Pansy Division's "Rock and Roll Queer Bar"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUrgToJmPeI

For this blog post, I chose to write about the queercore movement, on which I have previously done research. Queercore first started with dissatisfaction with the gay music scene and club culture. Gay music was typically disco—the kind of stuff that would play loudly in the clubs and encourage dancing. There was never any rock music with gay themes by openly gay musicians. In simple terms, queercore was openly gay musicians playing traditional punk rock with explicitly homosexual lyrics. Pansy Division, founded in 1988 by Jon Ginoli, was one of the first bands to embrace the movement. Other bands soon to follow were Tribe 8, Fifth Column, God Is My Co-Pilot, and Team Dresch. Moving beyond music, the queercore movement at large arose from dissatisfaction with the perceived state of current gay culture. Queercore is not simply punk music played by homosexuals, as the name would suggest (queercore being a combination of “queer” and “hardcore,” an offshoot of punk rock). Rather, it represents a break from the established gay society, which was perceived as being out-of-touch with reality and content with the status quo. Heavily influenced by anarchist philosophy, the queers rebelled against everything and anything.

Pansy Division is often considered one of the foremost leaders of queercore and are certainly the most well known band to the mainstream following their national tour opening for Green Day in 1994. They are particularly deft at subverting mainstream culture and transforming it to fit a gay sound. For example, the song “Rock and Roll Queer Bar” takes an important song in the history of punk by one of the most well known punk bands (“Rock and Roll High School” by the Ramones) and adapts the lyrics to fit their unique queer sound. "Well I don't care about history / Rock, rock, rock & roll high school / 'Cause that's not where I wanna be / Rock, rock, rock & roll high school / I just wanna have some kicks / I just wanna get some chicks” becomes “Don’t care about heterosexuality / Rock, rock, rock & roll queer bar / That’s not what I want to be / Rock rock, rock & roll queer bar / I just wanna have some kicks / I just wanna get some dicks.”

It’s crucial that this is not merely a cover or a parody song. It loudly and emphatically asserts their place in punk history. Audiences will surely be confused when they hear the familiar guitar line and rhythm and notice the slightly tweaked lyrics. By taking something so well known and making it explicitly queer, Pansy Division is making a statement, and the public at large can’t help but take notice. The song presents a challenge. The Ramones were not exactly known for being profound wordsmiths. It can be generally agreed on that the lyrics are the least important part of most Ramones songs, especially “Rock and Roll High School.” If one likes the universally beloved “Rock and Roll High School,” what is preventing one from liking the exact same music with slightly different lyrics when one has already acknowledged that the lyrics are the least important part of a Ramones song? Indeed, one would have no idea that they are not just listening to a straight Ramones cover until the lyrics kick in after about minute. So after a minute of already enjoying a song, does it make sense it suddenly deny any enjoyment because the lyrics do not conform to what has been deemed appropriate by the hetero-normative society? Audiences will have to confront this cognitive dissonance, and one can hope it will have a positive outcome.