W.A.S.P.
The Crimson Idol

Before explaining this concept, I want to make one thing clear: I'm an open-minded person, and I believe that when an album has lyrics and a concept of a certain level and beauty, it's always worth listening to. Then, if the music also has a certain significance and, as in this particular case, even has a minor Prog influence, listening to it is a must.

"The Crimson Idol," the most famous, and I would say the only, album by W.A.S.P. is one of those albums you create once in a lifetime, an album where you put everything into composing it, perhaps due to personal experiences. The fact is, it's a magnificent album, even though W.A.S.P. is not a Prog band. But the concept and lyrics are groundbreaking in a genre like that of W.A.S.P. So, let's prepare to tell a story that will forever break a legendary wall between the crowd and Rock/Metal.

The story, told in the first person, is about Jonathan Aaron Steel, a boy who grows up in a problematic family. "The Titanic Overture" opens the album, painfully narrating Jonathan's suffering, as he is cast aside by his parents who deem him a loser compared to his older brother Michael; Jonathan's only solace is a mirror. The mirror where he sees what his parents hate, he looks at himself constantly hoping to understand why he is hated. With no answers, Jonathan directly asks his parents. The answers are revealed in "The Invisible Boy". The parents plainly tell him that he doesn't exist for them and that he is just an invisible shadow at home. In full despair, only the Mirror and his brother give him the little confidence to move forward. A life lived in everyone's shadow until reaching the crucial moment in "Arena of Pleasure", where Jonathan, following his brother's death, runs away from home and seeks refuge. Here, he will spend 2 years as a wanderer trying to break through as a guitarist and singer, essentially seeking the path of his life through the only thing that makes him feel good. And thanks to music, he spits at the world what he defines as "The Four Doors of Doom" (The Four Doors of Destiny), namely the four elements that forge his music: Depression (His long-time enemy), Fear (his friend and ally for survival), Hate (the thing that gives him the most strength, the thing he loves the most, to the extent that he calls it a lover), and finally, Anger (his fuel, the main instrument through which he speaks via music). Ultimately, Jonathan's personality and a hint of genius in his music are noticed. "Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)" narrates this episode, that is, his encounter with record producer Chainsaw Charlie. At first, the man tries to highlight Jonathan's talent, but eventually, he treats him as a money-making machine, bringing him into what the protagonist describes as "The New Morgue" (The New Morgue), i.e., the world of music majors, the commercial music world where music takes a backseat and one becomes merely a tool to draw crowds. Initially, Jonathan dislikes this world, but fame leads him to forget the reason he became a singer, namely, to show the world his past and what he went through. But fame wears out anyone. And Jonathan seems to be on the right path now. But at a certain point, in "The Gypsy Meets the Boy", Jonathan meets a gypsy who predicts his future: a future partially glorious but partially grim, depending entirely on the boy's choices. But Jonathan doesn't grasp the meaning, believing only that the prediction is the realization of his dream, which is to become The Crimson Idol, the king of every crowd, the idol of all. As time passes, Jonathan's skill explodes, but one evening during a party, he encounters Doctor Rockter, the character who gives the song its title, who is nothing more than a pusher drifting among singers and promises Jonathan happiness through drugs. Jonathan becomes enslaved and eventually forgets everything; the reason he became what he is, the music, the mirror, and his brother. All erased by drugs. Jonathan at this point also enters a work crisis, risking losing his contract. But they can't; by now, Jonathan is The Crimson Idol. In "I am One," Jonathan sings his anthem in a concert, the song that best represents him (which is in fact the same as the album title, remembering that it's all in the first person), in short, the definition of himself, the achievement of what every person would like to be: the greatest Rockstar in the world. No one can touch him. But is that enough; drugs, alcohol, sex, and money to be truly happy? The question comes to Jonathan's mind. So, one night after a concert, he decides to contact his family again. In "The Idol", Jonathan reaches a turning point. On the phone, his family tells him they never had a son named Jonathan and hang up. This makes Jonathan feel even more alone than ever before. At this point, The Idol confronts himself in front of the Mirror, his only childhood friend, and takes stock of his life: what he has become. He has forgotten everything about himself, the reason he reached this point, sought a way to forget, and instead forgot himself, the mirror, and his brother. He has betrayed them. What's the point of being happy if at night you have no one to share your happiness with? For the world, he is just an object to be revered. For the Music Business, a cash machine. No one treats him as a human. This anguish breaks out almost like a cry in "Hold on to My Heart". Here, Jonathan succumbs to sadness and melancholy and describes his state of mind after discovering that he is alone, that no one will treat him with love, which he has always wanted. I could say a phrase of mine that captures this meaning: "When in the deafening darkness of the night you are alone, the only thing you can hold on to is your heart". Jonathan is destroyed. He has betrayed music and everything he clung to in the solitude of his life, just for success. In "The Great Misconceptions of Me", the boy comes to terms with himself: he refuses and renounces everything he has achieved. He no longer wants to be The Crimson Idol but simply a boy to love and understand. But by now, it's too late, and in his despair, he unties the strings of his first guitar, which had given him fame, and hangs himself. Perhaps with his death, people will appreciate him for what he is. In the last track, "The Story of Jonathan", the boy's soul, before completely leaving the body, provides an epilogue of everything. To then vanish forever.

So ends The Crimson Idol. A boy consumed and devoured by the Music Business and the world that Rock/Metal created. His music was Rock/Metal because it best expressed his anger, but that didn't mean he needed to live that mindset. It wasn't just the cold world of the Majors that killed Jonathan, but also the hypocritical world of the Rock Star, a world that cares only about fun and amusement and tramples on true feelings.

This album, for the first time, denounces the way of entering Rock; those excessive actions that have often led to death and which, despite this, many continue to imitate. But a guitar alone is not enough to create a musician: it also takes the heart to create and share what comes from the guitar.

I hope you enjoyed this story. I wanted to tell it because I too denounce this world. A cold world that promises the sky and instead crushes you to hell.

Live only the music.