20th anniversary review: Against Me! – “… is Reinventing Axl Rose”

This review is part of a series looking back at significant albums on their anniversaries. Through the benefit of hindsight we will be viewing the album not just as it was released, but how it stands the test of time, as well as its place in the band’s discography and the genre in general.

No Idea – 5 Mar 2002

Looking back at Against Me!’s debut album we see the divide between the band’s early and later catalogue.

An ex-girlfriend introduced me to Against Me! In college. I didn’t think much of them, and as she played me … is Reinventing Axl Rose I absolutely hated everything about it. I hated the tinny sound of the drums, I hated the lead singer’s voice, and I didn’t (and, to an extent, still don’t) understand the appeal of screaming over acoustic instruments. She dragged me to one of their shows and I thought it was too long of a wait for too little music (to be fair, it was a free show) and I didn’t think much of this T— G—— guy who my girlfriend seemed to have a crush on. Fast forward twenty years and Against Me! Is my favorite band after The Clash, and lead singer Laura Jane Grace literally changed my identity, the trajectory of my life, and even my name. What happened in between is a very long story that I’m going to do my best to abbreviate for you, but the gist of it gets down to this: there’s a disconnect between early and late Against Me! fans that nobody talks about, and I’m very much part of the latter group. I think the dividing line is their 2007, Butch Vig-produced major label debut album, New Wave, that changed everything. 

So, looking at this album as someone who has had to develop a taste for it over time, there’s two tracks that are absolute bangers no matter who you are and I’ve always enjoyed them: “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” and “We Laugh at Danger and Break All the Rules.” No matter how I ever felt about the rest of the album, I always thought those were the two diamonds in the rough. There’s a reason that the latter closes out both Against Me! live albums. “The Politics of Starving” feels awkwardly placed between the other two tracks as it’s really off-putting. Again, I don’t get the appeal of screaming over acoustic instruments. 

Contrary to what you might expect, I did not name myself after the song “I Still Love You Julie” (there are a number of reasons I chose the name, but The Clash’s “Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad” has more to do with it). It’s not a bad song to have bearing your own name, but it doesn’t have a great hook for me. But I can kinda go either way on that one depending on my mood. “Walking is Still Honest” is one that’s grown on me, but I think I prefer the live version of it because I find the way Grace sings it to be more palatable. 

Then there’s the elephant in the room: “Baby, I’m An Anarchist.” This song is one of those things I like to describe as being like listening to Lena Dunham speak: even though I agree with everything you’re saying, you’re still annoying me. Yes, my political values align pretty well with Laura Jane Grace’s, but this song is just dripping with pretentiousness and reads like someone discovering radical left-wing politics for the first time. It’s the unnuanced politics of a very young person that clearly means well but still doesn’t entirely understand what they’re talking about yet. In a way, the later song “I Was a Teenage Anarchist” off of White Crosses was somewhat of a counterpoint to this song. Despite the past tense title of “ I Was a Teenage Anarchist,” I’ve heard Grace continue to refer to herself as an anarchist since the release of that song, most notably in her autobiography. But she’s definitely become jaded about radical leftists and anarchists in particular. She sees the left’s own flaws now and takes herself a little less seriously. She’s gained the nuance that “Baby, I’m an Anarchist” sorely lacks. 

And that’s where I seem to come down on this album. Laura Jane Grace is a genius, but Reinventing Axl Rose finds that genius when she was a snot-nosed brat who literally didn’t even know who she was yet. Something like Transgender Dysphoria Blues or Shape Shift With Me both speak to me more at this point in my life, both because I’m not much younger than Grace herself, and I’m now out as a trans woman myself. There’s so much more I can relate to with her on this part of her life journey than I can with Reinventing Axl Rose.  

For me, it was the first time I heard “Thrash Unreal” on the radio that made me a true believer in the gospel of Against Me! The melody was gorgeous and you could tell the singer put her whole being into the song and was emotionally exhausted by the end of it. I felt similarly about “I Was a Teenage Anarchist” because it related to some changing feelings I had about politics back then. And then came that Rolling Stone article, and the first time someone I already knew about and admired came out as trans. And she was planning on staying married to a woman, no less! I had never seen myself in someone else like that. I wouldn’t have come out myself if I had never read that article and then heart Transgender Dysphoria Blues.  

I guess you could say that I prefer Laura Jane Grace the pop singer, as she started singing in a more traditional manner and developed a talent for pop hook as the band developed. I have my alarm set to wake me up every morning to “333” because that is the most joyful melody I’ve ever heard. And as Against Me!’s music has continued to become a central tenant of my identity, it has always loomed over me that I didn’t really care much for the first three albums when I first heard them. So over the years I’ve tried and tried to go back and listen to those first three records hoping that someday it would just click and I’ll get why everyone loves them. And it’s worked, to an extent. I’ve definitely found new appreciation for Reinventing Axl Rose, Against Me As the Eternal Cowboy, and Searching For a Former Clarity, but I can’t deny that I still prefer the newer stuff.  To paraphrase from one of the songs on this album, I’m more interested in where Laura Jane Grace is going than where she’s coming from, and where she’s coming from won’t be the death of Against Me!