Pansy Division / That's So Gay
Album: That's So Gay   Collection:General
Artist:Pansy Division   Added:Apr 2009
Label:Alternative Tentacles Records  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2009-08-09 Pull Date: 2009-10-11
Week Ending: Oct 11 Oct 4 Sep 27 Sep 20 Sep 13 Sep 6 Aug 30 Aug 23
Airplays: 1 1 1 3 1 3 1 2

Recent Airplay
1. Oct 28, 2010: Abra's Pridewaves
Average Men, Dirty Young Man
4. Oct 09, 2009: The Lost Boys Impromptu Soundtrack
That's So Gay
2. Mar 28, 2010: No Conquest: The Age Of Sexual Decline
Life Lovers, Dirty Young Man
5. Oct 02, 2009: The DJ Never Has It
Ride Baby
3. Dec 11, 2009: The D-D-Darby Crash Show
You'll See Them Again
6. Sep 22, 2009: No Good Tickets [with Truc]
20 Years Of Cock

Album Review
Trent Kay
Reviewed 2009-08-01
Gay-as-shit pop punk / queercore from the guys who invented this sort of thing. Campy, cheeky, cheerily explicit, pissed at times but always more on the “fun” side of the angry-to-ridiculous punk spectrum. Their first record in six years manages to call out Ted Haggard & Larry Craig (6) and feature Jello Biafra (2). Sounds like: Green Day, the Mr T Experience (whose bassist -- Joel Reader -- is now in the band, even if he IS straight), Good Charlotte, Bowling for Soup (yeah, ouch), the Buzzcocks minus the vocals. Most songs stick to the classic three-piece punk arrangement, and have a predictable verse/chorus structure. Once a friend burnt me a CD of 80s pop hits covered by punk bands, and that is what Pansy Division sound like. Not winning any awards for lyrical ingenuity, but hey.

There really isn’t a bad track on this album. Play anything so long as it’s clean. Helpful hint: One-sentence song summaries on page 2 of the liner.

try: 10, 2, 14, 3, 1 (7, if you deem it clean, rocks)
FCC firm: 4, 13
FCC s/h: 5 “faggot”, 7 “cock”, 12 “ass”

*1. syncopated garage guitar, high-beam lead electric, pretty simple pop punk.
*2. jello biafra sings. fast, heavy drums, dk-style lead guitar... and rhythm, too. gets anthropological on straight guys: “nascar bad boys bud light hooters”
*3. warm, bright pop. near-mainstreamy sound, if it weren’t for the sexual play-by-play lyrics. the title, if you were wondering, is imperative.
4. FCC midtempo pop, sprawly vocals in the chorus. joel reader wrote this.
5. FCC s/h -- angry surf guitar a la weezer’s “hash pipe”, call-and-response chorus. kinda sounds like dk. they do say “faggot” -- not for the afterschool slot?
6. slower & swingy, low-pitch vocals, lots of hi-hat and up-bend guitar. about repressed straight guys.
7. FCC s/h -- okay, they do sing “cock” every other line, but it’s still somehow funny every time. punky, silly, fast.
8. midtempo, rocky, melodic, alternates between sustained & cut-chord guitar. i like it, but the melody line’s awful similar to the one in whatsername (green day).
9. minor key, stripped-down instrumentation to start, echo-back chords, somber chorus w/backing harmonies.
*10. handclaps! bouncy pop, mostly drums and busy/boppy bass, jangly keys with on-the-measure guitar chords. awesome singalong chorus.
11. slower, double-note echo-back guitar and smoother vocals. harmonized chorus. about dating a professional whore.
12. FCC s/h -- the refrain is the title. kinda rockabilly, fast, chorus callbacks. about... playing high school football, obviously.
13. FCC heavier guitar sound, hard-hit drums. same guitar riff under both verse & chorus. on the angry side.
*14. as close to a love ballad as these guys are going to get. pretty mournful electric, deep drums, melodic chorus. early death on this one, fade out around :37 to end or be prepared for some amp activity.

Track Listing
1. Twinkie Twinkie Little Star   8. What's In It For Me
2. Average Men   9. You'll See Them Again
3. Ride Baby   10. Dirty Young Man
4. Some Of My Best Friends   11. It's Just A Job
5. That's So Gay   12. Pat Me On The Ass
6. Obsessed With Me   13. Never You Mind
7. 20 Years Of Cock   14. Life Lovers