''Absurd Pop Song Romance'' is the fourth studio album, sixth album overall, by American

queercore Queercore (or homocore) is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifically ...

band

Pansy Division Pansy Division is an American queercore band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1991 by guitarist/singer/songwriter Jon Ginoli along with bassist Chris Freeman. Conceived as the first openly gay rock band featuring predominantly gay mus ...

, released on September 8, 1998 by

Lookout! Records Lookout Records (stylized as Lookout! Records) was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California, and later in Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having released Operatio ...

. ''Absurd Pop Song Romance'' saw a major stylistic shift from the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and

pop punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

sounds of Pansy Division's first three albums, featuring more textured

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

and

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

. This was the first Pansy Division album to feature four members following the addition of lead guitarist Patrick Goodwin. Critical reception was generally positive.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album a modest rating of 3 out of 5 stars, praising the maturity of the songwriting and Jon Ginoli's "earnest and humorous" lyricism, summarizing the album as "fun, honest, catchy, and energetic".

Track listing

Personnel

Pansy Division *

Jon Ginoli Jon Latimer Ginoli (born , in Peoria, Illinois) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a member of Pansy Division. Early life Ginoli "lived a normal life in a normal place with a normal family with two parents and ...

– vocals, guitar * Chris Freeman – vocals, bass, keyboards on tracks 6, 7 and 13, drums on track 8 *Patrick Goodwin – lead guitar *Luis Illades – drums, bass on track 8 Additional musicians *Miriam Sturm – violin on track 16 *Edgar Gabriel – violin on track 16 *Bill Kronenberg – viola on track 16 *Sara Wollan – cello on track 16 *Kirk Garrison – trumpet on track 11 *Bob Frankich – saxophone on track 11 Production *Recorded and mixed by

Steve Albini Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...

References

{{Authority control 1998 albums Pansy Division albums Albums produced by Steve Albini Lookout! Records albums