Gwar frontman Dave Brockie, a.k.a. Oderus Urungus, was found dead in his home on Sunday, at age 50. The cause of death has not yet been released, but this is truly a sad day for fans of the Richmond, Va., metal band. Brockie was the only original member in every incarnation of the group.
In the past 30 years of existence, Gwar transcended musical trends and fads, and never veered from their original goal of highlighting the grotesque and comedic elements of metal and, to an extent, politics and society. Their devout fans shared that sense of humor; they even lobbied for Gwar to play the Super Bowl halftime show.
Gwar was a visual band, and on the Internet, they were best represented on YouTube. Here’s a quick roundup of some of their greatest hits.
This 1992 interview from Wally George’s Hot Seat is a thing of beauty. Gwar could always give a good interview:
And let us never forget they were on The Jerry Springer Show to discuss “shock rock.” (They’re on around the 20-minute mark):
They covered Billy Ocean’s “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” for the AV Club, as well as Kansas’s “Carry on My Wayward Son”:
Last year, Urungus read a very NSFW version of Goodnight Moon:
He was also on Fox News’ Red Eye. He had a lot of opinions about politics:
Justin Bieber was disemboweled during a Gwar set last fall:
Lastly, here’s an interview with Brockie, in his human form:
Photo by Libertinus/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)