Happy Birthday Steven Edward Duren born on this day in 1956 Better known to you and me as Blackie Lawless of the Rock band WASP.  His first break was replacing Johnny Thunders when New York Dolls toured Florida when we remained for the rest of the tour.  He was first known as Blackie Goozeman.  

Lawless is best known as bass player and singer (cough) in WASP which he started with Randy Piper who he played in previous bands before settling on the classic line up of Holmes, Piper, Lawless, and Tony Richards the band signed to Capitol Records but it was their single ‘Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)’ that caused a right stir partly due to the lyrics (obviously) and the PMRC who were on a collision course with Rock music after the bands label refused to include the track on their debut album so it was released by Music For Nations and became an instant classic.

Lawless has sort of distanced himself from the track and hasn’t played it for a number of years however the band went on to enjoy great success with subsequent releases ‘The Last Command’, ‘Inside The Electric Circus’ and almost twenty albums since. He’s courted controversy with canceled shows and line up changes and the use of tapes but regardless of all that Happy Birthday Blackie that debut album is a belter.