Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#1Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Posted: 2/10/14 at 9:12pm
What is this, 1991?
No, it's the wonderful punkpop band Against Me! whose new album is already being touted as one of the best of the year. Oh, and the lead singer is trans.
Title Track from Transgender Dysphoria Blues
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
Updated On: 2/10/14 at 09:12 PM
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#2Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Posted: 2/10/14 at 9:20pm
I've been listening to the cd nonstop since it came out. Talk about a story not often rocked about!
They were on Letterman recently and they were great.
Twitter @NamoInExile
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Broadway Joe
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/15/10
#2Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Posted: 2/10/14 at 9:26pmInteresting, I've seen this band live several times over the years but I haven't seen them or followed them prior to gender change. I missed this news completely.
#3Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Posted: 2/10/14 at 9:27pmLaura Jane Grace gave a great interview on the radio here a few weeks ago about the album (amongst other things...) I've meant to pick it up. http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2014/01/21/laura-jane-grace-against-me/
#4Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Posted: 2/10/14 at 9:28pmI LOVE them! that band sounds as close to either Blondie or the Ramones that I've ever heard.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
#5Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Posted: 2/10/14 at 10:02pm
As an Against Me! fan since 2003, this has been a pretty crazy string of years. I honestly never associated them with pop but then again, I was often defending them from the typical punk criticisms within punk who feel like they must strip bands of the label of punk because of some dogmatic sanctity and other bull****. Their early career had elements of hardcore, plaid punk (what I describe the Midwestern punk acts as The Replacements and Husker Du, but pretty sure only I only go by this descriptor) and folk. The Butch Vig/Sire years were a mixed bag, particularly in how the label treated them, but I also enjoyed the hell out of those albums.
Anyway, I saw two Against Me! shows in the proximity of a year. One before Laura announced her transition and one after. There seemed to be this anxiety in the prior show. The new tracks were not yet out so they were coasting on rather dry material and the mix of diehards and apathetic onlookers (this was The Black Cat in DC so a bit more a set of patrons who were just there) ran like oil and water. I still liked the show a whole lot, but the opening group, the Screaming Females, seemed to have more energy than they did.
Then came the show after the announcement. The show felt like re-energizer. Not just diehard fans but people who dropped Against Me! after Sire but were interested again and people who just heard of Against Me!, particularly a lot of queer people who often have felt marginalized in heavily white male sub-culture. I got as close as I could to the stage while also avoided not to get whacked in the head during some crazy moshing and I ended up getting a handshake from Laura when she left stage after they did an encore. Needless to say it was one of the best nights of my life, and I heard the songs that would be on this album for the first time. This meant a lot to me because she was my favorite songwriter for a large portion of my life and got me through a lot of rough patches. Finding out she was going through this was an eye-opener, but I am so glad she is happy and hope she continues to go on this tear.
This album has been a long time coming. A couple of members left and I am still unsure what the terms were in that respect and weather wrecked their gear in Gainesville that delayed their album. Additionally, Grace and James Bowman relocated to Chicago. But Inge Johansson and Atom Willard were great replacements on bass and drums. I still miss Warren and Andrew, but this still feels like the band I first heard over 10 years ago because of Bowman and Grace.
My only complaint about this LP is that it is so dang short. But it's precise and powerful and almost like nothing that's come out in this level of mainstream exposure.
#6Punk Pop and Gender Issues?
Posted: 2/11/14 at 8:06am
Here's a really good piece on Steven Hyden in Grantland about Laura Jane Grace and the band's own history.
http://grantland.com/features/a-true-trans-soul-rebel/
Updated On: 2/11/14 at 08:06 AM
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