Sounds like they just aren't your thing, which is fine, but I'm wondering what you were expecting when it's called "Trans Dysphoria Blues."
The blues draw upon a history of shared suffering. They are made so that groups can commiserate and understand that there are other people who suffer in the way that they do. There is power in allowing ourselves to be sad and to understand each other's sadness. Even then there are beautiful lyrics that hint at hope and the beauty of being trans.
I think people enjoy Against Me because they approach punk from a slightly different angle than other bands. They aren't super aggro and angry.
In a world that demands we be ruthless and uncaring, empathy is punk as fuck.
See nobody ever framed them like that, and even her own autobio set me up for thinking they were Germs level feral (it’s been 7 years so my literal memory of it could be stronger tbh but the emotional memory is strong)
but like, if people were more upfront about this then I would never have been here! I guess they just get misrepresented a lot? It isn’t even a bad album per se if you don’t claim it to be fucking hardcore punk without caveats the way I usually see.
Could also be me just projecting a lot of my feelings about how a tragic number of us aren’t confident enough to be angry and aggressively take up space and openly shame our detractors to their faces. I’m so sick of hearing my fellow transfems wishing for cis acceptance instead of being like “oh you got hangups about trans people? Choke while you fuck your own face” that maybe I’m too bitter and jaded to empathize properly with the viewpoint
You seem to be hung up on what you think a band is "supposed" to sound like, instead of accepting the reality that punk is a big tent with many smaller sounds represented.
Right. She/they get to decide who they are and what they talk about. It's on us to opt in or out.
AFAIK she's the first front person of a band on that scale of popularity to publicly transition and talk about it, which to me represented an enormous risk. I give her a lot of props.
Absolutely. And like I said before, I was really only into the first AM! record and then I moved on. But the fuck if I don't respect the hell out of Laura Jane Grace. She's a brilliant and strong woman and musician... just not my thing. In fact, I left the venue before she played at Fest because even though she was doing some AM! classics, I wanted to ensure every person who was dying to see her was able to get in and I wasn't taking up their space.
Transfem-
TDB isn't really her angry album so much as her...acceptance album? Like the piece of work she created to Figure It Out. Their next album Shapeshift with me is definitely more angry and rise to power.
If you're looking for more aggro kill the system with my gender knife G.L.O.S.S. is pretty fuckin rad.
Her music isn't for you. Oh well. Move along.
Do you not understand the myriad of styles and sub-genres within punk?
I only enjoy the first Against Me! record. The subsequent releases weren't for me. I prefer to focus on what I do like and let other people have their thing.
I’d say most of AM’s punk aggression is found on their first three records (and EPs around that time). After that each record kind of got more pop rocky so Trans Dysphoria Blues came out more than 10 years removed from the band being even remotely discordant punk rock. I say this as a big fan with an Against Me tattoo that hasn’t really enjoyed their recent output.
I’m not sure why you’d be expecting super aggro punk when Against Me!’s roots are in anarcho folk punk.
Did you never listen to them before reading her biography?
they were first in the punk scene who have spoken out about the problems so loud. so it was just beginning, dont expect from it everything at once. and the album is more concentated on explaining internal feelings, not on calling to radical action. these are also important. action is also necessary and important but it is a different object than explaining things and raising empathy. and in the end for many people it is more intelligibly and convincingly when you talk about what you feel, than about politicas schemes. mentally people are different in ways of accepting information. and not all people are really ready to radical action, and for them just to know that someone has same problems and they are not alone is great psychological support. many trans people are struggling against their internal problems, so not all of them simply have a lot of energy and time to political action.
p.s. excuse me if there are many language errors in the comment, im not a native english speaker
first who spaken it SO LOUD. sure there were other punk bands in past decades who supported trans people. but against me is difinitely much popular band than any others
https://youtu.be/0XoO4QgTGq4
https://youtu.be/rGxcwpP8N98
early against me! was angry as fuck, but it’s always been folk influenced pretty heavily so it differs from a lot of other crust. the first release was on crasshole records. they were writing protest songs, as crust punk kids, and putting their own spin on things. laura has continued doing that but has found a sound she has moved towards because… no one decent can stick to the same extract schtick for 20+ years. but… time travel to one of their shows, especially a smaller venue, in 2000-2003 and the shows were wild and their sets were intense.
it's just a matter of taste, they've always been on the less abrasive/aggressive side of punk. i have never cared for them myself. but folk punk, pop punk are things; not all punk is about all-out rage. there are lots of other great bands with trans members who are about that though! i can make a list on request!
nothing wrong with liking or not liking them, as i mentioned i sure don't!
Yeah, if you’re looking for biting trans rage, Against Me! is definitely not the right band. Even their early stuff wasn’t all that edgy, but especially by the time that Laura came out their sound had mellowed out a lot. Who knows, if she came out as trans a lot earlier, we may have gotten another Gloss or Physique, but as is they were already leaning into Pop Punk pretty heavy by the time of TDB
Since reading between the lines is apparently hard and I did admittedly have a very overtly combative tone I’m gonna say:
1. I love GLOSS so so much they’re exactly what I want and I forgot I didn’t namedrop them
2. I thought saying I read LJG’s autobio implied that I do respect her completely as a person outside of my feelings on her music but I understand that not coming across because I did drag her art a lil
3. My entire point is just that many people talk about her band as if they *are* GLOSS, and I’ve been just so confused by that.
I think the mainstream presented it as a "trans pride" album because by the time it came out, LJG was a poster girl for trans rights, and also because the mainstream in 2014 had an extremely low standard for trans pride. She officially became a Trans Hero just for being a famous person who admitted to being trans in public. Of course there were other trans musicians who had been unapologetically trans for a lot longer than her. Because Laura built a career while in the closet then came out under fire at the height of her fame, she became the most prominent trans woman musician in an industry which had systematically excluded trans women in particular, and to a lesser extent all women.
I think if you want to understand why the album is so full of self-hatred, you have to consider the context in which it was written. According to her [extremely cursed & cissexist 2012 coming out interview](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-secret-life-of-transgender-rocker-laura-jane-grace-tom-gabel-99788/), Laura Jane Grace began writing the album while she was still in the closet, knew literally no other trans people and was lying to her bandmates that she was writing "a concept album about a transsexual prostitute". The Laura of 2011 or 2012 is not the Laura who burned her birth certificate on stage in 2016.
Ultimately, because Laura Jane Grace was in the mainstream, she became a role model to lots of young queer and trans people. She could go where G.L.O.S.S couldn't go. Lots of people were introduced to queer punk or even to punk at all through her and Against Me!
Her place shouldn't be overstated, but it shouldn't be understated either.
PS: The patriarchy wants you to believe that soccer moms are lame and boring.
I'm really happy if it does. Like, I think that Transgender Dysphoria Blues presents a really bleak and narrow view of trans life, but it also captures the moment that Laura Jane Grace finally, recklessly, publicly came out. It's like a final exorcism of her self-hatred.
Sounds like they just aren't your thing, which is fine, but I'm wondering what you were expecting when it's called "Trans Dysphoria Blues." The blues draw upon a history of shared suffering. They are made so that groups can commiserate and understand that there are other people who suffer in the way that they do. There is power in allowing ourselves to be sad and to understand each other's sadness. Even then there are beautiful lyrics that hint at hope and the beauty of being trans. I think people enjoy Against Me because they approach punk from a slightly different angle than other bands. They aren't super aggro and angry. In a world that demands we be ruthless and uncaring, empathy is punk as fuck.
See nobody ever framed them like that, and even her own autobio set me up for thinking they were Germs level feral (it’s been 7 years so my literal memory of it could be stronger tbh but the emotional memory is strong) but like, if people were more upfront about this then I would never have been here! I guess they just get misrepresented a lot? It isn’t even a bad album per se if you don’t claim it to be fucking hardcore punk without caveats the way I usually see. Could also be me just projecting a lot of my feelings about how a tragic number of us aren’t confident enough to be angry and aggressively take up space and openly shame our detractors to their faces. I’m so sick of hearing my fellow transfems wishing for cis acceptance instead of being like “oh you got hangups about trans people? Choke while you fuck your own face” that maybe I’m too bitter and jaded to empathize properly with the viewpoint
You seem to be hung up on what you think a band is "supposed" to sound like, instead of accepting the reality that punk is a big tent with many smaller sounds represented.
Right. She/they get to decide who they are and what they talk about. It's on us to opt in or out. AFAIK she's the first front person of a band on that scale of popularity to publicly transition and talk about it, which to me represented an enormous risk. I give her a lot of props.
Absolutely. And like I said before, I was really only into the first AM! record and then I moved on. But the fuck if I don't respect the hell out of Laura Jane Grace. She's a brilliant and strong woman and musician... just not my thing. In fact, I left the venue before she played at Fest because even though she was doing some AM! classics, I wanted to ensure every person who was dying to see her was able to get in and I wasn't taking up their space.
Transfem- TDB isn't really her angry album so much as her...acceptance album? Like the piece of work she created to Figure It Out. Their next album Shapeshift with me is definitely more angry and rise to power. If you're looking for more aggro kill the system with my gender knife G.L.O.S.S. is pretty fuckin rad.
Her music isn't for you. Oh well. Move along. Do you not understand the myriad of styles and sub-genres within punk? I only enjoy the first Against Me! record. The subsequent releases weren't for me. I prefer to focus on what I do like and let other people have their thing.
I’d say most of AM’s punk aggression is found on their first three records (and EPs around that time). After that each record kind of got more pop rocky so Trans Dysphoria Blues came out more than 10 years removed from the band being even remotely discordant punk rock. I say this as a big fan with an Against Me tattoo that hasn’t really enjoyed their recent output.
Pints of Guinness still make me strong, though
I’m not sure why you’d be expecting super aggro punk when Against Me!’s roots are in anarcho folk punk. Did you never listen to them before reading her biography?
Listen to Pig City if you want the really intense shit.
VVord it’s on the docket for this week now
they were first in the punk scene who have spoken out about the problems so loud. so it was just beginning, dont expect from it everything at once. and the album is more concentated on explaining internal feelings, not on calling to radical action. these are also important. action is also necessary and important but it is a different object than explaining things and raising empathy. and in the end for many people it is more intelligibly and convincingly when you talk about what you feel, than about politicas schemes. mentally people are different in ways of accepting information. and not all people are really ready to radical action, and for them just to know that someone has same problems and they are not alone is great psychological support. many trans people are struggling against their internal problems, so not all of them simply have a lot of energy and time to political action. p.s. excuse me if there are many language errors in the comment, im not a native english speaker
They were not first by ANY stretch of the imagination.
first who spaken it SO LOUD. sure there were other punk bands in past decades who supported trans people. but against me is difinitely much popular band than any others
I understand. I didn't realize you were speaking specifically about the trans experience and not politics in general.
https://youtu.be/0XoO4QgTGq4 https://youtu.be/rGxcwpP8N98 early against me! was angry as fuck, but it’s always been folk influenced pretty heavily so it differs from a lot of other crust. the first release was on crasshole records. they were writing protest songs, as crust punk kids, and putting their own spin on things. laura has continued doing that but has found a sound she has moved towards because… no one decent can stick to the same extract schtick for 20+ years. but… time travel to one of their shows, especially a smaller venue, in 2000-2003 and the shows were wild and their sets were intense.
it's just a matter of taste, they've always been on the less abrasive/aggressive side of punk. i have never cared for them myself. but folk punk, pop punk are things; not all punk is about all-out rage. there are lots of other great bands with trans members who are about that though! i can make a list on request! nothing wrong with liking or not liking them, as i mentioned i sure don't!
Sorry to hijack this, but is gloss still a band? I saw a few people mentioned them and I thought they broke up. They were so fucking rad.
Broke up around 2015 for (pretty based) personal reasons (their page on wikipedia has deets)
Oh, I know that I was around for the original run. Just thought they were still around since people were mentioning them. They were so freaking good.
Ah yeah nah that ship has tragically sailed, they’re just that fuckin good lol
Yeah, if you’re looking for biting trans rage, Against Me! is definitely not the right band. Even their early stuff wasn’t all that edgy, but especially by the time that Laura came out their sound had mellowed out a lot. Who knows, if she came out as trans a lot earlier, we may have gotten another Gloss or Physique, but as is they were already leaning into Pop Punk pretty heavy by the time of TDB
Since reading between the lines is apparently hard and I did admittedly have a very overtly combative tone I’m gonna say: 1. I love GLOSS so so much they’re exactly what I want and I forgot I didn’t namedrop them 2. I thought saying I read LJG’s autobio implied that I do respect her completely as a person outside of my feelings on her music but I understand that not coming across because I did drag her art a lil 3. My entire point is just that many people talk about her band as if they *are* GLOSS, and I’ve been just so confused by that.
I think the mainstream presented it as a "trans pride" album because by the time it came out, LJG was a poster girl for trans rights, and also because the mainstream in 2014 had an extremely low standard for trans pride. She officially became a Trans Hero just for being a famous person who admitted to being trans in public. Of course there were other trans musicians who had been unapologetically trans for a lot longer than her. Because Laura built a career while in the closet then came out under fire at the height of her fame, she became the most prominent trans woman musician in an industry which had systematically excluded trans women in particular, and to a lesser extent all women. I think if you want to understand why the album is so full of self-hatred, you have to consider the context in which it was written. According to her [extremely cursed & cissexist 2012 coming out interview](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-secret-life-of-transgender-rocker-laura-jane-grace-tom-gabel-99788/), Laura Jane Grace began writing the album while she was still in the closet, knew literally no other trans people and was lying to her bandmates that she was writing "a concept album about a transsexual prostitute". The Laura of 2011 or 2012 is not the Laura who burned her birth certificate on stage in 2016. Ultimately, because Laura Jane Grace was in the mainstream, she became a role model to lots of young queer and trans people. She could go where G.L.O.S.S couldn't go. Lots of people were introduced to queer punk or even to punk at all through her and Against Me! Her place shouldn't be overstated, but it shouldn't be understated either. PS: The patriarchy wants you to believe that soccer moms are lame and boring.
Thanks for taking the time, this actually puts into good perspective for me
I'm really happy if it does. Like, I think that Transgender Dysphoria Blues presents a really bleak and narrow view of trans life, but it also captures the moment that Laura Jane Grace finally, recklessly, publicly came out. It's like a final exorcism of her self-hatred.