Editing Plasmatics (section)

=== Hiatus and Wendy O. Williams' solo career (1984–1986) ===
In 1982, [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]] asked for Williams and the Plasmatics to appear as a special guest on their tour. Kiss wanted the controversial street edge that Williams would bring as part of their tour and for the Plasmatics it was a chance to play in front of different audiences in different markets than they would ordinarily play. By the end of the tour with Kiss it was clear that, although the formal notice that Capitol would not pick up their option for a second album did not come in for six months, the relationship with Capitol was done. It had taken months for the deal to be done, months to record and release the album and now months to get out of the deal. [[Gene Simmons]] approached Williams and Swenson about producing the next Wendy O. Williams album. To avoid any wasted time in legal issues with Capitol Records, it was decided not to use the Plasmatics name on the record at all and was simply called ''[[WOW (Wendy O. Williams album)|WOW]]'', the initials of Wendy O. Williams. Gene Simmons felt it would give him the freedom he wanted to add more new players to the album.

Wes Beech remained to play rhythm and lead and T.C. Tolliver, the drummer on ''Coup d'Etat'', remained to play on the new album. Gene Simmons played bass under the pseudonym of "Reginald Van Helsing". The only other new player on the album was lead guitarist [[Michael Ray (guitarist)|Michael Ray]], brought in to solve the technical challenges that had been a problem for several albums and had come to a head with the more complex music of ''Coup D'Etat''. Simmons also pulled in the talents of [[Ace Frehley]], who had not played with Kiss since leaving the band years before, [[Paul Stanley]], and then-current Kiss drummer [[Eric Carr]] and guitarist [[Vinnie Vincent]] each did one song as guests. The record was released on Passport (international and U.S. distribution by JEM).

Review copies were sent out to the various media outlets. Malcolm Dome, a reviewer for ''[[Kerrang!]]'' magazine, had picked the ''WOW'' album as his album of the year. Williams received a Grammy nomination for 'Best Female Rock Vocal' in 1985.<ref name="Skanse" />

With Mohawks now starting to become common, Williams decided to let her hair grow in, and the cover Swenson shot for what would be called the "album of the year" in the pages of ''Kerrang!'' was the opposite of the earlier covers; total simplicity.

Wes Beech took a sabbatical for personal reasons and would not accompany the band on the next tour. The band decided to return to being a three-piece. Beech came in as associate producer with Swenson on the album and worked on writing, arranging and recording, but the recording would be Ray, Tolliver, and Greg Smith (who would go on to play with [[Alice Cooper]], [[Ritchie Blackmore]] and others and who had been brought in as the touring bassist for the ''WOW'' album). There was tremendous excitement in tackling the project as a kind of minimalist, stripped down concept, or rite of purification. The songs, including the lyrics, would also be minimalistic or archetypal, again giving Williams a chance to take her vocals a step further. The tempo of the WOW album had been slower than previous albums in an effort to open it up, but the new album ''Kommander of Kaos'' (a.k.a. ''KOK'') was to bring back the speed and then some. Songs would be played at breakneck speeds, with screaming leads and vocals. The recording was done in Fairfield, New Jersey at the giant Broccoli Rabe Recording complex which would be home to several Wendy O./Plasmatics Projects including three studio albums with what the group fondly called "The Fairfield Sound".