25 Essential Gay Pri Songs: Rollg Stone Edor Picks – Rollg Stone

Contents:

• THE 50 BT GAY SONGS TO CELEBRATE PRI ALL YEAR LONG
• TAG: GAY
• 30 GAY LOVE SONGS: MEN SGG ABOUT MEN
• 15 BT GAY ROCK SGERS YOU WILL LOVE

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. 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.

TAG: GAY

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.

30 GAY LOVE SONGS: MEN SGG ABOUT MEN

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. Ltle Richard, "Tutti Ftti"From: 1955 SgleLtle Richard stggled wh his sexualy throughout his reer, at tim openly speakg about beg gay, and at others nouncg the muny as pertaed to his vout fah.

15 BT GAY ROCK SGERS YOU WILL LOVE

"Tutti Ftti, " his first major h, origally clud lyrics referencg homosexualy — "Tutti Ftti, good booty / If don't f, don't force / You n grease , make easy" — but the words were cleaned up before the song ma to the rad.

Rod Stewart, "The Killg of Geie, Part I and II"From: A Night on the Town (1976)"In the days of changg ways / The so-lled liberated days / A story to md, " Rod Stewart sgs at the begng of "The Killg of Geie, Part I and II" a song about a real-life gay iend of Stewart's who was murred.

Jobriath, "Take Me I'm Yours"From: Jobriath (1973)Bra had Bowie, and Ameri had Jobriath, one of the first openly gay rock artists to be signed to a major label. Billy Bragg, "Sexualy"From: Don't Try This at Home (1991)Co-wrten by the Smhs guarist Johnny Marr, "Sexualy" is about as sex-posive and anti-homophobic die rock got the '90s. In 2021, Bragg updated the lyrics to be clive of the trans muny, changg "Jt bee you're gay, I won't turn you away / If you stick around, I'm sure that we n fd some mon ground" to "Jt bee you're they, I won't turn you away / If you stick around, I'm sure that we n fd the right pronoun.