I Get Wet : Andrew W.K. : Review : Rolling Stone

Andrew W.K. is the Motor City madman who has arrived to preach the true faith of heavy-metal dementia. He puts the "mess" in "Messiah," raising arena-rock cliches from the dead and amping them up until they scream for mercy. "Party Hard" is a brilliant three-minute assault on your synapses: Andrew W.K. tosses Axl, Slash, Queen, Aldo Nova, early Falco, late Gino Vannelli and the Village People into his own private meat grinder, churning them into overdubbed synths and death-metal guitars and moral-degenerate drums and God knows how many caveman voices grunting "all right!" and "party hard!" in unison. There seem to be about ten words in the whole song, at least four of which are party. To experience "Party Hard" is to refuse to believe your ears - and when was the last time a new rock record made you feel that way?

Possibly the only man in rock & roll influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen as a lyricist, Andrew W.K. is a sensation on Viking-biker attitude alone. I Get Wet is a tour of his very special world, with a Zen sort of purity: "Party Til You Puke," "It's Time to Party," "Ready to Die," "Fun Night," the timely "I Love NYC" ("I love New York City!/Oh yeah!/New York City!") and the romantic "Take It Off." Whether or not he means it is beside the point; he wants to make you feel something, and he's willing to make you laugh if that's what it takes. But there's no denying the over-the-top whomp of his music, the loudest and funniest metal you've heard in ages. All thirty-six testosterone-soaked minutes of I Get Wet live up to the gory bravado of his already infamous cover photo: He's got blood on his face, big disgrace, screaming "party hard" all over the place. And Andrew W.K. makes an inspirational credo out of the finale, "Don't Stop Living in the Red." You've heard of new metal? Meet spew metal.

ROB SHEFFIELD
(RS 893 - April 11, 2002)