I love watching covers of songs in different styles and have been treated to some hilarious, wonderful, and sometimes surprising videos by Anthony Vincent (@anthonyvincentofficial) and Mac Glocky (@macglocky) on TikTok. I’ll watch them with my daughters so I have an excuse to introduce them to the bands, because more often than not, the songs they cover are from my era of music. I can usually slip in some knowledge or start a conversation about something, plus it’s fun. This one from Anthony Vincent had my girls and me laughing out loud.
I got to show this video of GWAR covering “Pink Pony Club”, released in January 2026, to my oldest daughter today, and it’s the reason I’m writing this post. I got to tell my daughter about GWAR, which is just a treat because she made the face most people make when they first see GWAR: “Uh, what the?”
My response to her making the same face I and so many others have made was, “They’ve been doing this for decades. They’re incredibly musically talented and, as you can see, they’re hilarious.”
I pointed out how the lead singer has a lot of gravel in his voice but still hits those high notes before dropping back into that low gravel. We talked about the costumes, the toy broomstick pony, and the fishnet stockings, and by that time the guitar solo hit. I just said, “Do you hear that guitar!?” My daughter nodded, leaning in and looking at their costumes, enjoying the A.V. Club video and the musicality, and mouthing along to the words.
After the video, my daughter asked me, “I wonder what Chappell thinks about them covering her song?”
I haven’t seen a public response from Chappell about the cover, but GWAR’s take on it is everything. They described “Pink Pony Club” as being about escaping a boring, shitty world and becoming whatever you want, then put it like this: “be who you are, be who you aren’t, piss people off, we don’t care!”
“I’d think she’d be pretty damn honored,” I told her. That opened the door for us to talk about how those guys, looking like that and covering that song, were giving a big hug to Chappell Roan, her message, and her community of fans, right in front of GWAR’s own community.
It’s a huge statement.
It’s inclusive, and it exposes Chappell’s music to an audience who may never have known about her but who likely connect with the same message, and vice versa.
The big hug went around both communities, and if that isn’t the best of what cross-genre covers are about, I don’t know what is.