Great Moments in WFMU History #25

Wesley Willis Head-Butt - by Ken Freedman & Liz Berg

Late musician Wesley Willis dropped by WFMU to play live on the air in 1996. A sweet guy, Willis was plagued by schizophrenia and the voices inside his head, and would frequently scream out of fear. He was on tour with a Chicago metal band called The Fiasco, who were incredibly disrespectful to the tortured man. During his time at WFMU, Wesley took a liking to a young, attractive female volunteer, who had just started helping out at the station that very day. Willis repeatedly hugged his new muse, and was finally so enamored that he dealt her a hearty head-butt (a token of affection that he was well-known for offering fans, as evident by the unicorn bump on his forehead), which may have scared her away from the station for good.

Willis was very unsatisfied with his on-air performance, and actually wrote a self-deprecating song about the experience, called “I Fucked Up At WFMU,” which he performed the following night at a show in Washington, DC. The song title was later changed to “I Done A Poor Job” and appears on Wesley’s New York New York album.

Illustration by Dimitri Simakis