HAPPY PRIDE! How “Y.M.C.A.” Beme a Gay Anthem! | Now See Hear!

Contents:

• THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
• HAPPY PRIDE! HOW “Y.M.C.A.” BEME A GAY ANTHEM!
• 55 BT GAY SONGS OF ALL TIME (LGBTQ+ PRI SONGS)
• 30 GAY LOVE SONGS: MEN SGG ABOUT MEN
• NO SHA, BUT THERE’S A WRONG WAY TO MAKE A GAY ANTHEM

THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG

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.

HAPPY PRIDE! HOW “Y.M.C.A.” BEME A GAY ANTHEM!

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.

55 BT GAY SONGS OF ALL TIME (LGBTQ+ PRI SONGS)

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. 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.

30 GAY LOVE SONGS: MEN SGG ABOUT MEN

LGBTQ mic history is so much more than a timele of who me out when and which songs beme gay anthems -- 's also about the artists who weren't aaid to be themselv eras when dog so….

But 1973, a sger and actor named Bce Wayne Campbell beme what is believed to be the first openly gay rock mician signed to a major label when he buted as the outrageoly flashy Jobriath. Remarkably, another out gay man, Gary Floyd, also onted another of At’s first-rank punk bands, the Dicks, who would go on to be vered by the lik of The Butthole Surfers, J Lizard and Mudhoney. ” Durg the first half of the 1980s, many artists found mercial succs wh songs and vios that openly picted or referenced queer life, particularly gay nightlife — as seen work of Frankie Go to Hollywood, Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell and others.

” Though, today, you’ll hear the track at everythg om a school dance to a 50th anniversary party, has also been adopted by the gay muny as one of s unofficial anthems. The tl were self-explanatory: “Fire Island” (the East Coast’s gay summer retreat); “San Francis (You’ve Got Me)” (the Wt ast’s premier gay statn); “Village People” (a look at the habants of New York Cy’s largely gay Greenwich Village); and “In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star), ” the promise of artistic acplishment the word’s entertament pal.

NO SHA, BUT THERE’S A WRONG WAY TO MAKE A GAY ANTHEM

Only Willis and Rose participated on the “Village People” LP–wh Rose roly creded as “Felipe ‘Indian From the Anvil’“ (the Anvil was a gay NYC sex club). The gay msagg their songs, the gay fantasy stripper-stum, the gay dancg and fx macho posturg seemed to go over the heads of the dience–or they jt didn’t re.

“Key Wt” (a gay rort statn), “Jt a Gigolo, ” “I Am What I Am” (a gay claratn), and “Sodom and Gomorrah” reached their re dience–but the sgle “Macho Man” reached further. An energetic chant song whose lyrics extoled the male form, exercise and gym culture, “Macho Man” was heard by straight dienc as ls gay and more sports/athletics/ol-du fun mic.

Addnally, lyrics like “lger on the siwalk where the neon signs are pretty” and “someone who is jt like you and needs a gentle hand to gui them along” were tac vatns for a gay listeng dience. ” was more than a h rerd, was a cultural tone: a world anthem built on, for, and about gay life and sensibili that was, neverthels, fully embraced by mastream dienc.