Bazillion Points is saddened to hear of the extremely premature expiration of Dave Brockie of Gwar. The disgusting, repulsive artist known as Oderus Urungus first entered our orbit in 1988, with the release of the all-time classic Hell-O record on Shimmy Disc. From extremely humble beginnings, Gwar created its own category of sleazy, hilarious entertainment, drawing together headbangers, punks, nitwits, art fiends, and all manner of cops and curious onlookers. The sick regurgitation of life in America as viewed through their warped eyes and sensory probes has seen millions soaked in blood, milk, pus, and orange juice. Dave fought the law, he fought censorship, he fought complacency, he fought macho metal shit-talkers by the hundreds, and of course he always won.
He was a man of many, many talents. Once or twice, we heard from him through various avenues about doing a book, always an interesting prospect. There is a Gwar recipe in Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook, and our Murder in the Front Row book features some insanely gross vintage Oderus live photos, including one taken with Jello Biafra in SF moments before the Dead Kennedys singer was thrown into a meat grinder. Mike McPadden’s upcoming Heavy Metal Movies will also include a tribute to Brockie among as many as a dozen entries covering Gwar home videos, an arena they completely conquered during the 1990s.
Rest in peace, very funny man.
(photo by Harald Oimoen, from MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW: Shots From the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter).
