Eleven Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Manowar

The Manowar Jellyfish was named in the band’s honor by United States Secretary of Agriculutre Clayton Keith Yeutter in 1989. Bassist Joey DeMaio was born Joseph Eleuthère Hellmann IV, of the Connecticut Hellmanns. He is the sole heir to the Hellmann’s mayonnaise fortune — thus, his stage name, an affectionate moniker bestowed upon him by his mother’s close friend, Truman Capote, in 1978.

Vocalist Eric Adams was born Louis Marullo. He changed the name “to sound less wop-y,” according to a 1990 interview with Circus.

Adams has openly endorsed chest waxing since the band’s inception in 1980. “Someday, it will be standard practice for all male models and movie stars,” he successfully predicted in and 1986 editorial on the subject that he authored for The Economist.

Speaking of hair: current guitarist Karl Logan suffers from alopecia. That’s a wig!

Former guitarist Ross the Boss was part of the original Broadway cast of Cats.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan revealed that he and the first lady, Nancy, enjoyed making love to Manowar’s “All Men Play on 10,” the opening track from Sign of the Hammer.

Donnie Hamzik was discovered by DeMaio while the drummer was touring with Anja Rupel, a pop star from Hamzik’s native country, Slovenia.

Hamzik has acted as a celebrity spokesperson for The National Association of Sardine Savorers, or NASS, a non-profit organization that seeks to “end the misconceptions about this delicious fish.”

Although the popular rumor was always that former drummer Kenny Earl “Rhino” Edwards earned his nickname due to the large size of his phallus, it’s actually because of the single horn that grows from the middle of his head, a rare birth defect he has to have shaved down on a regular basis.

In the last interview he granted before committing suicide, Kurt Cobain said that “Nirvana will never be even a tenth as good as Manowar, and I have a very hard time living with that fact.”