The Gayt Mic Vios of the '80s — BLOOP

Contents:

• THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
• THE 13 GAYT MIC VIOS OF THE '80S
• RYM ULTIMATE BOX SET > 80'S GAY SYNTHPOP
• ULTIMATE PRI PLAYLIST: THE 50 BT GAY SONGS
• TOP 100 GAY SONGS - THE DEFIVE LISTTOP 100 GAY SONGS - THE DEFIVE LIST

THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG

Manco’s crowd, which clud many gay men of lor, bellowed out the chos, refigurg the song’s addrsee as a new kd of Shore Commissn, ‘Free Man’ (1975)D. Valento, ‘I Was Born This Way’ (1975)The first rerd to feature lyrics about beg an out-and-proud gay man me om the mil performer Charl “Valento” Harris, who released “I Was Born This Way” as an apparently one-off release on Gaiee. ” “The lyrics were perfect, ” she told me Summer, ‘I Feel Love’ (1977)Gay male dance crowds were drawn to rerdgs that featured Black female volists, often intifyg wh their emotnal exprsivens and strength the face of adversy, often to the surprise of the artists, who were ually gospel-traed.

THE 13 GAYT MIC VIOS OF THE '80S

Patrick Cowley, ‘Mutant Man’ (1982)Patrick Cowley fed his reputatn as one of the world’s most progrsive synthizer players durg rerdgs wh the dis pneer Sylvter, cludg “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), ” perhaps the ultimate gay male anthem.

RYM ULTIMATE BOX SET > 80'S GAY SYNTHPOP

Rumors had been swirlg for years around Michael’s sexualy but nothg was ever nfirmed by him prr to this song’s release (shortly thereafter he me out as bisexual, before g out as gay further down the le). While there’s nothg explicly homosexual the play, many believe that the ma characters Vladimir and Estragon are an ageg homosexual uple, who are worn out and not engagg sexually any longer.

Nile Rodgers (om the band Chic), who was workg wh Ross on material for her album Diana, got the spiratn for the song after seeg multiple drag queens drsed as Ross at a gay-iendly New York Cy club. Sure, RuPl had already broken before this song and movie (see our number one song) and the mid-’90s were surprisgly gay-iendly — To Wong Foo was sandwiched between the release of two other celebrated and succsful mastream LGBTQ films, The Adventur of Priscilla, Queen of the Dert 1994 and The Birdge 1996. Although only reached number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, was a number one h on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play, large part bee so many gay men loved the song — after all, was fun, sexy, danceable and mpy.

ULTIMATE PRI PLAYLIST: THE 50 BT GAY SONGS

Charts after a Facebook mpaign was lnched to get the song back on the charts rponse to a polician who blamed floodg and adverse weather on gay marriage. Martha Wash and Izora Armstead may not be LGBTQ, but the duo, pecially Wash, are nsired to be gay ins today, thanks large part to “It’s Rag Men. 1990 was the year that the unrground gay ball scene sort of went mastream, thanks large part to this Billboard Hot 100 number one h om one of the most famo artists the world at the time.

For those unfaiar, the New York Cy ball scene was an LGBTQ subculture where different ho — mostly Black and Lat gay, bi, lbian and trans people — walked (or peted) for trophi tegori such as Face, Body, Butch Queen Realns, Femme Queen Realns, miscellaneo drag and Vogueg.

In addn to Jose and Luis, Madonna st five other male dancers for the tour and “Vogue” vio (four of them were gay and one of them straight). But I’m sure Ru uldn’t have imaged that 27 years later, not only would his song still be played gay bars, but people all over the world, both LGBTQ and our alli, would still be sayg l om this song, thanks to their cln a realy show lled RuPl’s Drag Race. Ins like Whney and Madonna turned out plenty of hs durg the ‘80s that are today nsired gay anthems, but the classic vios—eher by LGBTQ+ artists or featurg queer subject matter—are gay a more leral sense.

TOP 100 GAY SONGS - THE DEFIVE LISTTOP 100 GAY SONGS - THE DEFIVE LIST

BRONSKI BEAT - “SMALLTOWN BOY” (1984)This ‘80s dance h and s explicly queer vio about a smalltown gay boy the big cy broke new ground for LGBTQ+ visibily—and reached the top of the charts the procs. MARC ALMOND - “RUBY RED” (1987)Few ‘80s pop stars were more -your-face about their sexualy than Soft Cell ontman Marc Almond, and this kky Kenh Anger-spired visual is as gay as gets.

THE B-52s - “LOVE SHACK” (1989)As if The B-52’s John Waters-spired athetic and out-and-proud ontman Fred Schneir weren’t gay enough for you, this mpy vid for their late-’80s h featur a pre-fame meo by the one and only RuPl. - “CLUB TROPICANA” (1983)It would be another 15 years before he formally me out, but if Gee Michael a whe speedo vampg to this breezy 1983 bop don’t set off your gaydar…nothg will.

ERASURE - “CHAINS OF LOVE” (1988)If seeg Andy Bell spend om chas jt BASKING his gayns don’t make you feel like you’re an episo of Queer as Folk, you’ve got some homework to do. While some classics do appear on our list, others do not – sorry, Gloria Gaynor, Kylie Mogue, RuPl, Brney and Cher, we still adore you — here are 25 sential pri songs om the 1970s to today. Somewhat rctively lled the “Queen of Dis, ” the virtuosic, openly gay sger approached genr ( his performative and private liv) as a fluid, non-bary ncept a pre–Judh Butler era.

Although seems most of Queen’s fans were cluels as to how openly gay and subversive ontman Freddie Mercury was – spe the unabashed swank of his stage prence – he also never really tried to hi . Much of Erasure’s disgraphy embodi not precisely celebratory gay pri but gay romantic realy – a ankns about the emotnal, if not overtly sexual, liv of gay men toward the end of the 20th century. So when out Brish duo Andy Bell and Vce Clarke’s plative yet buoyant sgle beme a worldwi h gay-uniendly 1988, felt quietly revolutnary to anyone the know.

The Bay Area gay punk pneers found a ht of mastream fame when they toured wh Green Day on their Dookie n 1994, but was their sexy lyrics and who-giv-a-fuck attu that enared them to a generatn of queer kids – before that term was even fashnable.

It’s difficult to pick one song that f them – wh songs like “Dick of Death, ” “Groovy Unrwear” or their classic ver of Prce’s “Jack You Off” – but we went wh one that seems to fy the ia of a gay “anthem” no matter how you thk of . I thk, over time, some of them are ls specifilly gay than they were at first bee seemed like, when we had the chance that was really what we wanted to sg about and that was really unique. Ltle did she know that her wgirl blu would not only w her the Grammy for Bt Female Rock Vol Performance but would also yield an empowerg theme for the gay muny.

As both voutly straight edge and proudly homosexual, their substance-ee stance ma them stand out a time when bars, clubs and other toxitg spac prised the few safe havens for LGBTQ people.

” Although only a actn of the band’s succs Europe translated to the Uned Stat, “Take Your Mama” remas a staple gay bars across the untry. Butler later told The New York Tim that “Bld” relled “growg up a gay kid, my immediate fay and social group rejectg me, and askg why I was born to this suatn.