Author: Joseph Luster

As some of you may have heard, Dave Brockie—AKA Oderus Urungus, intergalactic frontman of metal band GWAR—was found dead at 50. I read that this morning and thought it was a joke, because it would be a really great setup to a summer tour in which Oderus was resurrected to fight good taste and boring shit once more. Sadly, that’s not the case.

I’m pretty bummed about it! GWAR is something you either really enjoy, think of as a silly joke, or both. I saw them live around six times over the years, I think, and each show was as good as the last.

It’s no exaggeration to say that 1992’s Phallus in Wonderland was a huge influence on me creatively. The moment my friend popped in the VHS and the intro built up to the “Crack in the Egg” music video, I was in love. The whole America Must Be Destroyed album is one of my favorites, and GWAR put out many legitimately good metal records between 1988 and today.

But whatever, let’s party. That seems appropriate.