"We loved rock mic before we even realized we were gay," says ontman Jon Goli. "It seemed like there were a lot of people wag for somethg like to happen."
Contents:
- SMELLS LIKE QUEER SPIR: HOW '90S PUNKS PANSY DIVISN BLAZED A TRAIL AS ONE OF ROCK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BANDS
- 10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
- 'QUEERRE': A DES-OLD MOVEMENT FOR GAY PUNKS, FREAKS AND REBELS
SMELLS LIKE QUEER SPIR: HOW '90S PUNKS PANSY DIVISN BLAZED A TRAIL AS ONE OF ROCK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BANDS
* punk gay *
But while “punk” and “queerns” seem like ntradictns, punk was (and is) very much queer: Whether ’s Tom Robson Band proudly clarg they’re “Glad To Be Gay, ” The Buzzcks’ bisexual sger Pete Shelley askg if you have “Ever Fallen In Love (Wh Someone You Shouldn’t’ve? The exhibn explor everythg om punk’s tersectn wh the sex dtry, gay leather culture’s fluence on punk fashn, the ep impact of queer culture on punk’s roots, and more. Though neher O’Bann’s nor Oz would survive past 1982, they were cril to helpg punk flourish Chigo—and like La Mere, they started and to some gree ntued to operate as gay bars.
Rivers also held down a job at Sounds Good Rerds on Broadway near Belmont, which stocked lots of dis 12-ch and glam-rock albums for the neighborhood’s gay clientele, cludg a healthy selectn of imports. The club was already a punk hot spot by the time Ralph Pl addrsed s makeover his liftyle lumn for the October 1977 issue of Gay Chigo News/Journal, and his brief note sounds more bemed and cur than offend: “Swgg om a try at beg a gay dis the La Mere Vipere has bee the headle Punk Rock Palace for the Wdy Cy.
10 GREAT BRISH GAY FILMS
From “gay” to “poofter” to “fairy” - the words ed by others to fe gay people n say a great al more about them than . * punk gay *
He’d led an all-night vigil outsi Tribune Tower after the Tribune refed to n an ad for Lend-a-Man (later renamed Benchmark), a gay employment agency he -owned. You uld be gay, straight, transgenr, you don’t want to be classified, you might be havg a sex change, you might drs drag, guys dance on the dance floor wh guys, girls dance wh girls, guys e the girls’ bathroom, girls e the guys’ bathroom—that’s the way went, OK?
” And Ellis knew a good mix when he heard one: prr to disverg La Mere, he’d spent his nights dis dancg at gay clubs, which were hospable to young Black men (even straight on). Before she’d started gog to La Mere, she’d already ma a hab of spendg her ee evengs at gay bars—she knew she wouldn’t be harassed by straight men at the Bistro.
” Most of the origal gay clientele didn’t abandon the bar, but Oz also attracted straight punks om the far north si who might not have ventured all the way down to River North for O’Bann’s.
'QUEERRE': A DES-OLD MOVEMENT FOR GAY PUNKS, FREAKS AND REBELS
“When that end, wasn’t gonna be re-created—that crowd, the misf crowd, the gay crowd, the transgenr crowd, the ‘we don’t know who we are’ crowd, migrated to those other clubs, but that energy beme dissipated as the years went on, ” Skafish says. As the volist and bass player for the semal proggy metal-tged hard rock band Kg’s X, Doug Pnick me out 1998, durg an terview wh the Christian magaze, an irony due to the spirual and upliftg nature of the mic and lyrics which attracted many Christian fans who were agast homosexualy.
Before Cynic both Reert and Masvidal played as members of the legendary band Death, wh the one and only Chuck Schulder, and durg this time, and their time wh Cynic, they most likely led double liv as secretly homosexual mal a predomantly macho male extreme metal aggrsive ttosterone filled mil scene. At, Texas-based hardre punk band MDC might be known by different nam cludg Millns of Dead Cops, Multi-Death Corporatn, Millns Of Dead Children, and Millns Of Damn Christians, but sce the begng of the band, 1979, the one nstant has been the antic, charismatic ontman Dave Dictor, who has ed the fury of punk to sg agast racism war, rporate ntrol, and favor of animal and human rights, equaly for gays, mori, and women. One of the very first openly gay rock bands, they formed 1991 right the middle of the AIDS crisis, and almost lerally lghed the face of tragedy wh their sophomoric but ultimately unifyg and healg humor.
Their NSFW songs — image, say, a gay Blk-182 —over the years have clud “Bill & Ted's Homosexual Adventure, ” “Touch My Joe Camel, ” “The C***sucker Club, ” “That’s So Gay” “Dick of Death, ” “Blame the Bible, ” and a rto ver of Prce’s “Jack U Off” and Weird Al-style Nirvana spoof brilliantly tled “Smells Like Queer Spir. ”And while Pansy Divisn didn’t exactly w over the mass, the unpromisg pop-punk band quickly veloped a cult followg among queer rockers seekg an alternative to the Hi-NRG dance mic pumpg through SF’s gay clubs. ”Much has changed over the past three s, but the dark and creasgly homophobic tim, Pansy Divisn’s si-spltg lyrics and balls-to-the-wall powerpop jams are clearly still as need as ever.