Scumdogs Of The Universe Track Info

## Track Info. For *Scumdogs Of The Universe*

All song descriptions and information taken from Genius.

## The Salaminizer

In the *Let There Be GWAR* book, Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha) says:

> `"It was about some sort of alien penis pump for Oderus, to make his salami bigger. I don’t know. We’d sit around and think of stupid stuff."`
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In an interview with Decibel, Michael Bishop said of “The Salaminizer”:

> `"That was 100 percent Brockie. I remember the first time we heard that record [Straight Outta Compton]. We were smoking pot at a venue in Holland waiting to play. There was a bunch of vinyl near a record player. The minute the needle hit that vinyl it was the same reaction we had to hearing the Sex Pistols. It was heavy. Dave didn’t listen to a lot of hip hop but he listened to particular hip hop. GWAR worked on art all day and there was a big studio, a shop with tons of stuff going on. The boom box was always playing and we’d listen to Jesus Christ Superstar, especially because a lot of the visual artists liked ’70s music. The N.W.A record was in constant rotation along with Black Sabbath and Dead Kennedys."`
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In the same interview, Roberts names the track as his favorite from *Scumdogs*:

> `"‘The Salaminizer’ has a special spot because it’s one of the first things I helped arrange and record with Derks and Bishop."`
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This song is known for the fact the opening verse flow/lyrics were taken from "Gangsta Gangsta" by N.W.A. The image below shows a line by line comparison to that song and the Gwar song.

## Maggots

Maggots is a simply song about, well, maggots. Some lyrics in the song would later be sung by Dave Brockie in Strapping Young Lad’s “Far Beyond Metal”. The World Maggot is also mentioned in the song.

In an interview with Decibel, Michael Bishop names “Maggots” as one of his favorite songs from *Scumdogs*, saying:

> *`"‘Maggots’ is a really good example of us trying to be a metal band. That song sums up what we were trying to do."`*
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In the same interview, Danielle Stampe said:

> *`"The high operatic parts I did in ‘Maggots’ were my idea. I called it a ‘wailing mermaid sound’" [laughs].`*
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## Sick Of You

Widely considered GWAR’s signature song, “Sick of You” is a jaunty punk-thrash hybrid with mostly juvenile lyrics about how lame the listener is.

“Sick of You” is the most often performed song in GWAR’s catalog, serving as either the first or the final song of the encore in nearly every concert since its debut, with few exceptions such as select shows in the early 90s where it was the first song performed (March 17, 1991, in Sacramento, California), and the 2019 Use Your Collusion Tour, where it was the second song performed. The track was also entirely absent from the 2014 GWAR Eternal Tour, the first tour following the death of GWAR founder and frontman Dave Brockie.

The music video, taken from the *Live From Antarctica* video, shows a collage of footage from the show, along with insert shots of various members of the band singing the chorus. The original audio of the song as performed during the multiple day *LFA* shoot has never been released.

When performed live, Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus) would occasionally ad lib over the bridge of the song, usually with stream-of-consciousness banter or, very rarely, lines from other songs like “Sweet Transvestite” or “Born in the USA”.

An instrumental demo of the song was included on the 2006 *Blood Bath and Beyond* retrospective DVD, where it soundtracked a mock-pornographic bonus feature titled “Filthy Filthy”. The instrumental would once again be used later in the *This Is GWAR* documentary.

The *Let There Be GWAR* book says of “Sick of You”:

> *`"A lot of the songs on the album had been around for a while, most of them written by [Dave] Brockie, [Michael] Bishop, and [Mike] Derks. “Sick of You” started as a repetitive phrase they sang at each other on the bus to express some of the frustrations of life in such cramped quarters, with so many big personalities, for such extended periods of time."`*
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In an interview with Decibel, Danielle Stampe said:

> `*"‘Sick of You’ came from the tour bus because we were so sick of each other. It was art imitating life" [laughs].*`
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## Slaughterama

Sung by GWAR’s manager Sleazy P. Martini (Don Drakulich), “Slaughterama” is a thrash song about a game show where contestants must answer a rhetorical question or be slaughtered. Starting with the 1990 Tour De Scum, “Slaughterama” has routinely been the first encore song.

An early version of “Slaughterama” made its live debut in 1989, and a “Presidential” version was performed during the 1992 Slave Revolt Tour, featuring rewritten lyrics about then-President George H.W. Bush, then-candidate Bill Clinton, and Pope John Paul II.

Following Drakulich’s retirement from full-time touring in 1994, “Slaughterama” has only been performed when Sleazy is “available” to tour (2008’s Electile Dysfunction Tour), seasonal mini-tours (Halloween 1997 and 2000), or one-off shows such as the annual GWARBQ.

For the spoken part of the 2nd verse, Sleazy would often call for Oderus, played at the time by Dave Brockie. However, after his passing in 2014, Sleazy would still continue to call for his character despite no longer being in the band. According to some recordings of live shows and accounts from fans, Sleazy will catch himself by calling for the Sexecutioner, Blothar, or Beefcake instead.

One of the spoken parts of the 3rd verse makes a dates cultural reference. Sleazy asks the Nazi Skinhead, "How's Geraldo's nose?" This refers to an incident where Geraldo Rivera had his nose broken during a show. A skinhead, John Metzger, and an African American, Roy Innis, got into a heated argument. The incident descended into chaos when Innis grabbed Metzger by the throat, and stagehands, audience members, and Rivera himself joined the fray, Geraldo suffered a broken nose from a chair being thrown at him.

In another spoken part from the first verse, Sleazy makes a reference to the Kent State Shootings on May 4, 1970. During an anti-war protest on campus guardsmen fired 67 shots, killing 4 people and wounding 9.

In an interview with Decibel, Don Drakulich (Sleazy P. Martini) said:

> `*"When it came to my song, they only let me track the vocals that were needed and then they threw me out" [laughs]. "I was like ‘hey I’m just getting warmed up!’ As I would later find out, that’s a typical response to non musicians."*`
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## King Queen

“King Queen” is a tempo-changing thrash song that describes the power, might, and hedonism of lead singer Oderus Urungus (Dave Brockie). Originally titled “Jellyfish”, the song features call-and-response style verses that alternate lines between the left and right audio channels before descending into a slow chorus. The faster bridge taunts the listener for begging GWAR to come to their city, as the band destroyed everything.

The title of the song refers to the double meaning of the word “queen”, both as a female royal and as a derogatory slang term for a gay male. Oderus proclaims himself to be “King Queen”, the king of the g\*ys.

The *Scumdogs* booklet contains an earlier draft of “King Queen”’s lyrics with many lines and verses that went unused in the final album version, including a couplet that resurfaced on the band’s next album. The version printed goes into greater depth on the idea behind the song, specifically with lines about a male lover being put to death after failing to please Oderus. A remastered version featuring most of the excised lyrics was released on the 30th anniversary edition of *Scumdogs*.

In an interview with Decibel, Michael Bishop named “King Queen” as one of his favorite songs from *Scumdogs*, saying:

> `*"‘King Queen’ is another one and a perfect example of a Dave Brockie song. It’s so freaking funny."*`
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## Horror Of Yig

Produced by Hypo Luxa and Hermes Pan (a.k.a, Al Jourgenson and Paul Barker of Ministry), “Horror of Yig” is a stand-out track on *Scumdogs*, regarding vocal effects (prominent on Ministry’s albums) and an almost industrial vibe to the thrash metal. As such, other than the lyrical content, this would almost fit on a contemporary Ministry record.

According to *Let There Be GWAR*, “Horror of Yig” was originally the product of a deal with Sub Pop Records. The song was going to be a Single Of The Month, and was recorded with Jim Thomson (Hans Orifice) on drums. After recording the song and being pleased with the final product, GWAR decided to ask Sub Pop if they could give the label its money back and keep the song for their upcoming album, *Scumdogs of the Universe*, to which the label agreed. Following Thomson’s departure, the drum track for the final version was recorded by Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha). A studio demo of “Yig”, believed to be the original Sub Pop recording, was released as an unlisted bonus track on the 2020 *Years Without Talent* cassette.

The bagpipe intro of “Horror of Yig” is the traditional “Going Home”, a spiritual-like song derived from the second movement of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9. “Going Home” was performed by a lone piper at Dave Brockie’s memorial service on April 1, 2014.

As told in *Let There Be GWAR*, the collaboration with Jourgenson and Barker was the result of an East Coast promoter offering to meet with GWAR in New York in an attempt to manage them fulltime. The promoter took a few members of GWAR to a concert of two of his other clients, Ministry and The Residents.

`*"After the show, the promoter invited them backstage to Al Jourgenson’s dressing room. The guys wandered in and Jourgenson eyed them suspiciously. ‘Hey, sorry, we’re in GWAR,’ Drakulich said. Jourgenson’s face broke into a huge smile. ‘What!? GWAR changed my life! I love GWAR.’"*`

Guitarist Mike Derks shared details regarding the production of the track, in a 2021 interview with website KillerGuitarRigs.com:

> *`"It was actually Mike Bishop and myself that went to Chicago to mix with Al and Paul Barker. The most memorable moment of an incredibly long night was when Al crushed up a bunch of Quaaludes, mixed them with coke and spelled out “Fugazi” in lines on a mirror."`*
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## Black and Huge

Written by lead singer Dave Brockie after watching an interracial porn film, “Black And Huge” was originally released as a bonus track on the European cassette version of *Hell-O!*. This version of the song received a music video, which featured the first appearance of new rhythm guitarist Mike Derks as Balsac The Jaws Of Death.

“Black And Huge” would be re-recorded and released on *Scumdogs of the Universe*, trading its original surf-punk style for a heavier thrash metal sound.

Following the death of Dave Brockie, the fall 2014 GWAR Eternal Tour featured lead guitarist Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus) singing lead on the song as Mike Bishop (Blothar The Berzerker) played bass and sang back-up.

## Love Surgery

In *Let There Be GWAR*, Mike Derks (Balsac The Jaws Of Death) recounts:

> `*"I wrote ‘Love Surgery’… the riff in the middle, I heard Public Enemy doing ‘She Watch Planet [sic] Zero,’ which took the Slayer riff, so I stole the Slayer riff from Public Enemy instead of stealing it from Slayer."*`
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In an interview with Decibel, Michael Bishop said:

> `*"I always wanted ‘Love Surgery’ to have a Slayer bite and I always wanted a bass sax on there. [Producer Ron Goudie] said a bassoon was much cooler. But nothing with a clarinet is cool. Ron definitely sharpened some of the sounds we were able to get and did a good job tracking the drums and bass. It’s how I’ve tracked bass since then."*`
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Derks then added:

> *`"We were supposed to have a sax solo and it’s a bassoon. We got a music student from VCU to play on a metal album. It was just improvised."`*
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Brad Roberts also added:

> `*"We had ties to VCU and the music and art department and Ron was going to exploit those relationships. We used timpani and screamed into the timpani and had bassoon players and bagpipes. He went all out — he wanted to have all of these crazy sounds from the GWAR world represented."*`
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## Death Pod

In an interview with Decibel, GWAR co-founder Hunter Jackson said:

> *`"We played a lot of geeky war games in the Slave Pit and ‘Death Pod’ is about a vehicle from those games."`*
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## Sexecutioner

In an interview with Decibel, Chuck Varga said:

> `*"The Sexecutioner song was my idea. I fell in love with the song so much and begged them to let me do it" [laughs]. "I was only there for my sessions. I’m an artist and I got thrown into the world of songwriting. I had never done anything like it. Brockie was there to sort of cheer me on. Even though, at first, it didn’t seem to be that put together, over the years it’s turned out to be a Shakespearean classic."*`
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In the same interview, GWAR co-founder Hunter Jackson named “Sexecutioner” as his favorite song from *Scumdogs*, adding:

> `*"Varga wrote the classic lyrics for his character. Sexy was a good bodyguard and best friend of Oderus. He was a more refined masochist, savoring every disgusting aspect of his victim’s demise. In contrast, Oderus was all impulse and violent self-destructive, self-indulgence."*`
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## Cool Place to Park

The first GWAR song with bassist Beefcake The Mighty on lead vocals, “Cool Place To Park” is a stomping thrash track about trying to find a parking spot. Despite being marked as “pulled” on the album’s master tapes, “Cool Place To Park” saw release as a CD exclusive bonus track.

The song’s bass is provided by the band’s lead singer Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus), though this goes uncredited on the album itself. When performed live, then-Beefcake Michael Bishop would typically remove his helmet so he could better move around while singing.

“Cool Place To Park” was usually performed live near the end of the main setlist or as an encore. It debuted in 1988 and received somewhat regular appearances in setlists until Bishop’s departure in 1994. The song went unplayed for over a decade, only being reserved for Bishop’s guest appearances at the 2010 and 2011 GWAR-B-Qs. Upon Bishop’s full time return to the band in 2014 (following the death of Dave Brockie), “Cool Place To Park” was performed as an encore at a few stops on the GWAR Eternal tour.

The live music video, taken from *Live From Antarctica*, features a performance of the song intercut with comedic green screen footage of Beefcake driving a slave-powered chariot down a highway. An earlier “studio” music video, set to a demo of the song, originally appeared in 1989’s *The Next Mutation*. This video features the band performing the song overlaid with closeups of the singing Beefcake using a large bone as a microphone.

In an interview with Decibel, GWAR co-founder Hunter Jackson said:

> `*"‘Cool Place To Park’ is about Dewey Rowell trying to park a fucking school bus in New York City. It was funny to translate that into GWAR with a video where Beefcake is driving a chariot pulled by human slaves down the highway with truckers honking at him for blocking traffic."*`
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