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You are here: Polari Magazine / Classics: Music / For Those About To Suck Cock … We Salute You EP • Pansy Division

For Those About To Suck Cock… We Salute You EP

★★★★★
Pansy Divisiont
7:28 min • Lookout! Records • August, 1996
Walter Beck reviews
…………………………………………………………………………………………

Released in 1996, this seven-inch EP finds America’s favorite punk rock queers in a metal mood, laying out three headbanging tracks, mixing a heavy crunching sound with Jon Ginoli’s poppy vocals. Featuring one original and two covers, this record provides a sweet treat for long-haired rock ‘n’ roll cocksuckers all over.

Opening with the original ‘Headbanger’, Jon and the boys sling out a love song to an improv pick up at the local music store. Jon has his eyes set on a long haired metalhead and a desire to give him a queer sexual tour,

I saw him at Guitar Center,
He didn’t look like a ten-percenter.
He was picking up picks and strings,
I was into picking up other things.
He was a hasher, a hairshaker,
Looked to me like a mattress breaker.
When he followed me out of the store,
I knew he wanted more more more –

Jon and young metalhead have a good romp, which ends when the kid has to leave to pick up his girlfriend. Still, Jon finds his heart for the kid, singing in the chorus,

He’s my headbanger boy,
My heavy metal toy –

Toward the end of the song, there’s a pretty killer old school thrash guitar solo, credited to Al Shatonia, who turns out to be none other than Metallica’s lead axe slinger, Kirk Hammett.

The b-side of the single finds the band slinging out a couple of classic metal covers, the first one being ‘Sweet Pain’, originally recorded by KISS from their 1976 masterpiece Destroyer. So how does Pansy Division’s version cut it? Speeding up the basic rhythm and cutting the time in half compared to the original, the band’s tribute is more in the spirit than in the actual sound, even though Ginoli cranks up the distortion and keeps a distinctly metallic sound through the cover. I think for someone as sex-crazed as Gene Simmons is, he would appreciate this punked-up tribute.

For the second cover, the band picks up a metal standard, Judas Priest’s ‘Breaking the Law’ from their iconic 1980 album British Steel. The sound of the cover is much closer to the original, with the band faithfully reproducing the riffs of the original, still with their own punk-edged touch.

The real surprise in the Judas Priest cover is the slight re-writing of the lyrics, while the original was an ode to mischief in general, Pansy Division turns into a political anthem, decrying the sodomy laws still on the books in many states when this single was released, shouting out,

Breaking the law,
Breaking the law,
Breaking the law,
The sodomy law –

The political edge takes a turn halfway through the track when the music fades down to two guys in the midst of a blowjob when a cop pulls up and asks just what in the hell they’re doing, the song jumps right back into the chorus, a powerful cry against laws that criminalized gay sex.

Given Judas Priest leader singer Rob Halford’s now-open homosexuality and his support for equality, I’d bet he appreciated this rebellious tribute from Jon and the boys.

This three-track EP is a worthwhile search for those who like their queercore injected with a dose of metal. Pansy Division have delivered a fitting tribute to the metal gods of old and the long-haired ten percenters who love their heavy sound.

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About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

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