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 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
- THE LAST DAYS OF GAY DIS
- THE GAY DIS
- IT TAK A VILLAGE, PEOPLE: PRERVG SAN FRANCIS'S GAY DIS HISTORY
- THE 10 BEST NEW YORK CY GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NEW YORK CY
- DANCE PRI: THE GAY ORIGS OF DANCE MIC
THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
Pri serv more than a month. The gay songs – om dis hs to club classics – are perfect for Pri year-round. * a gay disco *
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.
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. 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.
THE LAST DAYS OF GAY DIS
An act which even the butcht of men do while they believe they are on their own. They hear a very "gay" or "chey" song, and nt help but do a ltle dance to ." name="Dcriptn" property="og:scriptn * a gay disco *
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.
THE GAY DIS
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. * a gay disco *
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.
IT TAK A VILLAGE, PEOPLE: PRERVG SAN FRANCIS'S GAY DIS HISTORY
* a gay disco *
When I me to the pot where I was actively gay took a b of time to get fortable and e out but I felt ready for whatever me my way. ” 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.
The tr would later make headl after the 2014 Grammy Awards, where their landmark performance of the song would soundtrack a mass weddg between 33 gay and straight upl. ” Sgg “No fay is safe when I sashay, ” he slks to a nference room and gyrat his hips for a room full of sus – a sly riposte to the legns of homophob who weaponize their fears agast LGBTQ people, om wh board rooms, Congrs, or out on the streets. Behd velvet rop, blacks, Latos, and wh, women and men, rich and poor, gays and straights were enuraged to wear whatever they wanted, kiss whoever they wanted and — of urse — dance however they wanted.
THE 10 BEST NEW YORK CY GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS NEW YORK CY
Friday I’m Love explor the role Numbers played Hoton’s gay rights movement the 1980s, the AIDS crisis of the 1990s, and more * a gay disco *
The movement really began wh the Stonewall Rts of 1969, the first major cint which gay men took a llective and forceful stand agast police btaly. Donna Summer simulated asms songs and the Village People would flg off police uniforms, nstctn hats, and wboy outfs a celebratn of gay culture.
The dis movement, as origally was, end the ’80s, as the AIDS epimic stormed through the gay muny and fear settled over the formerly jubilant clubs. But vtig rema: Velvet rop still part for the chict outf, style mavens still fill gay clubs and paras, and mic trends ntue to transcend race and sexualy.
DANCE PRI: THE GAY ORIGS OF DANCE MIC
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