Trivia / Against Me!

• Black Sheep Hit: "I Was a Teenage Anarchist" and "Thrash Unreal" don't sound much like earlier Against Me!, but they led the band to mainstream success.
• Creator Backlash: Not from the band, but Fat Mike, whose label was releasing Searching For a Former Clarity, hated it. According to Laura's book, Fat Mike hated the production, thought the songs were poor, and complained about the album cover and wanted the text bigger.
• Doing It for the Art: Discussed in some songs. Grace herself is an example, saying that if the band weren't successful, she'd just busk for change in order to keep playing music.
  We want a band that plays loud and hard every night
  That doesn't care how many people are counted at the door
  That would travel one million miles and ask for nothing more than a plate of food and a place to rest
  • Laura had this mentality in the past before the band became big with the same DIY approach due to her punk rock upbringing. However following discrimination from the punk community due to the same mentality of "SELL OUT!", she abandoned this, but still maintains the same view of doing music for the art.
• In Memoriam:
  • "Because of the Shame" is written as a tribute to one of Grace's old girlfriends who passed away.
  • "Dead Friend" is, also, as the name suggests towards Laura's friend Pope.
• The Merch: In addition to typical band fare of t-shirts and albums, the band made a limited number of watches.
• She Also Did: Laura wrote a book in regards of her experiences from teenhood all the way to her transition, surprisingly entitled Tranny, which she used as a counter-insult towards those who insult her for being transgender.
• Write What You Know: Laura Jane Grace is transgender, and the Concept Album Transgender Dysphoria Blues deals with this topic.
  • Pretty much every song is based on her life experiences, from selling blood and living out of dumpsters ("Armageddon"), to dealing with record labels and becoming a rock star ("Tonight We're Gonna Give It 35%"), to being frequently ill and thinking she was dying ("Searching For a Former Clarity").

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