Prompt: "A song with the word 'fuck' in the title (or a variation of 'fuck')"
Selected by Joe
"FUCKMYLIFE666"
Against Me!
Transgender Dysphoria Blues, 2014
Now here's a song that brings together a whole bunch of themes in music writing that PoYB usually trots out when there is nothing else more exciting to say.
1) Regret and growth. I remember sitting at Champagne's in Las Vegas sometime in 2012, nursing a beer at the bar and waiting for Pam to finish her shift. All of a sudden I look over at one of the tables and realize that the only other person I knew in the entire city was sitting with his friends on the other side of the room. This was also a dude who listened to punk rock music. I had just read about Laura Jane Grace's coming out as trans. Some jokes about her voice being deep and gravelly for a girl were made. I regret making them. Joke's on me, since a year and a half later Grace and her band would release one of the best albums of the 2010s, and forcefully shove those "jokes" back in my face. That was over ten years ago and I've learned better since then. I also credit such blistering statements as Transgender Dysphoria Blues as part of that journey.
2) Empathetic does not equal relatable. I am a straight white cisgender male and I will never know exactly what Laura Jane Grace had to go through to get to where she is right now. Her life experiences are so totally different than mine that one might find it easy to dismiss this collection of songs as "not relatable." I scoff at the notion. I do not know what it's like to receive hormone replacement therapy, but I do know what it's like to feel uneasy in my own skin, or feel like I'm "different," or feel pain at others' dismissal. And I think there is a way to appreciate this music as a document of universal emotion, while also not doing anything to diminish Laura Jane Grace's very specific experience and pain and catharsis.
3) Lyrics are important. No matter how many times I learn this lesson, I always forget it the next time I'm listening to an album and I'm too lazy to read along on Genius. The line in the chorus that goes "I don't have the heart to match / the one pricked into your finger" sounds like some random shit, and it's easy to dismiss because the punk song surrounding it is so resounding and so powerful anyway, so like who cares about the lyrics? They provide depth, though. She's referring here to her wife, who has a heart tattoo on her finger, and this song is about the fear that Grace is going to lose her wife as her partner after transitioning. Lyrics are worth it. I'll never learn.
4) Irony as a defense mechanism against sincerity. The title of the song (and the reason it is eligible to fulfill today's prompt) is very funny. I had a few friends in high school who would've written this unironically on their AIM away message, but by like 2010 at the latest, there is no possible way to say something like that seriously. "FUCKMYLIFE666" as a song title and as a phrase is supposed to be funny. But also it's designed to distract and deflect. There are some very real and raw emotions on this album, and they're gonna go down easier if you begin with a goof. I've employed this defense mechanism plenty of times in the more emo-laden blog posts scattered around the blog. Sarcasm places a protective layer between the writer and their feelings.
5) There is no such thing as a hero. Here's the PoYB two-sided ethos, for those who aren't familiar. If the artist sucks as a person and/or the music sucks, then you CANNOT separate art from artist; if the artists seems cool as a person and/or the music is good, then you MUST separate art from artist. This is another protective measure. I love Laura Jane Grace and I love Against Me!'s music (yes, all of it, fucking fight me), but because of that, I must consider those two different entities. This is just in case Laura Jane Grace does something embarrassing or untoward or slightly disagreeable, that way you won't be too disappointed, and you'll be able to listen to Against Me! without having that experience ruined. If she, for instance, decided to play a concert at a place where some asshole tried to commit treason and chuckled her way through it in a bad attempt at paying tribute to a meme that was already dead on arrival. Thank goodness I separated and I am able to keep my personal experiences with Against Me!'s music without having to consider how lame you gotta be to come to Northeast Philly to play a set at that fucking place.
6) Yelling the word "fuck" is awesome. FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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