Transgender Dysphoria Blues

NPR ranked the record as the #109 greatest album made by a female artist, saying:

Against Me!’s founder and singer, Laura Jane Grace, spoke publically [sic] about her gender dysphoria years before releasing Transgender Dysphoria Blues. But with this studio album, her band’s sixth, she put it all on the line. Here, Grace owns her identity as a trans woman with full-throated howls and lyrics about dresses and eyelashes, but they’re never a costume. The trappings of femininity become tools for singing about the tricky parts of her transition, which included moments of loneliness, disappointment and confusion. The album doesn’t sacrifice anything of what fans of Against Me! might expect to hear: A band at full tilt, and songs with lyrics that cover more traditional punk ground like politics and capitalism. But it’s in the moments when Grace speaks candidly about her identity — whether be they proud or profoundly heartbreaking — that the album makes your heart swell with understanding. It’s important music, a milestone moment of a trans woman declaring her identity and articulating the highs and lows of her story. And Grace has never sounded stronger.