''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 specificall ...

band

Pansy Division Pansy Division is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, United States, in 1991 by singer-songwriter Jon Ginoli and bassist Chris Freeman. Conceived as the first openly gay rock band featuring predominantly gay musicians, Pa ...

, 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, California, Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having ...

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

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti- suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other p ...

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 States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

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 music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

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 – 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 Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...

References

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