Wave Motion Gun

Album: Shapeshifter (1999)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In our interview with Marcy Playground lead singer/songwriter John Wozniak, he explained: "That's a song that a lot of people seem to really dig. It's one of those impression songs. In the end, it's telling the story about me trying to convince my friend not to do heroin anymore. And that became a theme of my life because I went to college in Olympia, Washington, in the early '90s. It was sort of a port area in the Pacific Northwest where all the heroin trade was coming through. And everybody was on it at the time in the early '90s. And all my friends were sort of disappearing, and I didn't know where they were going. I found out they were all doing heroin. And they were doing it together, which is really a weird thing. But I never did it. It was not something I was ever interested in. In fact, drugs are something that never really interested me, except for some experimentation. But I just started watching friends die and disappear and drop out of school and stuff, and turning up in houses in San Francisco and s--t like that. And my one closest friend I tried to convince to stop doing it, and that's what that song's about."
    John isn't sure if the subject of this song knows it's about him. He says, "I haven't spoken to him in 15, 16 years. I have no idea if he's dead or alive, actually. Some people I don't need in my life, even though I love them. You have to protect yourself sometimes."
  • John Wozniak is a self-described "nerd," who wrote a song with a Dungeons & Dragons concept for their debut album ("A Cloak of Elvenkind"). It's no surprise that he would look to the world of anime for this song title: the Wave Motion Gun is a weapon in the series Space Battleship Yamato. It's very powerful, but leaves the ship defenseless for a time after firing it. Not a bad metaphor for drugs.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Kip Winger

Kip WingerSongwriter Interviews

The Winger frontman reveals the Led Zeppelin song he cribbed for "Seventeen," and explains how his passion for orchestra music informs his songwriting.

British Invasion

British InvasionFact or Fiction

Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.

Album Cover Inspirations

Album Cover InspirationsSong Writing

Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.

Ramones

RamonesFact or Fiction

A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)Songwriter Interviews

Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.