The flamboyant electronic sound of San Francis’s dancefloors soundtracked gay liberatn the '70s and '80s, even as s muny faced cimatn as a rult of the the AIDS crisis. Marke Bichke tak a ep dive to the efforts beg ma to prerve ephemera of the cy's pneerg scene, and speaks to the San Francis Dis Prervatn Society, Dark Entri' Josh Cheon and milogist Louis Neibur about his prehensive new book, Menergy: San Francis’s Gay Dis Sound
Contents:
- THE 13 GAYT MIC VIOS OF THE '80S
- RYM ULTIMATE BOX SET > 80'S GAY SYNTHPOP
- THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
- IT TAK A VILLAGE, PEOPLE: PRERVG SAN FRANCIS'S GAY DIS HISTORY
THE 13 GAYT MIC VIOS OF THE '80S
Listen to Gay Hs of the 80s | Pri Party, a playlist curated by on sktop and mobile. * 80's gay disco *
“Straight people were clumsy and had no rhythm, whereas gay men were right on. 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. -led dance spac that were exclive to gay men — ually whe, middle-class gay men — started to open Manhattan late 1972.
RYM ULTIMATE BOX SET > 80'S GAY SYNTHPOP
A roundup of the gayt, queert, and most flamboyant mic vios om an already over-the-top : the 1980s." name="scriptn * 80's gay disco *
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. “I’m happy, I’m reee and I’m gay, ” the sger hollers over soulful stmentatn. ” “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.
A pneerg reprentative, Gloria Gaynor was crowned the first queen of dis by gay D. 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.
THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
Anyone uld tell you the “typil” dis tras: the synthizer, the twirlg ball, and the funky pants—but fewer know the te origs of dis, which emerged om the gay unrground of New York. * 80's gay disco *
”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn D, Page 5 of the New York edn wh the headle: Sp Some Gay Dis. The overall queerns of pop 2020 has thkg back to the gayt pop mic ever experienced: the ‘80s.
IT TAK A VILLAGE, PEOPLE: PRERVG SAN FRANCIS'S GAY DIS HISTORY
Pri serv more than a month. The gay songs – om dis hs to club classics – are perfect for Pri year-round. * 80's gay disco *
The ‘80s had all, and today we celebrate the moments where the gay really jumped OUT the ’s foremost art form: the mic vio.
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. 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 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.