Not just a party animal but a party guerrilla, Andrew W.K. burst onto the scene with a hybrid of metal, pop, and dance that parodied and paid tribute to the cheesiest, sleaziest aspects of all three styles. The California-born, Michigan-bred W.K. — the initials stand for everything from “White Killer” to “Women Kum” to “Wilkes-Krier,” the surnames of his mom and dad — began classical piano lessons at age four and moved on to playing in Detroit punk and metal bands, including the Pterodactyls. By age 17, W.K. was recording his own material. After moving to New York City a year later, his friends passed his demos on to various labels, including Bulb, who released W.K.’s debut EP, Girls Own Juice, in early 2000 and that fall’s Party Til You Puke EP. The buzz around W.K.’s hedonistic, so-dumb-it’s-smart rawk resulted in a gig opening for the Foo Fighters as well as deals with Island/Def Jam in the U.S. and Mercury in the U.K.; his first major-label release was 2001’s anthemic Party Hard EP.

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