\u201cGod, how did I not think of that?\u201d \u2013 Andrew Seward\u00a0 (former Against Me! Bassist, 6\/19\/12 in an MTV interview)<\/p>\n
Author: Craig Shayowitz<\/p>\n
When Against Me!\u2019s 2007 album \u201cNew Wave\u201d came out, despite mixed feelings on the album as a whole (all of their albums debut to mixed feelings), I remember the song \u201cThe Ocean\u201d as the fan favorite. It was slow, raw, gritty, dirty. It sounded unlike previous Against Me! songs, but gushed the same passion for which the band was known. And my friend Dan suggested Tom Gabel (the band\u2019s singer and songwriter) would come out as a woman one day, because that song literally had the lyrics \u201cIf I could have chosen I would have been born a woman,\u201d and that there were other song lyrics throughout their career that pointed to this.\u00a0 Five years later I bought an issue of Rolling Stone for the interview where Against Me!\u2019s lead singer came out as Laura Jane Grace, where she shares what it was like to live with an identity and never telling anyone, and her surprise when no one picked up on it after releasing \u201cThe Ocean,\u201d in 2007. I thought of Dan\u2019s prediction, and mused on whether or not Laura had left a trail of subtle confessions across years of song lyrics.<\/p>\n
The title track from their 2002 EP \u201cThe Disco Before The Breakdown,\u201d has a chorus that is haunting and ambiguous, and it\u2019s that appeal that makes it a popular encore choice at live shows. \u201cI know they\u2019re going to laugh at us when they see us out together holding hands like this. They wouldn\u2019t understand it if we told them all the reasons, not that I think this deserves any kind of explanation.\u201d A lot of Against Me! choruses read less like choruses and more like sentences. These lyrics could mean the people you know not understanding why you\u2019re out with an ex, or someone of the same gender, or maybe, in this case, you\u2019re presenting as a different gender than people would expect. It\u2019s about the expectations of others getting in the way with what you want, and understanding that what you want is more important. Is this lyric definitely about Laura Jane Grace\u2019s secret struggles with gender identity? No, not on its own, but the next track on the EP has similar concerns and admissions.<\/p>\n