Pansy Division (Gay-Punk)
English version · automatic translation
Anachronique: Pansy Division (Gay-Punk)
Pansy Division is the first gay rock’n’roll band – openly gay, with gay lyrics and a gay attitude. Last Saturday saw “for the first time in Europe, a queercore / gay-punk night organized to stand up for the rights of all the faithful of Hunx & His Punx” (link). As co-organizer, I wanted to come back to this scene, which remains too little known. That is surely a failure it has to acknowledge today.
Pansy Divison started from the following observation: “the nature of rock’n’roll is heterosexual“. Hm. That would imply it has to be “against nature”, then? Apparently. It must be said that the early 90s were also marked by the arrival of Riot grrrl, which gave power back to the female sex. The era was one of sexualized rock. Everything was in place for Pansy Division to explode, which it quickly did.
Its first album, Undressed, came out in 1993 via Lookout! Records. It grew out of an ad: seeking gay musician who likes Buzzcocks. The band says it is political and melodic. Pansy Division is looking for something more than mere self gratification. They want people to know that punk is not reserved for straights only, and to do so, they overplay their sexuality. They provoke. The covers show dicks, the lyrics talk about bunnies that *******, in short, Pansy Divison does not go in for lace – it goes in for dildos, on the other hand.
This approach led the band to open for Green Day in 1994, dick t-shirts and fellatio-ish lyrics on stage. Pansy Divison thus played Madison Square Garden. The shock was huge, the dumb teenage scene was confronted with something else! They yell “bunch of fags” and Pansy answers: well yeah! They exult. These anecdotes and many others are detailed in the excellent documentary entitled Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band (below). As for me, I will now focus on the band’s music.
“Versatile” starts gently; you can already hear Pansy’s very strong pop affinity and a few stories about blowjobs. “Fem in a Black Leather Jacket” acts as the opening credits for promoting homosexuality, in a style straddling the seventies of the Damned and the nineties of the pop-punk scene. And then comes “Bunnies“, one of Pansy Division’s hits. The recording quality struggles a bit; it must be said that the band’s first three albums were recorded for less than 5,000 dollars. But that is not what matters.
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“Boyfriend Wanted” – a descendant of the Judies? – almost pulls toward power pop – bubblegum, at the very least. And the opening-credits aspect of Pansy’s music returns with “The Story So Far“. It is a bit as if the band wanted to promote everything that can be eccentric in gay culture. You picture the video to go with it, MTV culture.
“The Cocksucker Club” is punk that works perfectly; the teenager side, reinforced on this song, goes perfectly with these hesitant lyrics. “Crabby Day” – what on earth are they talking about? – is the story of a gift left in the “pubic hair”. “Luck of the Draw” makes a nice return to late 70s power pop; as for “Rock & Roll Queer Bar“, it needs no comment, it’s Ramones with a gay sauce. Excellent! And then, rather surprisingly, Pansy goes shoegaze with “Surrender Your Clothing“; you would think you were hearing Galaxie 500. “ANTHEM” wraps it all up with grace, that of sweaty punks who like rubbing up against each other. The Dictators had better watch out, here is Pansy’s anthem! The lyrics are absolutely famous, here is a short excerpt:
We’re here to tell you, ya better make way
We’re queer rockers in your face today
We can’t relate to Judy Garland
It’s a new generation of music calling
We’re the buttfuckers of rock & roll
We wanna sock it to your hole
With loud guitars, we’re gay and proud
We gonna get ya with your pants down
In the end, Undressed is a very good album for at least two reasons: its melodies and its message. The production falls a bit short, but Pansy is too pop to resist. They are provocative, they overdo it, but it was necessary at the time – sadly, not so long ago. The fact remains that today rock’n’roll is still a sexualized genre and, above all, a heterosexual one. That is the failure of Pansy Divison and of this scene, which did not manage to change the paradigm.
So I am going to ask my gay friends whether they know Pansy Divison. I fear the answer will be no, but maybe that is normal: Pansy has focused more and more on the political side of its music. In a scene where being gay is no longer an issue, it makes sense that the band loses its resonance. Of course, I am reasoning here like a Parisian locked in his own circle, convinced that it must be hard to be gay and play in a punk band in certain small French towns. So I need to widen my inquiry. Is Pansy’s failure regrettable? Is it still useful? I will try to come up with an answer.
Tracklist: Undressed (LP, Lookout! Records, 1993)
1. Versatile
2. Fem in a Black Leather Jacket
3. Bunnies
4. Boyfriend Wanted
5. The Story So Far
6. Hippy Dude
7. Curvature
8. The Cocksucker Club
9. Crabby Day
10. Luck of the Draw
11. Rock & Roll Queer Bar
12. Surrender Your Clothing
13. ANTHEM
Links:
Article on the band Ween
Link to all the anachronique articles
Original version (French)
Son premier album, Undressed, sort en 1993 via Lookout! Records. Il résulte d’une annonce : cherche musicien gay qui aime Buzzcocks. Il dit être politique et mélodique. Les Pansy Division cherche quelque chose de plus qu’une simple self gratification. Ils veulent que l’on sache que le punk n’est pas réservé qu’aux hétéros, et pour cela, ils surjouent leur sexualité. Ils provoquent. Les pochettes font apparaître des bites, les paroles parlent de lapins qui *******, bref, Pansy Divison ne veut pas faire dans la dentelle – il fait dans le dildo, en revanche.
“Versatile” commence en douceur, on entend déjà la très forte affinité pop des Pansy et quelques histoires de pipes. “Fem in a Black Leather Jacket” fait office de générique de promotion de l’homosexualité dans un style à cheval entre le seventies des Damned et le nineties de la scène pop-punk. Et vient ensuite “Bunnies“, l’un des hits de Pansy Division. La qualité de l’enregistrement est un peu à la peine, il faut dire que les trois premiers albums du groupe ont été enregistrés pour moins de 5.000 dollars. Mais l’essentiel n’est pas là.
“Boyfriend Wanted” – un descendant des Judies ? – tire presque sur de la power pop – de la bubblegum, a minima. Et l’espect générique de la musique des Pansy reprend avec “The Story So Far“. C’est un peu comme si le groupe voulait promouvoir tout ce qu’il peut y avoir d’excentrique dans la culture gay. On imagine la vidéo qui va avec, culture MTV.
“The Cocksucker Club“, c’est du punk qui fonctionne à la perfection, le côté teenager qui est renforcé sur ce titre accompagne parfaitement ces paroles hésitantes. “Crabby Day” – mais de quoi parlent-ils ? – c’est l’histoire d’un cadeau laissé dans les “poils pubiens”. “Luck of the Draw” fait un joli retour à la power pop late 70s, quant à “Rock & Roll Queer Bar“, ils se passent de commentaire, c’est du Ramones à la sauce gay. Excellent ! Et puis, d’une façon assez surprenante, les Pansy font ensuite dans le shoegaze avec “Surrender Your Clothing“, on croirait entendre du Galaxie 500. “ANTHEM” conclut le tout avec grâce, celles de punks qui transpirent et qui aiment se frotter les uns contre les autres. Les Dictators n’ont qu’à bien se tenir, voici l’hymne des Pansy ! Les paroles sont absolument fameuses, voici un court extrait :
Au final, Undressed est un très bon album pour deux raisons au moins : ses mélodies et son message. La production pêche un peu, mais les Pansy sont trop pop pour que l’on puisse leur résister. Ils sont provocateurs, ils en font beaucoup, mais c’était nécessaire à l’époque – malheureusement, pas si lointaine. Il n’en demeure pas moins qu’aujourd’hui le rock’n’roll est toujours un genre sexualisé et, surtout, hétérosexuel. C’est là l’échec de Pansy Divison et cette scène qui n’a pas réussi à faire changer le paradigme.
Pansy Division – The Cocksucker Club (1993)
Pansy Division – Luck of the Draw (1993)
2. Fem in a Black Leather Jacket
3. Bunnies
4. Boyfriend Wanted
5. The Story So Far
6. Hippy Dude
7. Curvature
8. The Cocksucker Club
9. Crabby Day
10. Luck of the Draw
11. Rock & Roll Queer Bar
12. Surrender Your Clothing
13. ANTHEM