Table Of ContentI GET WET
Praise for the series:
It was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized that there
is an audience for whom Exile on Main Street or Electric Ladyland are as
significant and worthy of study as The Catcher in
the Rye or Middlemarch … The series … is freewheeling and
eclectic, ranging from minute rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal
celebration — The New York Times Book Review
Ideal for the rock geek who thinks liner notes
just aren’t enough — Rolling Stone
One of the coolest publishing imprints on the planet — Bookslut
These are for the insane collectors out there who appreciate fantastic
design, well-executed thinking, and things that make your house look
cool. Each volume in this series takes a seminal album and breaks it
down in startling minutiae. We love these.
We are huge nerds — Vice
A brilliant series … each one a work of real love — NME (UK)
Passionate, obsessive, and smart — Nylon
Religious tracts for the rock ’n’ roll faithful — Boldtype
[A] consistently excellent series — Uncut (UK)
We … aren’t naive enough to think that we’re your only
source for reading about music (but if we had our way …
watch out). For those of you who really like to know everything
there is to know about an album, you’d do well to check
out Continuum’s “33 1/3” series of books — Pitchfork
For reviews of individual titles in the series, please visit
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For a complete list of books in this series, see the back of this book
Forthcoming in the series:
Selected Ambient Works Vol. II by Marc Weidenbaum
Smile by Luis Sanchez
Biophilia by Nicola Dibben
Ode to Billie Joe by Tara Murtha
The Grey Album by Charles Fairchild
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables by Mike Foley
Freedom of Choice by Evie Nagy
Entertainment! by Kevin Dettmar
Live Through This by Anwyn Crawford
Donuts by Jordan Ferguson
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kirk Walker Graves
Dangerous by Susan Fast
Definitely Maybe by Alex Niven
Blank Generation by Pete Astor
Sigur Ros: ( ) by Ethan Hayden
and many more …
Andrew W.K.’s
I Get Wet
Phillip Crandall
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.
1385 Broadway 50 Bedford Square
New York London
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www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury
Publishing Plc
First published 2014
© Phillip Crandall, 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
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the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization
acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this
publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-1-62356-550-3
Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham,
Norfolk NR21 8NN
I Get Wet
Andrew W.K.
1. “It’s Time to Party” (1:30)
2. “Party Hard” (3:04)
3. “Girls Own Love” (3:13)
4. “Ready to Die” (2:54)
5. “Take It Off” (3:10)
6. “I Love NYC” (3:11)
7. “She is Beautiful” (3:33)
8. “Party Til You Puke” (2:34)
9. “Fun Night” (3:22)
10. “Got to Do It” (3:54)
11. “I Get Wet” (3:23)
12. “Don’t Stop Living in the Red” (1:40)
Contents
Puke (Preface) viii
Ink (Introduction) 1
1. Perilymph 14
2. Juice 37
3. Sweat 60
4. Smoke 84
5. Blood 109
6. ˈkəm 126
Ice (Interviews and Sources) 146
Stop Bath (Photographs) 152
Champagne (Acknowledgments) 156
• vii •
9781623567149_txt_print.indd 7 26/11/2013 12:20
Puke
Isn’t that fun?
—Wendy Wilkes
Andrew is standing on his Los Angeles kitchen floor,
but he could topple over in a projectile-heaving daze
any second now. Seeing his wobbly reaction playing out
exactly to script, Wendy Wilkes is ready with Step 2 of
her devious master plan.
As a girl growing up in northern California’s Bay Area,
Wendy spent 360-some days of her year ticking off boxes
until the next Walnut Festival. Commencing as summer
turns to autumn in Walnut Creek, the festival officially
celebrates the beloved crop whose groves replaced area
vineyards during Prohibition. Whatever the reasoning, it
was young Wendy’s opportunity to enjoy rides that only
got more twisty, twirly, and exciting with each passing
year. Wendy went on to study English during the Lew
Alcindor-era at UCLA, and, after graduation, train as a
paralegal during that profession’s infancy. There, she met
Jim Krier, a professor of law who would later co-write the
preeminent casebook, Property. In Jim, she would find love,
happiness, and a life confined to lame merry-go-rounds.
• viii •
PHILLIP CRANDALL
“I quickly found out that this guy was not going on
any ride with me ever unless it stayed on the ground,”
Wendy says. “I was doomed.”
So when Wendy gave birth to Andrew in May
1979—“I was delighted to have a son,” Jim says, “[and] I
went home and told the dog we had a boy in the family,
then three hours later went off to teach”—the mother
saw, among many adorable first-child traits, a partner
in rollercoaster-riding. Shortly after Andrew learned to
walk, Wendy put her plan into action.
Wendy led Andrew into the kitchen and picked him
up, placing her arms under his tush and his arms around
her neck. Holding his body tightly against hers, she
began twirling around, hoping some vertigo would shake
his equilibrium to the diaper-donning core. After three
or four intense spins, Wendy bent down to stand Andrew
up on the kitchen floor.
If body language is any indication, this kid has no clue
what’s happened or why his body is responding accord-
ingly. He looks to his mom, who, as the spinner, created
this internal mayhem and perhaps has an explanation
as to why the dishtowels are waving. In this instance,
the dosage of spin needed to carry out Step 1—getting
a toddler dizzy—would not impair the spinner’s ability
to carry out the second and most important step of this
plan.
Allowing for the dizzy effect to make just enough of
an impression on the young brain, Wendy looks Andrew
in the eyes and, in a gesture quite opposite to bringing
him to barf’s edge, lays some comforting mother-voice
on thick.
“Isn’t that fun?”
• ix •
