God, What an Awful Racket!

Posted by E

Saturday, August 18, 2007

By now I'm sure you're aware, provided you've been reading the bilge I spew forth upon Bonez on a semi-regular basis, that my predilections tend to hover near the morbid. With all of the focus on death, destruction and misery in my posts, you must think that I'm some morose Emo type, sitting in a corner, reflecting in my dark thoughts and occasionally cutting myself in a desperate bid for attention. But, like any other person, I have interests and hobbies. For one, I love concerts. There's nothing like listening to live music, at least in my book. All of which makes a fantastic segue for a discussion of one of my favorite live bands...

GWAR is a band best known for their stage show, which regularly involves decapitation, disembowelment, torture, necrophilia, bestiality and many other delightful activities. But the fun part of GWAR is that everything I just mentioned is delivered in a tongue in cheek manner. Dressed in ridiculously over the top costumes, they present the persona of a team of space demons who are here to purge the world of humanity. All of the above mentioned acts involve spraying gallons of blood and detritus into the audience, thoroughly soaking all in attendance.

GWAR presents it all with a sick sense of humor. They don't take themselves very seriously at all and therefore seem to avoid the accusations that more prominent musicians such as Eminem and Marilyn Manson have to endure.

Musically, GWAR is quite diverse, playing everything from punk, metal and country to showtunes and experimental rock. The lyrics are every bit as perverse and obscene as the stage show, and although they are filled with tirades against humanity and all its ills, they never present themselves in a truly menacing light.

For a little bit of understanding of the nature of GWAR, here is their history, taken directly from their website:

"Eons ago, there existed an elite group of chaos warriors who ravaged the galaxy with a boundless hatred of all things alive. They were called the Scumdogs of the Universe, and they grew in might and fury, the greatest weapon in the arsenal of their cosmic Master.

But they became too powerful, and too defiant, and for their cosmic crimes were banished to the most insignificant planet in the universe...the seething mudball known as Earth.

Millions of years passed, and they slumbered, until the pollution of your world de-thawed these creatures from their ageless coma...and now they stride the Earth, living gods, dedicated to one goal, the destruction of the human race, and the eradication of existence itself! Wait- that’s two goals!

Hark to the hideous majesty of your MASTERS, rulers of Earth, the MIGHTY GWAR!!!"