Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division
Jon Ginoli
Cleiss Press 2009
Web: http://www.cleispress.com
"Few
bands outside the mainstream ever write songs so striking that listeners will rush
out and buy them on first hearing, but I think Pansy Division is one such band.
To this day, their back catalogue remains hugely liberating for any gay music
fan who's grown up immersed in the het pop, macho rap, and metal posturing of
Western youth culture. The songs are also tremendous fun. Their riotous
celebration of male-on-male sexuality remains a unique achievement in pop music
history."
Tom Robinson, BBC Radio
"We're
the buttfuckers of rock-and-roll, We want to sock it to your hole!" With
these words written in a notebook, Jon Ginoli began his journey of
self-discovery, musical passion, and obsession to become the founding member of
Pansy Division, the first out and proud queer core punk rock band to hit the
big time.
Ginoli
founded Pansy Division in early-Nineties San Francisco to confront typical gay
stereotypes about music. The punk and later punk-pop band—which consisted of
all openly gay members—released its first album in 1993 on Lookout Records, and
by 1994 had mainstream success with second album “Deflowered.” The group opened
for Green Day on the “Dookie” tour and helped spearhead the Queercore movement.
Indeed appearing with Green Day opening the way to present their music before a
MTV-watching, at least for a short moment of time. Pansy’s Divisions style
music is in your face, no holds barred and laced with humour as well down and
dirty lyrics.
It
was not all easy sailing, with the band having to deal with homophobic fans,
the uphill battle to gain acceptance within the rock industry and of course,
all the personality clashes, label battles and sex, drugs and groupies along
the way !
Somehow
Jon Ginoli captures the essence of his journey in this tell all book which not
only reflects on the life of Pansy Division but on his own artistic experience.
Of course, it is replete with the requisite tales of sex and drugs and good
times but at the same time it is more than just a series of “dirty episodes”
focusing on the authenticity of Pansy Division and the vision they had of
themselves and their music.
Pansy
Division has just recently released a new album “That’s So Gay,” their first after six years and is the
subject of a full length documentary “Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band”.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
If you came to this page directly (and
missed our menu), click here
to go to the Synergy Magazine front page. (http://www.synergy-magazine.com)