Andrew W.K.

(how andrew wk introduced a video the other day)

(cue ned: "oh, i get it, etc. etc. ...)

I mean I'm perfectly open to the possibility that I don't get it.

he bigs up max martin and marilyn manson. he's just making shiny, dunderheaded glam metal. the shock and confusion he elicits eludes me.

Just the dullness. And to heck with this 'resisting' idea, that makes it seem that liking it is somehow a natural or correct approach. Garbage. I don't resist Mr. WK, I just don't find the results worth a damn and worth the consideration.

I quite liked the "YOU.........YOU WORK ALL DAY" part of Party Hard but that's about it. It was oddly compelling.

THEN THAT MEANS HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER. Like I said over on ILM, if the man appreciates pop, then demonstrate that! Bah!

Your explanation vis-a-vis unrelenting noise that achieves transcendence in repetition certainly makes sense when it comes to the comparison with Lightning Bolt, say. I like that thought, I may take it as my own. ;-) But I like Lightning Bolt and think WK is go-nowhere codswallop. So they may have similar intents, but terribly different results.

(I think Andrew WK is funny, though I could only tolerate about 10 seconds of his SNL performance.)

The $64,000 question. ;-) Mostly it's because of the semi-assumption above I vigorously protest, namely that it is instantly catchy dumb pop/rock. WRONG, at least in my ears. His sin is not attempting his approach, his sin lies in doing so and failing miserably.

Well, why not?

Yes; I don't think a record has ever made me laugh so much in my life. It feels so good!

It seems that not to like WK is apparently a sign of being anti-pop, being anti-dumb fun, being a snob, being humorless, being too serious, being a poor sport, etc. I find all these assumptions wanting.

You, Ned, don't like Andrew WK because he's unmemorable - this tells me nothing about you except your ears work in v.different ways from mine (which I knew anyway) and that you make a lot of fuss about a property (unmemorableness) that doesn't bother me. In fact it's you who's applying an assumed framework to WK - he is pop therefore he must be catchy. I happen to think he is catchy and pop but more than that I love him for the noises and textures: WK tracks make me think of cross-section pictures of the earth's crust, this vast layer of magma and rock (the guitars) with this tiny pretty layer of trees and grass perfectly balanced on top (the keyboards).

It's basically a heavy sugary Devo, with a wrestler's voice. And maybe a little Elton John/John Tesh on the piano bits. The whole metal image seems to be a non-clever rue to make Mr. WK to be some sort of rock god, where in fact, I enjoy the music for all the reasons BUT.

he is pop therefore he must be catchy

*scratches chin* Now this makes me wonder...can it be possible to create something intentionally uncatchy but aimed at a pop audience? Nothing to do with Andrew WK now, more thinking about what pop 'should' be.

repping for multinational junk food IS pretty sinister, even if he's being ironic/over-the-top:
"Andrew W.K. - I eat all the best food! Taco Bell, always! And lots of candy, obviously. And I eat tons of Pringles chips, and cheese crackers like Cheese Nips, and I eat lots and lots of microwave meals, like frozen burritos, Hungry Man XL dinners, and Stouffer's meals. And I also love Chunky soups - just all the best tasting food. It's my joy! I eat this food at home too, not just on the road. My goal is always to just eat as much good food as possible, all the time. When we stop at gas stations and truck stops, it's like an amusement park for me! I'll buy three of every single candy bar they have, and then lay them all out on the table in our bus so you can really appreciate the spread and their awesome wrappers. You can have any of them that you want! It's like our own personal candy store. I also get lots and lots of pizza and cheese burgers, french fries, fried chicken. And like I said before, I eat at Taco Bell whenever I see one, even if I'm not that hungry. Sometimes I'll eat at Taco Bell three times in one day. It's all part of my heavenly life. It's just pure happiness. "

i really feel like he and alice waters and michael pollan should have a sitdown.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/11/26/andrew-w-k-recruited-by-us-government-as-cultural-ambassador-to-the-middle-east/

This should go in the 'shit that looks like an Onion article but isn't'.

Next series of Destroy Build Destroy to be filmed in Gaza.

If all else fails, dude! Party on!

Bah, State Department have pulled the plug http://www.avclub.com/articles/andrew-wk-seriously-named-us-cultural-ambassador-t,89082/

strange things are afoot with the W.K.

http://peterslarson.com/2012/12/02/andrew-wk-how-he-almost-became-the-us-cultural-ambassador-to-the-middle-east/

In the days since the cancellation, I’ve received inside tips that there was a passionate debate in the State Dept. about my going at the last second. It’s possible that someone outside of the State Dept. who wasn’t aware of the trip initially became incensed that they weren’t informed before. Apparently some of these unknown higher-up officials were on my side and others were deeply offended by the idea of me going.

http://nakeddc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/barack-obama_nobel_prize1.jpg

A.W.K trying to break the world record for drumming in a retail store in Times Square, currently on hour 14

what's the previous record for drumming in a retail store?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qi3JERmk9E

welp

My friend texted me yesterday first thing in the morning to note it was the 10th anniversary of when we got AWK autographs.

And now with a new radio show on...

...Glenn Beck's network?

http://www.mediaite.com/online/andrew-w-k-gets-his-own-show-on-glenn-becks-radio-network/

contenderizer, you're famous!

https://www.stereogum.com/2015589/andrew-wk-steev-mike/franchises/sounding-board/

this article is a wild ride, though it's really long and pontificates a lot. ultimately the conclusion is what I've assumed was true for a while - the entire "AWK conspiracy" is essentially AWK screwing with people

i hate this piece with all my heart

sorry to complain about literally everything this guy writes but it just gets worse and worse

That article made me feel like I was drunk.

thanks I hate it

It's pretty funny to hear norms try to tell a post-internet revisionist history of AWK without being in tune with Bulb/Pterodactyls & all the pre-I Get Wet releases and shows.

is michael nelson the guy who penned that novel-length strokes longread

yes

And replaced MST3K fan favorite Joel iirc

what the

https://i.imgur.com/SWvN2S0.jpg

That's the logical conclusion, no?

Looking like a character from American Psycho is partying.

https://i.imgur.com/SWvN2S0.jpg

WHEN IT'S TIME TO STUDY WE WILL ALWAYS STUDY HARD

http://i47.tinypic.com/16h5l08.jpg

is a nice one, although I'm still partial to his look at 88BOADRUM.

Something new to add to the confusion and mythology side of all things AWK...

To everyone asking about these “andrew wk journals”, that was all before my time. I wasn’t even part of it back then. So there’s no way I could have done it. https://t.co/cmIxVPwcep

— ANDREW W.K. (@AndrewWK) October 9, 2020

which links to a reddit post where this pastebin link was posted which contains nine links to images of a diary, supposedly written by "andrew wk" from 1998 onwards:

https://pastebin.com/VBdLVWC7

Huh, I assumed the revive would be this, which has been doing the rounds.

Andrew W.K. is a Libertarian "Classical Liberal" who believes in American Exceptionalism & a "big fan of Breitbart". He was a regular on Fox News show 'Red Eye' for years w/ his friend Gavin McInnes (Proud Boys) & even had his own radio show on Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze radio network

— Heresy Labs (@heresysquad) October 10, 2018

I hadn't seen any of that before. Most of the people and organisations mentioned I don't really know, but I get that they're unsavoury associations. Is the consensus that there is something to it all?

AWK seems to have deleted the tweet that I posted above. I feel less enamoured by the mystery in the cold light of day and guess that the (supposed) 1998 diary is something created to help promote new music coming soon.

Honestly, I don't see a lot there beyond "Andrew W K isn't that bright or politically involved" - the only thing that bothers me is the quote about him loving Breitbart, and the source of it is - an article on Breitbart.
There's what seems to be an informed rebuttal here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndrewWK/comments/9mvw92/andrew_wk_has_long_extensive_ties_to_rightwing/e7i30hz/

Yeah AWK is about as apolitical as it gets

yeah, weak tea guilt by association shit. he's about as guilty as Damien from Fucked Up in that case.

That's all good to read, thanks.

I feel less enamoured by the mystery in the cold light of day

I love that he still finds it fun to generate intricate layers of confusing backstory and then publish disinformation about the stuff he's put so much effort into.

Thanks for that rebuttal link, AF.

uhh what

https://www.instagram.com/katdenningsss/

jenny4twnty
The shower drain must be a nightmare

Speak of the... devil?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj8C7hKpBNA

this new album's gonna be pretty heavy huh

Wow this song rules

Incredible album title + cover art combo too

that track is a snooze im sure his fans from his Glen Beck network show will dig tho

I've never been an AWK fan, but the video has a Matthew Barney-ish feel that I'm into. The song's...fine, but nothing without the visuals.

The "Babalon" video is quite something as well.

OK, just watched "Babalon" and that is legitimately great (song and video). If he'd sounded like this all along I'd have been a fan 20 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI8y36733ag

apparently an entire journal of his from 1998-2000 leaked online

https://awkshare.com/files/7d756f81-e197-4711-9101-fd042ca3d17b

feels wrong to be reading this but it's pretty fascinating, hundreds of pages not only detailing the entire Andrew WK persona but also a man at war with himself. seems to explore the whole "use actors for the first few years/make it seem like everyone else is doing the work" idea. at some point he lays out his first 9 albums, #5 being "The Devil's on Your Side" and #6 being "The Party Gods"

obviously a good chance this was all made in the last couple of months but still, pretty crazy shit here

"i'm in heaven" is so good

xp "leaked"