Review Revue: Wendy O. Williams' Ultrafly and the Hometown Girls - Deffest! and Baddest!

Obviously, my parents did way too good of a job raising me, as I have pretty much no familiarity with the woman who, according to the Internet, was "widely considered the most controversial and radical female singer of her day" – Wendy O. Williams' day being more or less the first twelve years of my life, leading up to the release of Deffest! and Baddest! I blame MTV for not doing more to publicize her brand of confrontational sexuality.

This album has her turning from the aggressive, confrontational punk rock that started with her years fronting the Plasmatics to take a stab at rock-infused hip-hop along the lines of Run DMC. It seems many of her fans consider this an unfortunate departure, but for the KCMU DJs it might have been just the departure they were looking for.  Sadly, this was her last recording. A decade later she made her final departure, taking her own life. As the last comment on this record says, "R.I.P. W.O.W."

"Hot damn! I've never liked Wendy O. Williams' music, but this one rocks from start to finish with a big, sexy beatbox sound. Red dots 2-1, 2, 3."

"This is great shit! Until you realize it's Wendy O. It's like wanting to eat a big barbequed chicken thigh, but knowing it might have salmonella. Wendy's cashin' in. Close your eyes when you play, and ROCK HARD!"

"Get on the bus, W.O.W."

"She can do NO Wrong. This Rocks!!! Let me interview her if she comes to town. Oh, I'm so submissive."

"Suicide 4/7/98. R.I.P. W.O.W."