AxCx, I’m Gonna Give You AIDS | Controversial Songs

In the 21st edition of Controversial Songs (2025), we explore the controversy behind “I’m Gonna Give You AIDS” by AxCx.

Bring on the controversy! Controversial Songs is a column that provides background information and insight into songs that raised eyebrows, stirred the pot, or were banned. The more censorship censor$hit, the better! The records that grace Controversial Songs are old and new alike, with all genres of music welcome.  In the 21^st edition of Controversial Songs (2025), we explore the controversy behind “I’m Gonna Give You AIDS” by AxCx.

When your band name is Anal Cunt (stylized as AxCx), you live on the edge 😳. That is an understatement. C-U-N-T almost always has a negative connotation. Anyways, controversy is no surprise with AxCx. Many songs by the grindcore band fronted by the late Seth Putnam (1968 – 2011) raised eyebrows.  It begins with the song titles, with the lyrics expounding the unapologetic aesthetic.  A later song from AxCx drips in controversy: “I’m Gonna Give You AIDS”. Yikes! For good measure, it is the eighth track on the band’s 2011 album, Fuckin’ A.  The entire album is risqué and shocking, which is characteristic of the defunct band.

“I’m gonna give you AIDS.” Oh, boy… more like, oh, shit! That is the chorus of “I’m Gonna Give You AIDS,” repeated eight times for emphasis! No deep analysis is necessary, but, in all seriousness, giving someone HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is nothing to joke about, particularly if you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community 🏳️‍🌈. Transmitting HIV could lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, the final stage. Giving full-blown AIDS… not sure what Seth was thinking. Of course, the science wasn’t the M.O. in the first place. Before transmitting this STD, Putnam informs this groupie, “You’re only useful when you’re sucking my dick / The mere sight of you makes me fucking sick.” Wow… The second verse is outlandish too, and problematic: “I’ll let you let me fuck you in your fucking ass / I’ll give you AIDS while I shove it in your ass.” Yes, anal can be risky (and sounds that way in Putnam’s hands), but it can be practiced safely, and once again, full-blown AIDS is not transmitted… Seth shocks in one final verse, admitting he’s “a total fucking scum,” who, again, is going to transmit AIDS via his man juice orally and anally. Perhaps more troubling is the post-chorus: “I’m so glad, I’m so glad, I’m so glad, I’ve got fuckin’ AIDS.” Bruh, c’mon! Look no further than the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s… and you’re “so glad [to have] AIDS?”

So, should the noisy, scathing, and unapologetic “I’m Gonna Give You AIDS” be taken with a grain of salt? AxCx intended to shock throughout their career, and if shock is indeed the intention, this raw, screamed grindcore record gets the job done. But let’s remember that infecting someone with HIV, which could progress to AIDS, is nothing to take lightly. Why would anyone be glad to have AIDS, as Seth sings 🤨? I’ll leave it there.