The Sound and the Fury
Whitehead and Hardcore Trans-Punk
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Lyrics to Lined Lips and Spiked Bats
THEY WANTED ME TO BE A MAN THEY WANTED ME TO BECOME ONE OF THEM STRAIGHT AND REPRESSED EMOTIONS GROTESQUE READY FOR WAR AND THE CUBICLE DESK STRAIGHT AMERICA YOU WON'T RUIN ME! SPORTS AND TV INDOCTRINATE THE KIDS SEEMS SO SIMPLE CAUSE IT IS THEY TOLD US TO DIE WE CHOSE TO LIVE THEY TOLD US TO DIE BUT WE CHOSE TO LIVE STRAIGHT AMERICA YOU WON'T RUIN ME! SICK AMERICAN DREAM COMBATING THE CRAP BAD GIRLS HAVE EACH OTHERS BACKS LINED LIPS/SPIKED BATS GOTTA TAKE FEMININITY BACK A Call for Equality "The lyrics on this demo, when taken together as a whole, are a call for equality, a rebuking of injustice, and a loud, frank statement bringing to light the need to address varying issues for those of not only transgender identity, but for all under-represented individuals. By calling out to all individuals that have been oppressed by American culture, the band’s intent becomes starkly universal." -- Outspoken Transqueer Punk Rock Sounds by Laura Bittner, posted by: Necci – Mar 27, 2015 |
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A funny thing happened to Alfred North Whitehead on his way to writing Process and Reality. He drew the conclusion that all actual entities in the universe – atomic, molecular, cellular, mammalian, and galactic – are driven by a desire for intense experience.
This includes each member of G.L.O.S.S.: Corey on drums, Julaya on bass, Sadie doing vocals, Tannrr on guitar, and Jake on guitar. Inside each of them there is a desire for intensity and a resentment that straight society boxes that desire into rigid, stifling, gender roles. Identifying as transgender, they are not going to let straight America ruin them, or us.
For G.L.O.S.S "straight America" is patriarchal America. It is that side of American society which enforces strict gender identities, usually based on assumptions that heterosexuality is normative for all; and which presumes that the existing social order -- with mostly powerful men in charge of things -- is somehow ordained by the very Soul of the universe.
Process philosophers and theologians influenced by Whitehead disagree with the heterosexists. They -- we -- are sharply critical of straight America, understood as a strict enforcer of gender identities and a sanctioning of patriarchal power. Whitehead believed that the very Soul of the universe is driven by a desire for intensity not conformity; for novelty not sameness, for multiplicity not unanimity. This Soul is more than everything added together and in this sense it is transcendent. But it is inside the person walking as an indwelling lure toward intensity. A Sufi mystic, or John of the Cross, would speak of this soul as the divine Beloved. Jewish and Christian mystics throughout the ages have seen this Beloved in erotic imagery of the Song of Songs in the Bible. Whitehead leans in this direction when he compares God to an invisible magnet or "object of desire." The Beloved dwells within each heart as a lure toward intensity.
Whitehead believed that this desire for intense experience is an end in itself. A single moment of such experience may last only for a moment, but in that moment there is something beautiful and alive. There is, in the words of the theologian Mayra Rivera Rivera, a touch of transcendence in the very sound and fury.
What is transcended in the transcendence? There are many things that can be transcended. The ethically-minded among us want to emphasize the importance of transcending self-seeking, ego-based desires for personal well-being on the one hand, but also confining binaries of identity (gender and otherwise) that enslave victims and victimizers alike. We will say that we become fully alive when our small selves have dropped away and we feel more connected with other people and the wider whole; when we dwell in harmony with the Ten Thousand Things.
There is indeed something beautiful and transcendent in these moments, as evidenced in simple acts of kindness. Jesus called these moments “the kingdom of God.” They are the momentary incarnations of the Love Supreme. Their extension lies in quests for justice, for what Martin Luther King calls beloved community. Transqueer punk rock in the spirit of G.L.O.S.S. is in the spirit of King. It is a protest against the injustices of our time and a protest for a more just society. You can hear it in the sound and the fury.
But there is another kind of transcendence we see in hardcore punk which is also connected to the Love Supreme. Let’s call it ecstatic transcendence. It is driven, not by a quest for justice, but rather for a quest for ecstasy: for what Whitehead calls a moment of joy. This quest for a moment of joy is as religious in its way, as is the quest for a just society in its way. But the religion at issue is not that of ethics. It is that of orgiastic pleasure, of returning to the cosmic womb in which boundaries have fallen away and all there is, for the experiencing soul, is harmonious intensity and intense harmony. Sometimes the ethically minded do not understand this intensity. This intensity can lean in one of two directions: rebellion against established order or surrender to the all. Both are intense.
Of course punk rockers did not invent this kind of transcendence. We hear ecstasy as we listen to the screaming of John Coltrane’s saxophone in its exploration of pure possibilities for sound. To be sure, there are moments when the sounds are tinged with ethical sensibilities. But so often they are propelled by a different but no less compelling spirit. Whitehead called it a revolt against heaven or, for short, storming heaven.
In Part Five of Process and Reality he talks about a need in human life to achieve order and stability, which is a form of beauty, but also a need to revolt against forms of order and stability when they have grown stale. The order at issue can be a certain form of social order or it can be a certain form of mental order. These forms of mental order are not disconnected from social order. They are habitual ways of thinking or speaking or feeling as expressed in predictable grammar and syntax; in prohibitions against profanity. Oppressive stability is found in predictable forms of speech which never surprise anybody but only “inform.” Here, too, there a need for revolt, for exploring new possibilities which require a breakdown of the old forms, in order to make room for novelty: Let “heaven” be a metaphor for the old forms of order. There is a need to storm heaven, to take it over, to rebel. It takes form of sound and fury aimed toward love. Jesus had a bit of it when he turned over the tables in the temple. G.L.O.S.S. has it, too.
-- Jay McDaniel
This includes each member of G.L.O.S.S.: Corey on drums, Julaya on bass, Sadie doing vocals, Tannrr on guitar, and Jake on guitar. Inside each of them there is a desire for intensity and a resentment that straight society boxes that desire into rigid, stifling, gender roles. Identifying as transgender, they are not going to let straight America ruin them, or us.
For G.L.O.S.S "straight America" is patriarchal America. It is that side of American society which enforces strict gender identities, usually based on assumptions that heterosexuality is normative for all; and which presumes that the existing social order -- with mostly powerful men in charge of things -- is somehow ordained by the very Soul of the universe.
Process philosophers and theologians influenced by Whitehead disagree with the heterosexists. They -- we -- are sharply critical of straight America, understood as a strict enforcer of gender identities and a sanctioning of patriarchal power. Whitehead believed that the very Soul of the universe is driven by a desire for intensity not conformity; for novelty not sameness, for multiplicity not unanimity. This Soul is more than everything added together and in this sense it is transcendent. But it is inside the person walking as an indwelling lure toward intensity. A Sufi mystic, or John of the Cross, would speak of this soul as the divine Beloved. Jewish and Christian mystics throughout the ages have seen this Beloved in erotic imagery of the Song of Songs in the Bible. Whitehead leans in this direction when he compares God to an invisible magnet or "object of desire." The Beloved dwells within each heart as a lure toward intensity.
Whitehead believed that this desire for intense experience is an end in itself. A single moment of such experience may last only for a moment, but in that moment there is something beautiful and alive. There is, in the words of the theologian Mayra Rivera Rivera, a touch of transcendence in the very sound and fury.
What is transcended in the transcendence? There are many things that can be transcended. The ethically-minded among us want to emphasize the importance of transcending self-seeking, ego-based desires for personal well-being on the one hand, but also confining binaries of identity (gender and otherwise) that enslave victims and victimizers alike. We will say that we become fully alive when our small selves have dropped away and we feel more connected with other people and the wider whole; when we dwell in harmony with the Ten Thousand Things.
There is indeed something beautiful and transcendent in these moments, as evidenced in simple acts of kindness. Jesus called these moments “the kingdom of God.” They are the momentary incarnations of the Love Supreme. Their extension lies in quests for justice, for what Martin Luther King calls beloved community. Transqueer punk rock in the spirit of G.L.O.S.S. is in the spirit of King. It is a protest against the injustices of our time and a protest for a more just society. You can hear it in the sound and the fury.
But there is another kind of transcendence we see in hardcore punk which is also connected to the Love Supreme. Let’s call it ecstatic transcendence. It is driven, not by a quest for justice, but rather for a quest for ecstasy: for what Whitehead calls a moment of joy. This quest for a moment of joy is as religious in its way, as is the quest for a just society in its way. But the religion at issue is not that of ethics. It is that of orgiastic pleasure, of returning to the cosmic womb in which boundaries have fallen away and all there is, for the experiencing soul, is harmonious intensity and intense harmony. Sometimes the ethically minded do not understand this intensity. This intensity can lean in one of two directions: rebellion against established order or surrender to the all. Both are intense.
Of course punk rockers did not invent this kind of transcendence. We hear ecstasy as we listen to the screaming of John Coltrane’s saxophone in its exploration of pure possibilities for sound. To be sure, there are moments when the sounds are tinged with ethical sensibilities. But so often they are propelled by a different but no less compelling spirit. Whitehead called it a revolt against heaven or, for short, storming heaven.
In Part Five of Process and Reality he talks about a need in human life to achieve order and stability, which is a form of beauty, but also a need to revolt against forms of order and stability when they have grown stale. The order at issue can be a certain form of social order or it can be a certain form of mental order. These forms of mental order are not disconnected from social order. They are habitual ways of thinking or speaking or feeling as expressed in predictable grammar and syntax; in prohibitions against profanity. Oppressive stability is found in predictable forms of speech which never surprise anybody but only “inform.” Here, too, there a need for revolt, for exploring new possibilities which require a breakdown of the old forms, in order to make room for novelty: Let “heaven” be a metaphor for the old forms of order. There is a need to storm heaven, to take it over, to rebel. It takes form of sound and fury aimed toward love. Jesus had a bit of it when he turned over the tables in the temple. G.L.O.S.S. has it, too.
-- Jay McDaniel