. The feeling of love is the central core of what I've been talking about. But that feeling is different for everybody. I want to create an explosion of energised enthusiasm - raw power that people can use for themselves. Most of all, I want everyone to do what they really want to do, and love everyone.
Posted by: attraversoargento Aug 13 2008, 11:50 AM
Wow, was that physically in the paper?
Posted by: Wolfgang Aug 26 2008, 10:22 PM
New York SOMBies watch out for me, I'm invading your city tomorrow.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Aug 26 2008, 10:24 PM
Amazing song.
Posted by: nobodies Dec 7 2008, 06:54 PM
For those of you with Comcast OnDemand, in the music section under Concerts (at least I think it was concerts, but it might have been Havoc), there's a 30 minute Valient Thorr video, and around the 25 minute mark they back up Andrew W.K. on "Party Hard" along with the lead singer from the Riverboat Gamblers. It's pretty rad and really got me in the mood to see AWK live again. Those shows are just insane. That said, I wouldn't even fast forward cause Valient Thorr kicks ass as well.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Dec 8 2008, 10:42 AM
i'll naturally have to check this out when I get in this evening.
It doesn't take much to get me in the mood to see an Andrew WK show. His shows were always crazy. They were the only ones I went to and would get fully immersed in the pit and not have a care in the world. Bodies flying everywhere, and scrawny ol' me was in there just flailing about and pumping my fist, not giving a damn who gets in my way. I think I've punched more people in the face at Andrew WK shows than I have the rest of my life, combined.
MPShows, you really should go and somehow book AWK to do a full blown crazy party show at the Bottom Lounge. His absence from Chicago over the past four years has been criminal, at best.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Dec 8 2008, 02:02 PM
When you're in the pit, you're gonna fuck up shit.
Posted by: Gbro Dec 11 2008, 07:03 PM
Damn! How come I miss all the great parties?
Andrew W.K. (Christmas) parties with The Evaporators
by Jamie O'Meara
Left Coast punk and indie fans were still abuzz early this week after waning (though still much-loved just for being him) party-metal music monster Andrew W.K. turned up for a surprise appearance at the Mint Records Xmas Party at Vancouver's Ukrainian Hall.
On Dec. 5, Ann Arbor, Michigan's Andrew W.K. - who broke into the public consciousness with his 2001, over-the-top debut album I Get Wet, featuring the hits Party Hard and It's Time To Party - jumped on stage with campy Vancouver punks The Evaporators (fronted by comedic celebrity interviewer Nardwuar The Human Serviette) for versions of W.K.'s Party Hard, Ready To Die and She Is Beautiful. But this was more than a serendipitous love in: W.K. and The Evaporators have plans to release a split 7-inch EP early in the new year. Song titles are said to include Oh Canaduh and Don't Sell Hot Dogs Tonite.
It could also be shaping up to be a big year for W.K. outside of his Vancouver collaborations and the motivational concerts he performs these days - he co-produced Lee "Scratch" Perry's latest record, Repentence, which is up for Best Reggae Album at this year's edition of the Grammy Awards.
This is not the first Mint Records Christmas party that has produced a high-profile surprise: in 2006, Franz Ferdinand singer Alex Kapranos showed up and sang his band's hit single Take Me Out, also with The Evaporators.
Posted by: Ted Falconi Jun 16 2009, 06:49 PM
SATURDAYS AT 8:30 PM (E/P)
The name says it all. With host, Andrew W.K., two teams take turns destroying each other's materials, then putting them back together, then destroying them again.
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/thissummer/dbd.html
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jun 16 2009, 07:07 PM
Takes me back to 2002.
It's been a great decade.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jul 27 2009, 10:43 PM
I had never seen this, but it's great! The reaction I'm glad juggalos had:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUOvnbCtnVQ
Posted by: undo Jul 28 2009, 12:44 AM
Amazing video.
Posted by: kknies Jul 28 2009, 12:56 AM
haha, nice. those guys must pay a lot of money to get people to play at that thing.
here's an infomercial for this year's gathering. http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/24/promo-video-for-2009.html
14 min long.....i had to watch the whole thing, it's that good.
and then i had to read the Vice article
http://www.viceland.com/int/v14n10/htdocs/land_of_juggalos.php?country=us
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 30 2009, 04:42 PM
from the facebook-dot-com....
good news
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jul 30 2009, 04:43 PM
Goddamn.
Posted by: Hewletts Daughter Jul 30 2009, 04:44 PM
yeah.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jul 30 2009, 05:14 PM
Yes!
Posted by: Great Ghosts Jul 31 2009, 10:29 AM
One of my best friends runs Andrew's facebook page. God he knows a lot about that guy.
Posted by: nobodies Jul 31 2009, 10:55 AM
I'm assuming this is posted somewhere else, but I didn't see it in this thread. Anyway, he has a new album coming out on September 9, 2009. It's an all instrumental piano album. I love AWK, and I'm definitely going to buy it (if only for the artwork)...but I'm not anticipating enjoying this:
Also, any further confirmation for the lakeshore theatre date? It's not posted yet on Lakeshore's website.
Posted by: Midnite_Vulture Aug 18 2009, 09:58 PM
Came across this and just had to share it. Sorry if it's old news.
Posted by: undo Aug 31 2009, 11:41 PM
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/08/andrew-wk-readies-album-of-gundam-tribute-music.html
Posted by: Duff. Sep 1 2009, 07:32 AM
Posted by: Michael K. Sep 11 2009, 12:24 AM
This 55 Cadillac bullshit sounds amazning
Posted by: Michael K. Sep 11 2009, 02:33 PM
AOTY IMO
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Sep 30 2009, 10:30 AM
"We Want Fun" is an awesome, awesome song. Remember that MTV special where he went to the all black girls college? Weird.
I'd pay good money for a copy of this -- it was beyond weird.
By the end of that special I totally thought he was pegged for an MTV vj spot, but apparently that never materialized. For whatever it's worth, I haven't listened to that AWK debut since about three months after it came out, but I have it buried amongst my music somewhere. The second it surfaces, I'm listening.
Remember the part where he was playing drums in the middle of a football field? It was pretty cool.
That was prime.
All the "humorous" tension was so fucking priceless. You find yourself just waiting for something really stereotypical or racist to stumble out of somebody's mouth the entire time. From what I remember (which isn't enough, so if anyone finds this shit on YouTube, let me know), it was the greatest thing ever in the history of television.
The first time I thought “Man, that Andrew W.K. could really help some people out” was when I saw “Crashing With Andrew W.K.” and you went to that college.
I’m glad you saw that.
Not necessarily because they had problems or anything but because I thought anyone could benefit from seeing someone so happy to be in new situations and seemed to live so sincerely. I guess MTV agreed because that’s when Your Friend, Andrew W.K. came about right?
That is true.
So how did you get started with that first show? When did you think of TV as being a good forum for that. Had you already started public speaking at that point?
They presented to me the concept of going to college and not just any college but an all-girls dormitory at a college and a primarily black college in the South on top of that. It was a real new kind of situation for me. I never went to college and I certainly never stayed in a girls dormitory before and I certainly never stayed in a primarily black girls dorm so it was really a whole lot of new exposure to me. That was really thrilling, I just like the idea of putting myself in unfamiliar situations. I understood that the idea was going to be me and the people on the show having fun and doing different things but ultimately trying to get a good feeling going and that really made a big impression on me. That there were all different types of ways to get a good feeling, you could do it through a song, you could do it through talking to someone, you could do it through television. And the fact that you saw that show and remember it at all and had those types of thoughts still to this day about it really shows me there is this power that can be taken advantage of. I just want to create an energy, an excitement, using whatever means I can.
Would you say the “Crashing” show was the origin of the advice columns and everything.
More or less. It’s hard to say where it all started. I started doing interviews when I started doing music and those interviews were sort of where I had these opportunities to talk about ideas, to talk about the feelings I was having with the music and what I was trying to accomplish. I realized that just talking and doing those interviews was a potentially powerful way to create a feeling right there. Because I was meeting people who said they read an interview with me or heard something that wasn’t a song and they were able to get excitement from those words. That made me think that maybe it doesn’t need to be just music. I used to think that music was the only way to get the feeling across, it’s definitely one of the best ways, an undeniably powerful way, but there’s lots of ways to get that feeling of energy out into the world.
Posted by: masterofsparks Nov 14 2009, 04:11 PM
http://www.awkarchive.com/videos.php?id=214&page=1
One of the best things I've ever seen on a TV.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Nov 14 2009, 04:17 PM
Saw this dude live last month and gave him a hug.
Posted by: Michael K. Nov 14 2009, 06:51 PM
don't go Tim McGraw on us
Posted by: Eskimo Kisses Nov 18 2009, 05:51 AM
That is fucking rock & roll, imo.
Posted by: cerebralheadtrip Dec 30 2009, 03:22 PM
This just keeps getting better.
http://walrusmusicblog.com/blog/the-andrew-w-k-from-the-i-get-wet-album-was-a-hired-actor/
Posted by: Necropolitan Dec 30 2009, 03:51 PM
http://twitter.com/AndrewWK/status/7182726595
Best character in music.
Posted by: cerebralheadtrip Dec 30 2009, 04:06 PM
hahaha this is too good
Posted by: solace Dec 30 2009, 04:10 PM
http://walrusmusicblog.com/blog/the-andrew-w-k-from-the-i-get-wet-album-was-a-hired-actor/
that lecture happened in September of 2008, fwiw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_WK#.22Steev_Mike.22_and_.22frontman.22_rumours
Posted by: cerebralheadtrip Dec 30 2009, 04:21 PM
I bet the Illuminati are behind this.
Posted by: Gbro Dec 30 2009, 04:23 PM
It wouldn't surprise me if this were true.
It wouldn't surprise me if this were not true.
Posted by: Gluehead Dec 30 2009, 04:39 PM
It took a secret think tank to come up with Party Til You Puke?
Posted by: nobodies Dec 30 2009, 06:05 PM
The good news: He's doing a headling tour this summer with full band.
The bad news: it's http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=8677913&blogId=523927587
I'm not completely anti-warped. It does some good: pretty low ticket prices for that many bands. On occasion it does manage to program an interesting line-up that goes beyond west coast skater punk. But the crass consumerism, shitty set times, shitty sound, shitty layout, and shitty advertising. Well, it does more bad than good imo.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jan 2 2010, 03:25 AM
Amazing how many sites there are dedicated to finding out who Andrew WK is-- and they're all very entertaining! I'd love to have a conversation with this guy about all of this-- I bet that Q&A coming up at his bar in NY is gonna be really interesting.
Posted by: undo Jan 3 2010, 12:02 AM
^what year is that from?
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jan 3 2010, 02:58 AM
If I recall correctly from the site that posted it, between 99 and 00.
Posted by: pigfuck Jan 3 2010, 03:09 AM
lost my voice singing along with "I Get Wet" while driving to my NYE plans this year
Posted by: Necropolitan Jan 3 2010, 06:15 AM
Yeah, it was 2000. Just before The Face featured AWK, I believe.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jan 4 2010, 03:15 PM
AWK web statement:
"Since 2001, I have been accused of being part of a conspiracy in which I knowingly entered into a contract with creative directors called Steev Mike, who proceeded to invent a new identity for me to perform under. I'm here to say this is simply not true and a gross exaggeration of easily explainable and common-place music industry practices. Of course I work with people who choose not to include their whole names or real names in the credits, or who aren't on stage with me during my shows - but taking advice and guidance from other people doesn't mean I'm a victim of mind-control. That's like science fiction! Andrew W.K. is about partying and doing what you want! We want fun, and that really is what I am about.
These lies have unfortunately been with me since my career started - critics were saying I had to be a fake puppet for the record industry because I appeared over night. These simple untrue allegations have grown over the years to the point now where I have to defend myself. I have done many interviews and talks where I have explained the nature of how I got into music, and I admitted that I did work with people. But people have still taken what I said and tried to call me a liar and a fake. What alarms me most about these accusations is that they remind me of witch trials: The kind of people who accuse me of being a talking head for some secret conspiracy to corrupt people's morals are the same people who claim MTV and Cartoon Network are owned by secret rulers of the world out to poison kid's brains, or that pop stars like Beyonce or Lady Gaga are part of some occult society, or that companies like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, or Hollywood are secretly promoting hidden plans. Or that the President of the USA is just a figure head and reading a script given to him by a secret world power. Come on!
We're working in a business where there are different ends and different means. No one controlled Frank Sinatra or told him how to sing. No secret group of managers has been telling someone like Jay-Z what to do or how to look. And no one tells me what to do, except me and the people who believe in me. I am a real person who thinks for himself and am not the victim of anyone or group of people trying to influence my career or life. I take responsibility for everything in my life, including who I work for and what happens to me because of it. Just because a person has mentors or advisers doesn't mean they don't have their own brain and soul. And just because I work with other people who advise me doesn't mean that I am a puppet for an evil cult or a have some sort of master plan. I make party music - plain and simple. In fact, it is me who is the innocent victim of a conspiracy of critics and haters who don't believe in the power of music and pure true fun. It is us artists who are the victims. It's crazy that still today, brand new artists like Lady Gaga have already been dealing with the same sort of paranoid allegations that I've has been dealing with since 2001. It just doesn't stop! We are not puppets, we are human beings.
Musicians are not acting, we are real people. We are not part of a conspiracy! It's really intense when people are telling you who you are, so I'm going to tell them who THEY are! On behalf of all musicians, the entertainment industry, and everyone else who's ever been falsely accused, YOU ARE NOT HURTING US AND YOU ARE NOT STOPPING THIS. The party will continue! We will endure! It has become too common for musical artists and performers to be labeled as part of some global scam to control the world, or that we're puppets for a larger agenda designed to hurt people. That's why I'm speaking out and loudly declaring: I am not evil and neither are any of my other fellow members of showbusiness. We are here to bring fun and light into the world, not doubt and darkness. I have been accused of having people design my image, tell me what to say in interviews, design my clothes, the way I look and talk, and of course my music. It's true I do work with people, but not to accomplish anything bad, just the basics that any person does in this business and with this opportunity to live out my dreams.
I have always admitted that I worked with people and I have confessed that time and time again, even if the critics twisted what I said. I did this hoping it would quiet people up and put an end to all the speculation and exaggeration. I was never an actor and the partnerships I made with friends, family, and the companies I've worked with have all been to promote entertainment, excitement, and fun - to give people something fun to focus on and to occupy our thoughts, instead of a bunch of fear or negativity.
I will always keep my focus where it matters most:
1) On being grateful for the incredible people who believe in the feeling I work to create
2) And on that magical feeling itself: BEING ALIVE!
Long live music and long live life. PARTY HARD!"
- Andrew W.K.
So... what the hell did he mean when he basically said AWK was literally a different person at the end in that video? Did he not mean literally and instead mean figuratively a different person?
Ah, entertainment.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jan 4 2010, 03:21 PM
Andrew W.K. is one of my heroes. I have a signed poster from his show last October on my wall. I don't care what is true or what isn't, he's an incredibly genuine music lover who believes in himself, in me, and in everyone. God bless him.
Posted by: Duff. Jan 4 2010, 03:33 PM
Don't know about that.
Posted by: nobodies Jan 4 2010, 03:47 PM
Much like David Letterman, AWK is schooling us in the art of how to handle a Controversy:
Confront it head-on; admit that which is true ("I have always admitted that I worked with people and I have confessed that time and time again"); and flat out deny and explain the fallacies ("I am not evil and neither are any of my other fellow members of showbusiness. We are here to bring fun and light into the world, not doubt and darkness").
In other news, AWK is pure awesomeness, and "I Get Wet" is the best album of the decade.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jan 4 2010, 03:50 PM
Real or fake or whatever, dude is awesome in pretty much every way. Anyone who denies that is probably a person I wouldn't like. I'm entertained even when I'm just reading about the guy.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jan 4 2010, 06:03 PM
While I might not agree with this every day of the week, I certainly would not dispute such a statement.
Posted by: pigfuck Jan 4 2010, 07:05 PM
it's certainly a contender
Posted by: st. park Jan 4 2010, 11:00 PM
now playing: i get wet
great album, still holds up to this day.
Posted by: idolatry Jan 4 2010, 11:04 PM
great album, still holds up to this day.
I am listening to this for the first time, right now. Just started...now. Have avoided this guy because of all the bullshit baggage attached to him for years, now. Curious to see where this goes.
Posted by: bleach Jan 5 2010, 05:09 PM
never heard anything from this guy, where does one start?
Posted by: Ted Falconi Jan 5 2010, 05:14 PM
I Get Wet
The Wolf
Close Calls With Brick Walls
55 Cadillac
Destroy Build Destroy
Posted by: bleach Jan 5 2010, 05:17 PM
will get on that falconi ranking by week's end thx.
Posted by: Arthur Pendragon Jan 5 2010, 05:18 PM
While not a huge fan of his music, the guy is very clever, intelligent and more than capable at re-inventing himself. Something 95% of the dingbats in the entertainment industry are incapable of.
(other than falconi) Did anyone see the pilot for 'Destroy Build Destroy' yet? (it's on Kids Discovery or similar style channel and awesome as hell)
http://gizmodo.com/5293191/andrew-wk-hosts-destroy-build-destroy-where-kids-blow-crap-up
Here he is playing weatherman gettin' the talking heads all giggly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdPB-hi26Yk
I say mad-props to his crazy metal music
Posted by: Necropolitan Jan 5 2010, 05:20 PM
Looks more like chronology than ranking.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jan 5 2010, 05:24 PM
I like Close Calls better than The Wolf. If all the tracks were as good as the best 8-10, then it would be a classic of our times like I Get Wet.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jan 5 2010, 10:47 PM
I listened to the song "I Get Wet" three times during tonight's workout. Fantastic!
Posted by: pigfuck Jan 5 2010, 10:49 PM
One of the best songs ever made
Posted by: Ted Falconi Jan 5 2010, 11:02 PM
Looks more like chronology than ranking.
Pretty much. The guy's such an interesting artist, it's not so much where you start, but that you eventually take in everything.
I'd also recommend listening to http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=21298 at some point.
Posted by: Pavement Ist Rad Jan 5 2010, 11:04 PM
Read this, too:
http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/712/
Posted by: pigfuck Jan 5 2010, 11:51 PM
Looks more like chronology than ranking.
Pretty much. The guy's such an interesting artist, it's not so much where you start, but that you eventually take in everything.
I'd also recommend listening to http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=21298 at some point.
never thanked you for that btw. great show, both that one specifically and overall.
Posted by: hornpout Jan 8 2010, 04:26 PM
Andrew W.K. Admits He's Not the Original Andrew W.K., Says Persona Was Developed By Committee
http://tinyurl.com/ye2ygvp
12/29/2009 By Josiah Hughes
Last month, prince of partying Andrew W.K. took to his Twitter account to defend his name against accusations that he was an imposter. The accusations come from a complicated internet rumour claiming that the original Andrew W.K. was an entirely different person named Steev Mike. W.K. has been defending himself for years against this allegation. However, he's now changed his story.
The Daily Swarm points to a lengthy video on RockFeedBack, where a recent UK lecture from the rocker has all sorts of confessions. The talk, which can be seen here, has W.K. flat out admitting that he wasn't the original performer, saying, “I’m not the guy you’ve seen from the I Get Wet album… I’m not that same person. I don’t just mean that in a philosophical or conceptual way. It’s not the same person at all.”
He goes on to say that the character was developed by a committee “in the spirit of commerce.” W.K. does not mention Steev Mike, and still leaves some wide open questions about his own true identity. Most of all, this blows the whole case about who Andrew W.K. is wide open. Perhaps his Twitter account, which was home to some very defensive Tweets last month, is run by a different person?
Posted by: Necropolitan Jan 8 2010, 05:13 PM
Isn't that the same news as post #209?
Posted by: hornpout Jan 8 2010, 10:40 PM
I just saw this article posted on another web site and hadn't read all the posts in this thread.
Andrew W.K. has never really been a favorite of mine.
Posted by: Bleep Blop Jan 9 2010, 07:55 PM
Goodnight nurse.
Posted by: Necropolitan Jan 10 2010, 07:50 AM
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/garbage-day/andrew-wk-real.php?page=1
The nature of what I've done with my performances and how I've presented myself has made it pretty straightforward regarding what this music is about, and what I'm about, and that's why it's been so surprising and interesting that, even when I've done as much as I could to make it clear, there could still be those sorts of very basic questions. These aren't detailed questions. These seem to be questions about the very fundamental nature of this thing, this person, me, Andrew W.K. The most basic question is "Does it exist or not?" and for that to be in question has been really shocking.
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