Erasure's Andy Bell on 'The Neon,' Beg Love, & the '80s Gay Scene

Contents:

• ERASURE ONTMAN ANDY BELL OPENS UP ABOUT BEG AN 80S GAY IN AHEAD OF THEIR 2022 WORLD TOUR
• ‘I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO THE GAY ONE’: LGBTQ TEACHERS SAY THEY ARE FIGHTG ERASURE THEIR OWN CLASSROOMS
• ERASURE'S ANDY BELL ON THE NEON, BEG LOVE, & THE '80S GAY SCENE
• ERASURE IS BACK WH A NEW ALBUM AND A STILL SEXY GAY ROCK STAR
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

ERASURE ONTMAN ANDY BELL OPENS UP ABOUT BEG AN 80S GAY IN AHEAD OF THEIR 2022 WORLD TOUR

The fierce queer polics of Bronski Beat and the barely-d sex-posivy of Frankie Go To Hollywood ma some noise on the US charts the early 1980s while Elton John still prented as bisexual, but really wasn’t until Erasure explod onto the scene a uple years later that an open and fiant gay voice uld be heard at your high school dance. While the gay dience is more sought-after than ever, openly-gay pop stars are still srce.

Lady Gaga intifi as bi, Sam Smh as gay and non-bary, but beyond them, the last or so, only Lil Nas X has managed to crack the top ten.

We talked about the queer idols of their youths, the evolutn of the gay pop star, the importance of reprentatn and llaboratn, and creativy the year of Covid.

‘I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO THE GAY ONE’: LGBTQ TEACHERS SAY THEY ARE FIGHTG ERASURE THEIR OWN CLASSROOMS

Along the way, some dish, some dance, and a solid primer on 20th century gay culture.

When I was a teenager, still was not okay Wal to be an out gay ntent is imported om youTube. He always nied he was gay. That’s all a b far as mic go, we had the Amerin artists, we had Sylvter and of urse Dive, and gay-intified people like Grace Jon.

But the UK, we had Frankie Go To Hollywood, which was more hype than was a gay thg. I hadn't really heard of him, but I knew “Glad To Be Gay, ” and my uncle had one of his rerds, “2, 4, 6, 8 Motorway.

ERASURE'S ANDY BELL ON THE NEON, BEG LOVE, & THE '80S GAY SCENE

I remember readg a poster London probably about '83 or '84 that he was dog a Gays Rock semar London. So he said he wore a pk triangle on his lapel, and when anybody asked him about , he said, "Oh, you know, that's the emblem of gay liberatn. [Lghs] When I was formulatg gay inty, was stuff like Bjork, Grace Jon, Erasure, Elton John.

You may be able to fd the same ntent another format, or you may be able to fd more rmatn, at their web I love Queer ins were a really weird thg the UK bee like Andy was sayg, a lot of the TV personali that were gay were such stereotyp. We ed to have gay film nights London. It was all the different homo-erotic films, which of urse, they're all onle now.

The reason I mentned Carrere and Casablan was, even though wasn't explicly homo artists or anythg, jt seemed like the dis beat was the heartbeat to our liv or somethg. It's jt a mic genre that I don't know a sgle gay person that don't love . It was almost a tt of their power at rad to promote a gay artist.

ERASURE IS BACK WH A NEW ALBUM AND A STILL SEXY GAY ROCK STAR

And we’d have people qug up outsi, teenage girls and boys wh gay pri badg on, and say, "Hey, gay pri, Andy, " jt as we were arrivg. I wanted to nail my lors to the wall and be as gay as possible, which I suppose is jt like those telly nelli on the now, people e out wh a bang and a wallop, and 's all embracg, but seems to last five mut. I’m not plag, but 's a really tough environment, beg a gay man or woman the dtry, you know?

It's weird bee I thk what you did and Jimmy Somerville and other artists the ‘80s, is you ma a space for gay mic, as did k.

But then I feel like when the dtry uld get away wh makg straight artists as gay and mp as you, they fot a lot of the actual gay really wasn't until Scissor Sisters me along that we were actually allowed to be there aga. Before then was the weird thg of the Fast Food Rockers and Soch and people like that jt beg mp, whout lettg an actual gay person do anythg popular ntent is imported om youTube. Durg Brpop, maybe mid-'90s or early '90s, where gay pri beme a rporate event, where you had to wear the wristband.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

And all of a sudn you had straight people on the vers of gay magaz, which was never vice versa. It was never gay people on the vers of straight magaz.

Dave: To this day, if Channg Tatum says, “hey, I have a gay , and I’m okay wh him, ” then he’s on the ver of the gay magaze wh his shirt off. Do you thk the gay media supports s own muny enough?

And we've bee so sensized and so body nsc, 's so dumbed down that even gay magaz, now 's all about sellg stuff.