I’m not one for nostalgia, but, damn, that longing for what was hit me hard as I walked through Let There Be Gwar at Beyond the Streets on Saturday morning. Inside the La Brea Avenue gallery is a treasure trove of costumes, props and ephemera from the rock band/art collective. A massive anthropomorphic toilet and plunger stands near the front entrance. Decapitated heads line a wall, a recipe for DIY bloodbags beside them. On the TV screens are flashbacks to Gwar’s time on the 1990s talk show circuit. Joan Rivers! Jerry Springer! Wally George!
The pang of nostalgia I felt wasn’t for a time so much as it was for a concept, freedom of speech. Remember that? I know, it feels so far gone when you have Stephen Miller saying that anyone who makes the right feel scared (so, like, everyone?) is going into exile and people are losing their jobs for not properly eulogizing a rightwing troll.
Gwar is still an active project, but they’re also from another time, one where challenging authority went hand-in-hand with both rock music and art and where making creative statements that clearly were not for everyone was applauded. That doesn’t mean there weren’t challenges. Inside a display case is a design for the Cuttlefish of Cthulhu next to news clippings about that time the band’s late frontman Dave Brockie/ Oderus Urungus got arrested for obscenity in Charlotte because the police didn’t like the phallic fake fish. But, that run-in with the authorities inspired an outrageous video collection, Phallus in Wonderland, which was ultimately nominated for a Grammy. In the end, free speech triumphs and the old fuddy-duddies lose, we thought.
The documentary This Is Gwar(which I wrote about for an issue of Hi-Fructose that’s, unfortunately, now sold out) is a really, really good look into the band’s history and their dedication to uncompromising art. The Gwar story goes back to a dairy-turned-art space in Richmond, where the original members had gone to Virginia Commonwealth University, and they’re as much an art collective as they are a band. If you read the exhibition cards while walking through the show, you’ll notice that the various costumes and props are credited to band members. Look in the display cases and you’ll see concept sketches amongst ephemera, like show flyers and ticket stubs. Having the chance to see these pieces up close and in person is a real treat. The level of detail in everything from mangled feet and gory innards to the bloodshot eye drum kit to the sculpted band logos, it’s really the rock band equivalent of practical effects-heavy ‘80s fantasy movies.
Sure, Gwar’s videos only got MTV play during Beavis and Butt-Head and they were more visible on daytime talk shows, but that was essential entertainment of the time. If you were a kid or a teen in early ‘90s America, you probably knew about Gwar. One of the band’s most notorious appearances in the early 1990s was on Hot Seat with Wally George, which is also something I vividly remember watching. Wally George was this conservative talk show host from Orange County whose show was also broadcast in L.A. He was so over-the-top that a lot of us were never quite sure if he was for real. George would go on his tirades, us kids at home would cheer on the strippers and stoners who were his guests until they were ultimately dragged off the stage. It was a total shitshow— basically, the precursor for Jerry Springer— and the Gwar episode is so completely absurd, you must see it. (Fortunately, it’s on YouTube.) It’s the kind of thing that can’t happen today. Now, if some dude with a prosthetic cuttlefish attached to his crotch says, “people are actually being given abortions onstage, every night for free,” a bunch of fucking losers on X will believe it and they’ll run for office on a platform to ban abortions at concerts and win. That’s how mind-bogglingly stupid 2025 America is. It’s too stupid for Beavis and Butt-head’s favorite band.
Or, maybe not. I arrived before the gallery opened at 11 a.m. and there was already a line, one that grew longer in the 10 or 15 minutes that I was waiting outside. Once the doors opened, more people filtered into Beyond the Streets. It was a good crowd for a Saturday morning. Many of those who were there wore Gwar shirts and, since members of the band were at the opening, people brought vinyl and other items to sign. Generally, I would say the bulk of the crowd was in my age group, i.e. people who were teens and kids during the heyday of daytime talk shows, but there were quite a few younger people there too. There were even some kids, who were clearly fans, there with their parents. That all makes sense, since Gwar is still an active band, but it also gives me hope for the future that there are people who still get satire and that a little shock rock is good for the system.
Let There Be Gwar runs at Beyond the Streets in Los Angeles through November 2.
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Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs or listen to the latest Beatique Mix. Follow on Instagram or Bluesky for more updates.
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