Gay bands of the 80s
Welcome to part 2 of this two part series of LGBT rock songs. In this post, we will be focusing on the 70s and 80s. When doing the investigate for this post, I found that there were so many songs that I couldn’t fit them all into one post.
In case you missed it, you can read the first part of the series here. You can also read a upload I wrote about LGBT rock stars here.
Without further ado, let’s go!
1972:
All The New Dudes – Mott The Hoople – This David Bowie-penned song was Mott The Hoople was the band’s biggest hit. Bowie wrote the song for them when he set up out they were going to break up because they weren’t going anywhere. How is it a gay anthem? There’s one lyric that references crossdressing: “Now Lucy’s looking pleasant though he dresses prefer a queen”.
How did it age? 10/10 Nothing offensive here. Definitely a good singalong.
Closet Queen – Harrison Kennedy – This Canadian-born member of Detroit R&B/Soul community Chairmen of the Board wrote this accepting lyric about gay people. The song begins with “Closet Queen you are alright”. The lyrics are encouraging people to come out of the closet. “Closet Queen come int
There have been many musicians over the years who possess openly identified as gay, lesbian, double attraction, or transgender in classic rock. The first bisexual rock star was Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a rock and roll pioneer.
Many lesbian, male lover, bi, and transitioned rock musicians were in the closet for years or even decades before coming out. Many of these musicians are people you’ve heard of.
Classic rock is for all to enjoy, no matter your sexual orientation. I am writing this publish from Ireland, where people voted on a referendum for marriage equality. This is a huge step in the right advice. Thank you to all of the people who voted yes. In honour of that I want to chat about my favourite LGBT musicians from the 60s and 70s.
Note: I have since updated this announce to include LGBT musicians from the 80s. There has been quite a bit of require for it, so I will carry. This is the most popular upload on the blog and I am very proud of this post! Express gratitude you for reading! Enjoy!
Alice de Buhr – lesbian – Drummer for the band Fanny.
Andy Fraser – gay – Bassist and founding member of Free. He formed the band when he was 15. He co-wrote and produced the band’s
LGTBQ musicians/bands from the 80s to early 90s?
June 6, 2017 7:10 AM Subscribe
I'm doing a second radio show for the summer on my local campus/community radio station. Pride Weekend here in Kingston begins next week so I thought I'd do a special edition of my show celebrating the LGBTQ artists during the heyday of college/alternative radio (specifically 1980-1992) . Given this is a not-for-profit station located in Canada, here are my criteria:
* preferably not a hit that charted in Canada or the US (UK and elsewhere is fine)
* CanCon always preferred
* it's okay if the artist/musician came out after 1992 as long as I can perform something by them before that cutoff date
*really really needs to be college radio/alternative as that is the mandate of this show
I'm trying to think of some artists who have never gotten enough due or aren't played enough. Dream me, AskMe!
*yes, I will be playing Marc Almond and Bob Mould. For some reason, my mind is drawing a blank on everyone else. Frankie Goes to Hollywood is an obvious one as long as there is a single of theirs that wasn't a knock in North America.
"Whatdoesit take to be a man?" asked Brad Delp, the late lead singer of the band Boston, on a track from the group's 1986 album Third Stage.
Chances are that neither he nor the millions of Boston fans who bought Third Stage and listened to "To Be a Man" imagined the version of manhood that had dominated pop tune during the first half of the decade, when makeup, gravity-defying hair and fey poses were the norm among new wave's biggest male stars. Music's second British invasion sure looked alternative from the first one!
New wave's bleached roots sprouted from '70s glam rock, another British subgenre featuring grown men playing dress-up, one that, unlike '60s Beatlemania and '80s synth pop, never caught on in any significant way in the Merged States. But for all their eyeliner, glitter and platform boots, there was something unmistakably vertical about glam bands like Roxy Harmony, T. Rex and The Sweet as well as solo superstar David Bowie, despite his statement of gayness in Melody Maker in 1972.
Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet and their new-wave peers were an entirely different story. Yes, at its most flash-in-the-pan, brand-new wave's style was purely about