GWAR have taken on Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” for A.V. Undercover, and the result is exactly the kind of ridiculous pop-to-metal collision that makes a cover instantly clickable. The original song is bright, theatrical, emotional, and built around self-reinvention. GWAR, naturally, drag it into their own world of monster costumes, heavy riffs, absurd stage energy, and alien-metal chaos.
The cover arrived as part of season 10 of A.V. Undercover, where bands perform songs from a curated list. GWAR are not newcomers to the series either. This performance marked their record-breaking seventh appearance on A.V. Undercover, which makes the whole thing feel less like a random novelty and more like another chapter in one of the strangest recurring traditions in modern cover culture.
Watch GWAR’s Cover of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club”
What makes the cover work is not that GWAR try to make “Pink Pony Club” sound tasteful. They do the opposite. They turn the song’s glittery pop catharsis into a full-scale heavy spectacle, but the emotional core still survives. Under the costumes and chaos, this is still a song about becoming yourself somewhere outside the world that tried to define you.
That may be why the pairing feels funnier and smarter than it first appears. GWAR vocalist The Berzerker Blöthar described the song as being about “embracing exile” from a boring world and remaking yourself however you want. That reading fits GWAR surprisingly well. Chappell Roan’s version turns self-discovery into pop release; GWAR turn it into grotesque liberation with guitars.
About the Original “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan
Chappell Roan released “Pink Pony Club” in 2020, years before it became one of the defining songs of her breakthrough era. The track later appeared on her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and its story of leaving home, finding identity, and chasing freedom in West Hollywood helped it become one of her signature songs.
The original works because it is both theatrical and sincere. It sounds like a big pop anthem, but underneath the glitter is a story about escape, chosen identity, and the pain of disappointing the world you came from. That is what makes it such a strong cover target: artists can exaggerate the drama, twist the genre, or push the performance into completely different territory without losing the song’s basic emotional shape.
Why This Viral Cover Works
GWAR’s version works because the contrast is extreme but not empty. A lot of metal covers of pop songs rely on the same basic joke: “what if this clean pop hit had guitars?” This one has more personality than that. GWAR bring a fully formed visual universe to the song, so the cover feels like an invasion rather than a genre exercise.
It also helps that “Pink Pony Club” is already theatrical. Chappell Roan’s music has always carried a strong sense of character, performance, and camp, so GWAR do not have to force the song into spectacle. They simply make the spectacle more monstrous.
That is why this belongs in Viral Covers rather than just News. It is not only interesting because it happened recently. It is interesting because the pairing makes immediate sense once you hear it: a pop anthem about self-reinvention filtered through one of heavy music’s most absurd, theatrical, and proudly excessive bands.
For more strange and heavy reinterpretations, explore our Viral Covers section, or check out our latest News and handpicked Lists on Metal Covers Community.
