Wikipedia

Inside the Electric Circus

Inside the Electric Circus is the third studio album by American heavy metal band W.A.S.P., released on October 22, 1986, through Capitol Records.[1]

Inside the Electric Circus
Studio album by
W.A.S.P.
ReleasedOctober 22, 1986 (1986-10-22)[1]
RecordedAugust 1986 (1986-08)
StudioPasha Music House, North Hollywood, Los Angeles
Genre
Length47:57
LabelCapitol
ProducerBlackie Lawless
W.A.S.P. chronology
The Last Command
(1985)		 Inside the Electric Circus
(1986)		 Live... in the Raw
(1987)
Singles from Inside the Electric Circus
  1. "9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y." / "Easy Living"
    Released: September 1986 (1986-09)[3]

A remastered edition featuring two bonus tracks was reissued in 1997 through Snapper Music.[4] The album is the band's first to feature singer and bandleader Blackie Lawless playing guitar, having switched from bass to rhythm guitar.[4] It reached No. 60 on the US Billboard 200 chart,[5] where it remained for 19 weeks.[6]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStar[7]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal5/10[8]

Greg Prato at AllMusic gave Inside The Electric Circus three stars out of five, calling it "[an attempt] to grow musically with each successive release".[7] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff considered the album "slightly more simplified and hard rock-based" than previous works and reminded in his review how Lawless "in retrospect considered this record a failure."[8]

Lawless himself has been critical of Inside The Electric Circus, going as far as to name it his least favorite W.A.S.P. album, calling it a "tired record done by a tired band".[9]

Metal Hammer included the album cover on their list of "50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever".[10]

Track listing

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Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Big Welcome"Blackie Lawless0:51
2."Inside the Electric Circus"Lawless4:06
3."I Don't Need No Doctor" (Ray Charles, Humble Pie cover)Jo Armstead, Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson3:28
4."9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y."Lawless, Chris Holmes4:50
5."Restless Gypsy"Lawless5:02
6."Shoot from the Hip"Lawless4:44
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."I'm Alive"Lawless4:24
8."Easy Living" (Uriah Heep cover)Ken Hensley3:13
9."Sweet Cheetah"Lawless, Holmes5:18
10."Mantronic"Lawless, Holmes4:12
11."King of Sodom and Gomorrah"Lawless, Holmes3:52
12."The Rock Rolls On"Lawless3:57
Total length:47:57
1997 remastered edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."Flesh and Fire"Lawless4:37
14."D.B. Blues"Lawless3:24

Personnel

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W.A.S.P.
Production

Charts

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Album

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References

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  1. 1 2 "New Releases" (PDF). FMQB. October 10, 1986. p. 46. Retrieved January 4, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Top 50 Glam Metal Albums". Metal Rules. Archived from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  3. ↑ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. p. 885. ISBN 9780862415419.
  4. 1 2 "Inside the Electric Circus" Archived 2012-02-12 at the Wayback Machine. waspnation.com. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  5. ↑ "W.A.S.P. Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on January 29, 2014. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
  6. ↑ "W.A.S.P. - Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Prato, Greg. "W.A.S.P.- Inside the Electric Circus review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  8. 1 2 Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 407. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  9. ↑ Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P. interview in Tempe Arizona 10/30/22 40th anniversary tour! Episode #28, retrieved November 7, 2022
  10. ↑ Young, Simon (May 9, 2023). "The 50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever". Metal Hammer. Future plc. Retrieved December 9, 2024.
  11. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Image 0863". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  13. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  14. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – W.A.S.P. – Inside the Electric Circus". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – W.A.S.P. – Inside the Electric Circus". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  16. ↑ "Official Albums Chart on 2/11/1986 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  17. ↑ "W.A.S.P. Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1961: W > W.A.S.P." Sisältää hitin / Timo Pennanen. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  19. 1 2 "W.A.S.P. Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
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