Wisconsin Death Trip (album)

Wisconsin Death Trip is the debut studio album by the American industrial metal band Static-X. Originating in the Midwestern United States when lead singer Wayne Static (from Michigan), and drummer Ken Jay (from Illinois), met at a Virgin Records store in Chicago, it was not long after they were introduced by the lead singer of Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, that Static and Jay decided to head out west to California to enlist a lead guitarist and bassist. Once in California, Koichi Fukuda became their guitarist, and not long after, they discovered Californian Tony Campos to complete the band as their bassist. Warner Bros. Records discovered the group in California, and signed them to the label in February 1998. A year later, Wisconsin Death Trip was released on March 23. In June 2001, the RIAA certified the album as platinum.

Writing and recording
The album was produced by Ulrich Wild under the Warner Bros. Records label in a matter of eight weeks. Band members contributions include: Wayne Static (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming), Koichi Fukuda (guitar, keyboards, programming), Tony Campos (bass, background vocals), and Ken Jay (drums).

Wisconsin Death Trip features a song written by vocalist Wayne Static and drummer Ken Jay's former band Deep Blue Dream, titled "December".

The crash-landing scene from the 1968 film Planet of the Apes is sampled for the intro of "Sweat of the Bud". The intro for "Stem" is sampled from the 1990 experimental horror movie Begotten. The outro from "I'm with Stupid", a sample of dialogue from actress Linnea Quigley, comes from the 1988 film Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama.

Album title
The album's title was taken from Michael Lesy's 1973 book Wisconsin Death Trip. This book, responsible for capturing the imaginations of the band and inspiring the album title, contains a collection of photographs cataloging deceased persons previously residing in the Black River Falls region in the late 19th century. When interviewed about the source of the title inspiration, Wayne Static explained, "[It's]actually a book title that we stole. It's been out of print for about 20 years. It's a historical book about life in this small town in Wisconsin from 1890 to 1900. And it's about everything that happened, but it focuses on people dying and how they died. And there are pictures of dead people as well as stuff about natural disasters and fires and stuff like that."

Initial Response

 * CMJ (1/10/00, p. 20) included the album in CMJ's "Loud Rock '99 Top 5" and in its review said: "...Static-X's industrial/metal hybrid uses a guitar sound that keeps its songs refreshingly large, loud and groovable..."

Royalties
Years after the initial release of the album, many tracks continue to re-surface in various forms, utilized by game designers, film audio production teams, and star athletes. The single "Push It" was used as the intro for the 2000 video game Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes, as well as featured in the movie Torque. A remix of the song "Love Dump" also broke into film production, and appeared on the 2001 original soundtrack for Valentine. It was later picked up by game designers, and included in the 2009 release of Brütal Legend, available on numerous platforms, including Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Meanwhile, during the 2008 Major League Baseball season, "The Trance is the Motion" was used by AL All-Star and Cleveland Indians centerfielder Grady Sizemore as his entrance music. In 2008, the single "Push It" was available as downloadable content in the music game "Rock Band".

Singles
"Push It" is the first single off the album. This is one of the band’s most recognizable and popular songs. This song included an array of sounds all the way from industrial metal genres to Static-X’s “evil disco” tone. Mick Olszewski directed the video for the song, using clay figures along with shots of the band, such as the soundtrack of Idle Hands and Torque.

"I'm with Stupid" is the second single from the album. The song kicks off with Wayne Static bellowing out the chorus and then transitions to the lead guitar riff. David Meyers directed the music video, that included creatures from previous music videos. The video also includes Wayne Static playing a woman, and monkeys hidden throughout. This song, along with "Push It", are credited with Wisconsin Death Trip’s success.

"Bled for Days" is the final single off the album Wisconsin Death Trip. This song was the auditioning song for Nick Oshiro's enlistment into the band. The music video was composed of recordings from their live shows, and the audio was spliced together with the original album version. This song has also appeared on various soundtracks, such as the soundtrack of Universal Soldier: The Return and Bride of Chucky.

Personnel

 * Wayne Static – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
 * Koichi Fukuda – lead guitar, keyboards, programming
 * Tony Campos – bass, backing vocals
 * Ken Jay – drums, percussion

Chart positions

 * Album


 * Singles