Wesley Willis

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Wesley Willis

Background information
Birth name Wesley Shabazz Willis
Born May 31, 1963(1963-05-31)
Origin Chicago, Illinois
Died August 21, 2003 (aged 40)
Genre(s) Outsider music
Instrument(s) vocals, keyboards, guitar
Years active 1990–2003
Label(s) Alternative Tentacles
Associated acts Wesley Willis Fiasco
Monster Voodoo Machine
Website [1]

Wesley Shabazz Willis (May 31, 1963 – August 21, 2003) was a busker, musician and painter from Chicago. A diagnosed schizophrenic, he gained a sizable cult following in the 1990s after releasing several hundred songs of unique but simple music, with emphasis on his humorous, bizarre, and very obscene lyrics.

Contents

[edit] Life

Willis was born in Chicago, Illinois to Walter Willis and Annie Ruth, and had nine siblings. Willis was abandoned by his father as a young child, and his mother Annie Willis was a violent alcoholic, who allegedly practiced prostitution and drug dealing. Willis remembered being beaten by his mother, and having to watch her have sex in exchange for drugs.[1] In 1972, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services removed Willis and his siblings from their abusive mother and placed the children in various foster homes. Sometime between 1976 and 1978, Willis was adopted and reunited with three of his brothers – Gerald, Michael, and Ricky. Willis and his brothers lived with their foster parents in a Chicago housing project, where they lived on welfare.

In 1989, Willis began hearing what he called "demon mullets" and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was institutionalized for two months after his diagnosis. He often mentioned that his demons were named "Heartbreaker," "Nervewrecker," and "Meansucker". He called his psychotic episodes "hell rides", and alternatively, he declared rock and roll to be "the joy ride music".

Willis sold ink pen drawings of the Chicago cityscape on the street (in The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll, Steve Albini tells an anecdote about how Willis was in one train station drawing a detailed picture of a different train station from memory). These works of outsider art appear on the covers of his albums. Willis joined musicians from the city's alternative rock scene to form the hard rock band The Wesley Willis Fiasco, which produced such future file sharing favorites as "Jesus is the Answer" and "Casper the Homosexual Friendly Ghost". Willis created a fervor in the Chicago music scene and soon caught the attention of American Recordings, an independent label distributed by The Warner Group.

In early 1994, Willis recorded with the Canadian industrial-metal band Monster Voodoo Machine and appeared on their Juno Award winning debut album Suffersystem (RCA Records). In 1995 without his band, Willis was signed to American Recordings and went on to record two albums while producing dozens of other albums independently, becoming a minor novelty rock sensation. He toured frequently, was profiled on MTV and was a guest on The Howard Stern Show on September 26, 1996 where he played nearly-identical songs about Baba Booey and Stern.

Some questioned the aesthetic taste of the audience. Rock critic Will Robinson Sheff wrote that Willis’s "periodic appearances for crowds of jeering white fratboys evoke an uncomfortable combination of minstrel act and traveling freak show." [2] Fans insisted the appeal was in his unique attitude and approach to music.

One of Willis's trademarks was headbutting with his fans and friends. Typically when approached by a fan, Willis would gingerly hold his or her head between his hands and say, "Say....RAH!" and then he would say "Bump my head." The fan would respond as instructed and Willis would bump his head against his or hers. Then he would say, "Say....RAH!" and the fan would again respond as instructed by repeating "RAH!" Willis would repeat this over and over as long as the fan or friend would tolerate it and he would then express joy and delight from this unique connection, or he would become distracted by the prospect of selling one of his "Rock 'n' Roll CD's" (most of his sales were done face-to-face on the street or at one of the hundreds of concerts he attended on a regular basis.) The large callus in the center of his forehead resulted from this habit of "bumping heads."

On August 21, 2003, Willis died due to complications from chronic myelogenous leukemia in Prospect Heights, Illinois. He was 40 years old. A memorial service for him was held on August 27, in Chicago.

At the time of his death, he had recorded over 1,000 songs but his total life savings were less than $200. Having sold out hundreds of venues across the country, the question still remains where all of Willis's money went. In a Howard Stern interview, it was mentioned that Willis would receive as much as a $10,000 advance for the production of an album, and that he would then earn a portion of the money received from album sales and live shows.

[edit] Warhellride

"Warhellride" is a term used by Willis to describe his encounters with "demons", which occurred mainly on the CTA bus lines in Chicago. Willis, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, often claimed that demons were trying to ruin his "Harmony Joy Music" or "Harmony Joy Rides". Willis also used the term to describe general harassment: In one of his songs he says, "He gave me a yelldown warhellride." When asked about the demons or Warhellrides, Willis would often comment that he was trying to "stay the hell out of prison" by "not hitting people in the street with bricks." In several songs, both terms are used openly. In fact, one of Willis's songs is entitled "I Deserve a Warhellride".

[edit] Song style and structure

The Wesley Willis Fiasco songs were essentially punk rock songs with Willis howling his obscene, absurd rants as lyrics. Some called it exploitation; others dubbed it "savant-garde". The Wesley Willis Fiasco recorded at least three cover songs: Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak", Pure Prairie League's "Amie", and Duran Duran's "Girls on Film", the last of which was recorded for a 1997 Duran Duran tribute album. Another song by the Wesley Willis Fiasco, "The Bar Is Closed", recreates a section of Rush's "Tom Sawyer"; the song "Casper the Homosexual Friendly Ghost" does the same with Van Halen's "Jamie's Cryin'".

After the Fiasco broke up, Willis's popularity increased markedly. As a solo artist, Willis created more than 50 albums, each with over 20 tracks, full of bizarre, tense, and often obscene rants about crime, fast food, cultural trends, bus routes, violent confrontations with superheroes, commands for his "demons" to engage in bestiality (in The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll, Willis explained that these songs (e.g. Drink a Camel's Cum, Suck a Cheetah's Dick) would "gross out" the demons enough to leave him alone), and praise for his favorite actors, friends (both platonic and romantic), politicians, and hip-hop and rock artists. Songs about rock artists were usually confined to describing a show performed by the band that Willis had attended or opened for, recycling key phrases such as "The crowd roared like a lion," "A lot of people met the band," "The band got down like a Magikist," and the opening couplet "This band played the [venue of appearance] / About [number] people were at the show," as well as uses of the phrases "rock show" and "jam session" in conjunction with "the (rock) show was..." or stating that the existence of one of these within the show "was awesome" or "whipped a(n) [random animal, generally a non-human mammal]'s ass".

Willis's songs have a very specific form and atmosphere that helped define the musician's highly recognizable style. Willis never actually played the notes on his keyboard; he simply used the one-note autochord feature, with preprogrammed rhythms and harmonies. Typically one chord is used for the verses, and a pattern for the choruses and "solo" sections. Though a variety of programs are used, only a handful comprise the vast majority of Willis's work, resulting in his albums' tendency to repeat the same program over many songs. Most of the variation in arrangements between songs involve changing the key and/or tempo of the autochord program and utilizing production effects on the background music, vocals (especially during the chorus), or both.

His lyrics also usually follow a general pattern, although to classify Willis's lyrics according to any conventional rhyme scheme or meter proves difficult. Lyrics generally began with a verse: a four-line spoken stanza (though the number of lines is changed occasionally), usually consisting of statements about the subject of the song. This was followed by the chorus, which was simply the subject of the song (typically the name) sung anywhere from three to six times (usually four) in a non-professional, "drunk anthem"-type style. Then, another verse and another chorus, followed by an instrumental bridge section, where Willis—who had taken to heart advice he had heard that the ideal song length for radio play is two minutes and 50 seconds—would push the "fill" button repeatedly on his keyboard, usually triggering accompanying sound effects; this part could last over a minute and a half. The song ended with another verse, a chorus, and the words "Rock over London! Rock on Chicago," a catchphrase from an hour-long WXRT radio show. It was often followed by a company or product's name and slogan. Each song would end with a different slogan, although some were used in several of Willis's songs. Occasionally, in songs about a product or service, the commercial at the end would be for a competitor to the brand of the main song. If performed live, "Chicago" would be replaced with whatever city Willis was performing in.

Willis' keyboard of choice was the Technics KN series. Willis would excessively trade in one KN model for the newest ones on the market during the time when he was making the most money (after his break-up with The Wesley Willis Fiasco). The KN1200 was the keyboard he was currently using, according to a Howard Stern interview.

[edit] Cultural impact

In 2003, Filmmaker Daniel Bitton released a film about Wesley Willis called The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll. The documentary follows Willis around as he talks to himself and others, rides the bus, writes a song on a public computer at Kinko's, performs a concert, records a track, and visits his friends. Bitton also interviewed many people who commonly interacted with Willis. Willis and his band the Fiasco were also featured in the 1997 Chicago rock documentary Out of the Loop as well as in the German documentary "Golden Lemons"[3] by Jörg Siepermann about the US tour of the German punk band "Die Goldenen Zitronen" (The Golden Lemons) together with Wesley Willis.

In 2008, the documentary film Wesley Willis's Joy Rides made its public debut at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The film comprises footage of Willis collected by the filmmakers over a period of five years, interviews of family and friends after Willis's death, and animations created from his artwork.

The WiiWare title Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (based on the Homestar Runner web series) makes reference to Willis-one of the lines that the character Bubs says is "Rock over London, Rock on Chicago!", a saying popularized by Willis.

Jonti Picking, creator of the Internet cartoon Weebl and Bob, is a big fan of Willis. He has made an animation featuring Willis' song "Merry Christmas"[4], as well as a Weebl episode called "Poet"[5], dedicated to the memory of Willis.

The creators of the online game Kingdom of Loathing are noted fans of Willis. There are several references to him in the game, such as a Vampire Bat monster, as well as a zone called Hey Deze, where there are numerous references to Wesley's hell rides, including NPCs named "Nervewrecker," "Heartbreaker," and "Meansucker." These characters speak using paraphrased Willis quotes.

Juno-Award winning Canadian industrial-metal band Monster Voodoo Machine before performing their "final show" in 1996, broadcasted Wesley Willis's song "Monster Voodoo Machine" as an intro. The Band reformed in 2007 and played a sample of Wesley upon intro "Rock Over London, Rock on Chicago" before taking the stage in Toronto, ON on August 9.

Willis' "Rock and Roll McDonald's" was featured in the documentary Super Size Me.

Willis' "Birdman Kicked my Ass" is the menu music on the DVD for the animated series, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.

Multiple versions of Winamp included a sample mp3 file with a statement inspired by Willis: "Winamp, it really whips the llama's ass."

Many notable bands have recorded songs referencing or imitating Wesley Willis:

  • The Look Down song Jeans And Jackets and Dresspants And Coats features a tribute to the classic Wesley Willis bass line.
  • There is a Wesley Willis reference in the Ozma song "Flight of the Bootymaster".
  • Willis shared a split 7" record with the band The Frogs; Willis' song was "The Frogs" and The Frogs' song was "Wesley Willis". The Frogs also mention him in their song "Pay" from their album Bananimals. [6]
  • Heavy Vegetable's 1995 album "Frisbie" included "Song for Wesley," whose lyrics praise Willis and imitate his characteristic song-ending style.
  • Rocket From The Crypt named their album "Scream Dracula, Scream" after a line in a Wesley Willis Song.
  • The final track on the 1995 Anal Cunt demo Howard Is Bald is titled "Howard Wulkan (Wesley Willis version)". The song uses the exact same formula as Wesley Willis' songs.
  • Chicago musician Sam Scumaci is a noted fan of Wesley Willis and says that Willis was an influence on his own song structures.
  • In 1999, a college freshman by the name of Christian Baker founded WesleyWillis.com, which subsequently was awarded Stupidest Website of the Month by Maxim Magazine in mid 2000. Cult status of Wesley Willis was assured by the constant flow of traffic to the site, 95% being from user entry of the domain name. The website eventually had to be shut down amid threats of copyright infringement relating to the posting of lyrics.
  • The hidden track on The W's album Fourth From The Last is a tribute to Five Iron Frenzy, written and performed in the style of Wesley Willis.[2]
  • Bay area "post-punk laptop rap" artist MC Lars has been giving props (respect) to friend Willis since his early recording, stating Willis as a major influence upon him. In the thanks list of 2003's Radio Pet Fencing CD (released before Willis passing), MC Lars writes "Wesley Willis (we'll work the demons, man)". In the song "My Rhymes Rhyme", the chorus contains the line "Shout outs to Wesley Willis, Atom G. and John Hall. Word to MC Paul Barman, hey return my call!". On the track "Yes I Am An Alien", Wesley Willis can be heard loud and clear at the end of the song saying "Lars Horris, I like your song, I'm gonna write a song about you. I'll probably write it on my next rock and roll record for it is called This Gigantic Robot Kills". In tribute, Lars' 2009 album is titled This Gigantic Robot Kills, with the title track performed along with Suburban Legends and The Aquabats' MC Bat Commander.
  • The hip hop duo People Under the Stairs pay tribute to Willis in their song "Outrun" with the lyrics "Rock over London, rock on Chicago. GE, we bring good things to life. Diet Pepsi, uh-huh."
  • Jello Biafra and the Melvins frequently perform "Rock N Roll McDonalds" in concert.
  • Willis introduces the band, Boris the Sprinkler (whose lead singer was Rev. Norb) at the beginning of their 1994 album, "8-Testicled Pogo Machine;" at the end of the album, he also says, "Thank you for listening, white-bread, chicken shit!"
  • In the July 22, 2003 strip of the webcomic Achewood (Ray Rhymes About the Internet), Ray sings a song about the internet which refers to Willis. "Rock on TCP/IP, Rock over XML"
  • In Katy Perry's song "Simple" (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Soundtrack), she mentions wishing she was a poet like Wesley Willis.
  • On the Blue Meanies' 1998 live album, "A Sonic Documentation of Exhibition and Banter" Willis introduces the band with "This band can whoop a wild horse's ass. This band could whoop a big camel's ass with a belt. Here they are, Chicago's own Blue motherfucking Meanies"

[edit] Partial Discography

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Daddy of Rock 'N' Roll
  2. ^ "The W's: Todd Gruener Interview". Jesus Freak Hideout. 1999-04-20. http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/interviews/Ws.asp. Retrieved on 2007-04-30. 
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Willis"
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