Pansy Division
| Pansy Division | |
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Pansy Division performing in 2016
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| Background information | |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | www |
| Members |
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Pansy Division is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1991 by singer-songwriter Jon Ginoli and bassist Chris Freeman.
Conceived as the first openly gay rock band featuring predominantly gay musicians, Pansy Division's music, a mix of pop punk and power pop, focuses mainly on LGBT issues, sex and relationships, often presented in a humorous light. In 1993, the band signed to punk label Lookout! Records and received international notoriety touring with Green Day in 1994, becoming the most commercially successful band of the queercore movement which began in the 1980s.
As of September 2016, Pansy Division have released seven studio albums and three B-side compilations, among other recordings. In 2008, the band were the subject of the documentary film entitled Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band.
Frustrated by the lack of openly gay rock musicians, Jon Ginoli started performing solo sets under the moniker Pansy Division (a pun on Panzer division and the word "pansy") around San Francisco. Shortly after this, in 1991, Ginoli placed an ad in the San Francisco Weekly looking for “gay musicians into the Ramones, Buzzcocks and early Beatles”. This caught the attention of Chris Freeman, who joined on as a bassist. Ginoli and Freeman then recruited drummer Jay Puget, forming the first all gay rock band that any of them had known. They hoped to defy the stereotype that gay men preferred pop divas and showtunes, by playing punk rock music.
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