Inside the Electric Circus

Inside the Electric Circus
Studio album by W.A.S.P.
Released	October 22, 1986 (1986-10-22)[1]
Recorded	August 1986 (1986-08)
Studio	Pasha Music House, North Hollywood, Los Angeles
Genre	Hard rock shock rock glam metal[2] Heavy metal
Length	47:57
Label	Capitol
Producer	Blackie 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
"9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y." / "Easy Living" Released: September 1986 (1986-09)[3]

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]

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

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	5/10[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

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Big Welcome"	Blackie Lawless	0:51
2.	"Inside the Electric Circus"	Lawless	4:06
3.	"I Don't Need No Doctor" (Ray Charles cover)	Jo Armstead, Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson	3:28
4.	"9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y."	Lawless, Chris Holmes	4:50
5.	"Restless Gypsy"	Lawless	5:02
6.	"Shoot from the Hip"	Lawless	4:44

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
7.	"I'm Alive"	Lawless	4:24
8.	"Easy Living" (Uriah Heep cover)	Ken Hensley	3:13
9.	"Sweet Cheetah"	Lawless, Holmes	5:18
10.	"Mantronic"	Lawless, Holmes	4:12
11.	"King of Sodom and Gomorrah"	Lawless, Holmes	3:52
12.	"The Rock Rolls On"	Lawless	3:57
Total length:			47:57

1997 remastered edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"Flesh and Fire"	Lawless	4:37
14.	"D.B. Blues"	Lawless	3:24

Personnel

W.A.S.P.

• Blackie Lawless – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, producer
• Chris Holmes – lead guitar
• Johnny Rod – bass, background vocals
• Steve Riley – drums, background vocals

Production

• Duane Baron, Alex Woltman – engineers
• Hans Peter Huber, Kevin Lehue – additional engineering
• Michael Wagener, Garth Richardson – mixing
• George Marino – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York

Charts

Album

Chart (1986) Peak position Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[11] 94 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[12] 84 Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)[13] 16 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[14] 17 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[15] 35 UK Albums (OCC)[16] 53 US Billboard 200[17] 60

Singles Year Single Chart Position 1986 "9.5.-N.A.S.T.Y." Finnish Singles Chart[18] 18 UK Singles Chart[19] 70 1987 "I Don't Need No Doctor" UK Singles Chart[19] 31

References

1. "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. "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. Prato, Greg. "W.A.S.P.- Inside the Electric Circus review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
8. 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: Issue 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. "W.A.S.P. Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 16, 2019.