The Indie Rock Fag Tests the Limits of His Loyalty
"The Indie Rock Fag" is TNG co-founder Zack's new weekly column. Please be kind to it.
Loyalty — the desire to stand by that which has stood by or near you — is the great double-sided dildo of gay life.
At its most positive you have the all-abiding desire to look out for "family" that leads the community to rally around injustices like the killing of Lawrence King or elect to a pre-scandal Sam Adams as Portland mayor. Loyalty is the thing that causes a ticket-taker at the Baltimore train station, a complete stranger, to smile at me and make warm small talk when I hand him my "The New Gay-"emblazoned credit card. He's not hitting on me and we won't be best friends, but we have a commonality that will lead us to look out for one another.
At the other head you have something like Genre Magazine. The lowest common denominator of gay publications, it is a collection of beefcake photos and advertisements held together by written content that can be read entirely in the time it takes to boil an egg. Yet it is still in business. It's marketed toward gay men, by gay men, so other gay men read it.
Somewhere in the middle of these two extremes lies The Shondes, a queer, Jewish punk band who should appeal deeply to me as a gay Jew. How many acts am I introduced to when my mom sends me an article about them from The Forward? As deeply as both my gay and Jewish identities resonate with me, and as rarely as I come across a musician who is both, I couldn't get into this band for one simple reason: They don't sound very good.
I understand that music is a deeply personal and subjective experience that resonates differently in every listener's ear. And that it is unfair for me to criticize something which I — a tone-deaf bumbler who could turn a trombone into a deadly weapon — have no ability to produce myself. But in the using the "this plus that" rubric that I use to describe music, The Shondes sound (to me) like a combination of Sleater-Kinney and two mountain lions gang-banging Getty Lee.
And its really not easy for me to say this. A band with lesbian, trans and Hebraic influences? A punk-leaning quartet trying to change the status quo and bring a little rock to modern Jewish life? I should worship the matzoh they walk on. I should be taking pilgrimages to their doorstep to personally deliver a lox plate and a cassette of "The 2000 Year-old Man" to keep them entertained on the road.
I guess I've been spoiled. Two of my queer Jewish touchstones — Judy Gold and Sandra Bernhard— put on shows that I was lucky enough to get tickets for. Shows that I found greatly entertaining and also relevant to my personal cultural experiences.
But The Shondes? Its a challenge for me to even write this post. I feel like I'm turning my back on my own people, but doesn't it do an even greater disservice to blindly tout something just because its like you in a couple key areas? I usually hate to say that the slope of my nose or targets of my dick should determine what I do or do not like. I guess it's true.
The Jews, as a people, have endured 2,000 years of persecution. The gays, though a newer as a galvanized people, certainly seem headed for a similar fate. Do you think its our obligation to support our own regardless of their talent or creative output? Or do you think we've come far enough to have some wiggle room in the bands we like?
I'll give them one more listen. As my fists clench and blood pours out of my ears, I can be confident in the knowledge that I'm loyal.
7 comments:
Agreed. I believe Le Tigre said it best, "one step forward, five steps back." I'm all about a punk rock feminist resurgence, but this isn't it.
Blind loyalty to a band because they are gay, or Jewish or...self-identified as belonging to any other minority group identity thing makes no sense. That kind of blind loyalty leads to what you see (and what i long ago STOPPED seeing)at Reel Affirmations and similar gay film festivals--six nights of worthless crap. would you hire a shitty carpenter to build you a house just because he was gay? would you take your car to a completely incompetent mechanic because she was lesbian?
loyalty to an artist should be solely because you enjoy and appreciate their art. period. end of story.
John Waters put it into words better than I ever could -
"I'm 100% gay and about 20% in gay society. Sometimes I'm more comfortable in punk rock clubs than gay clubs. There are just as many rules I rebel from in the gay world as the straight one. I'm gaily incorrect, but I do vote gay."
I listen to the music that appeals to me, I watch the television shows that amuse me, I hang out at the bars and clubs where I feel comfortable, and I associate with the people that I like. My penchant for cocksucking has little, if anything to do with it.
On the other hand, if my rights are being threatened or overrun, I'm right at the front of the picket line. If I see a guy or girl getting the shit knocked out of them for nothing more than their sexuality, I'm the first one diving in throwing fists and elbows. If a politician thinks that my rights matter less than a heterosexual's, they sure as hell aren't getting my vote.
Stand up for your people when they need the help, but don't let the label dictate what makes you happy - ever.
Still, they have a cool band name.
Yes, it's a shonde that their music isn't more accessible.
Well I don't sit around listening to Liberace and I don't feel guilty about it. Doesn't mean I hate Liberace or gay people.
i have an affirmative action system with music. forget gay acts - i have such a hard time even finding non-orientation-specific female-fronted bands that i will allow such groups a few flaws. i am more forgiving of female artists than i am male, because i would rather listen to a woman in a band that i think is okay than a man in a band i think is really talented. no offense to dude musicians out there, but music is my way of escaping men.
having said that, regarding the shondes... i read the description on their promo album. on paper they were perfect. queer. co-ed. political. alternative. i made it 3 tracks.
loyalty at the expense of our better judgment trivializes the values which might inspire such loyalty to begin with, and belittles those for whom we truly have respect.
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