Watch Gwar Cover Pet Shop Boys’ “West End Girls”
Before frontman Dave Brockie passed away earlier this year, Gwar had appeared on the A.V. Club’s all-covers video series A.V. Undercover twice, taking on Kansas and Billy Ocean. And on the newest edition of the series, the new touring lineup of Gwar rolled through, playing the Pet Shop Boys’ icy, detached 1986 synthpop classic “West End Girls.” The “gun in your hand and it’s pointed at your head” lyrics, it turns out, match up beautifully with Gwar’s whole aesthetic. And at the end, the band lurches into a version of the Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died,” changing the lyrics and making them about Oderus Urungus, paying tribute to their fallen leader and other dead friends without ever letting things get mushy. Watch it below.
God bless Gwar. If you feel like it, read my piece about going to this year’s Gwar-B-Q.