Strung Out on Jargon

Punk Rock Homosexual Tendencies

April 14th, 2008 | Category: gay, t-shirts


Freshjive Reconstitutes Punk Rock Logo. Freshjive gives the iconic logo of seminal L.A. punk band Suicidal Tendencies an update, offering a black special edition t-shirt emblazoned with the words Homosexual Tendencies. Voted Worst Band/Biggest Assholes in Flipside in 1982, Suicidal Tendencies were as well known for their special blend of hardcore as they were for attracting beer guzzling meatheads hell bent on fighting. Freshjive founder Rick Klotz sees the t-shirt as a statement on the band’s hyper-masculinity, chalking up the aggression to repressed homosexual tendencies.

“I came to realize that perhaps all those guys were just venting their anger because they were dealing with the confusion of being homosexuals in the closet. I mean, it was always a bunch of dudes hanging out? Never girls? So now I have a soft spot for all those guys and the trouble they were dealing with during their adolescence.”

Dudes hanging out dealing with subjects like alienation, depression, nonconformist politics with intelligence and humor and not their fists, sounds pretty damn universal to me.

5 comments

5 Comments so far

  1. Harry April 14th, 2008 8:20 am

    Maybe it’s a commentary on his own desire for the band members…;)

  2. Kevin April 14th, 2008 1:36 pm

    Those polls in Flipside were meaningless. I imagine in the same issue they were also voted “Best Band” too? They definitely did bring a different, more violent crowd to the punk scene back then which, imho, took so much of the fun out of it. Homosexual or not, they changed the environment and took punk into a more metal direction.

  3. Matt April 14th, 2008 8:13 pm

    There’s a documentary on the punk movement in the US and UK that features several commentaries by Black Flag’s Henry Rollins. In one bit, he makes fun of the neo-hardcore punk scene that sprouted up in the mid to late 80’s regarding their over-emphasis on machismo, bare muscular chests and plenty of manhandling. “Get a room you guys!” he laughs.
    Suicidal Tendencies were more or less a joke band. I don’t want to say that they were the Knack of punk, but they had a few great songs to their credit.

  4. GReBO April 21st, 2008 1:13 am

    theres a gay hardcore band called Black Fag, their logo is the Black Flag one but with rainbow colours in the 4 rectangular pillars instead of plain balck

  5. dino June 22nd, 2008 2:09 pm

    Love the shirt, mostly because the font was always an eye-catcher. Doubt most homos will even get where Ms. Klotz’s bite comes from.

    Re: Rollins joking about bare-chested neo-punks: when did Henry ever perform with clothes ON?