Gay anthems aren’t all sparkles and belting

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

The gay anthem is something that has become synonymous with the gay community over the last couple of decades. From ‘Over the Rainbow’ to ‘I’m Coming Out’, all the way through to ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Born This Way’, sung by Judy Garland, Diana Ross, Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga respectively; and that’s only a few songs and singers off the top of my head.

There are plenty more where they came from as the gay anthem can date back to as early as the 1920s with ‘The Lavender Song (Das Lila Lied).’ The song is often thought to be one of the very first gay anthems as it was produced during a brief moment in time when the quality of life for gay men and lesbians was improved in the German Weimar Republic, and was written after the first international conference of sexual reform. Even ‘Over the Rainbow’ is more than 70 years old, and when it comes to listing gay anthems today we can usually see the formula used to create it: a bit of struggle, a dash of hardship and the mandatory big voice to belt it out.

However, the one thing I have noticed when it comes to the lists of gay anthems is that they are always rather mainstream and obvious choices. These lists tend to contain a number of artists closely associated with the gay community in one way or another. It’s not unusual to see gay anthems being listed as everything in the back catalogue of artists like Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Barbra Streisand, which in all honesty is a little limiting. After all, there are plenty of songs from other genres, besides disco and Broadway show tunes, that contain songs that can be viewed as gay anthems and in fact convey a message that many of these often-recognised anthems do.

There are two very specific songs that spring to mind from the rock genre, which may surprise you because it isn’t an obvious place to look for a ‘gay anthem’. The first of these songs is ‘Minority’ by Green Day. The song unashamedly shouts out about wanting to be the minority and not, as they put it, ‘the moral majority’. You can see that this song is giving a voice to all those people who are persecuted because they aren’t the white, straight, middle class American suburban family that are married with two children and a white picket fence. In a way, this song, much like Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way‘, is giving a voice to anyone and is a song about rights and embracing who you are. However, as a rock song it doesn’t really make the standard lists which are filled with big voice divas belting their way through four minutes of self-discovery.

The second song that stands out is ‘Standing in the Way of Control’ by American rock group Gossip. The song itself was written as a response to the denial of gay marriage in America, something that the gay community across much of the world can understand. Despite receiving considerable chart success here in the UK thanks in part to its use in the promotional advert for teen drama Skins, and being heavily considered as an alternative indie floor-filler, it is often overlooked for what it is actually about – equal rights, which automatically puts it in the alternative gay anthem category. Furthermore, a lesbian with a big voice sang it and, even though Beth Ditto isn’t your conventional diva, that surely gives it enough credit to be a gay anthem.

There are many more songs by various artists that could also be included on this list of alternative gay anthems. Just listen to a handful of songs by Placebo whose songs were used throughout Queer as Folk USA due to their subject matter, specifically ‘Taste in Men’. Then there are artists such as Peaches, whose gender-bending stage antics and controversial lyrics about sex and sexuality automatically put her high on the ‘gay icons’ list. But songs such as ‘I U She‘ convey a message that, although we are forced into boxes, it is ultimately ourselves who choose how and who we have sex with, something that many in the gay community know about. Clearly there are more songs out there other than Broadway tunes that give gay equality a voice, and in many cases they have far more substance to them than those by the big voiced divas.

Even though stereotypically rock and indie music aren’t considered to be favourite genres of gay people, it certainly has many songs that the gay population can relate to.

Review: Holopaw - Academy Songs Volume 1

Originally published on www.soundblab.com

Holopaw isn't a name that springs into my mind when I start thinking of bands that aren't tearing up the charts. In fact, until I reviewed this album I'd never heard of the band, yet I was intrigued by them due to the description of their sound. Blending as a mixture of indie-rock, country and folk together into 40 minutes worth of songs, Holopaw have created a great alternative soundtrack for your summer, festival travels and beach day parties with their fourth album, Academy Songs Volume 1.

Sounding a little like the alternative pop group Fun. but without all the annoyance and whining that comes with them, the band recorded this album at the beach, and you get a real feel of that while listening to the record as they combine a mixture of ethereal, haunting and earthy sounding songs. One thing I like is the mix of songs, by which I mean that some concentrated on the sweet and earthy yet powerful indie vocals of John Orth, which really made you feel something, whether it was sadness or delight. Others concentrated on the music, where guitar riffs and drumbeats took centre stage over the vocals.

In terms of songs, 'Golden Sparklers' and 'Infidels' are definite standout tracks with their varying mix of upbeat and down-key guitars and drums, and haunting yet surprisingly steady vocals. But the best track on the album has to be 'We Are the Virgin Snow', which is a blend of indie-folk and is a little depressing but also quite buoyant. In other words, it's quite a bipolar song as the haunting vocals and sadness which lies underneath blend well with the build up of drums and folk dancing-inspired music.

Towards the end of the album some of the songs do begin to sound a bit samey, as if they are blending into one. But don't let that deter you as the majority will make you want to dance around in a carefree child-of-the-60s way. Overall, this album is a great blend of songs you could listen to anywhere. Some do sound similar but what artist isn't guilty of that? It's just a shame, with bands such as Mumford & Sons doing so well, that this band hasn't broken into the mainstream yet. Hopefully we will hear more from them in the future.

New Article!

Its been a while since I last posted on here, but I have been busy writing away so I think it's time I started posting again!!!

Check out an article I wrote for DollyRox magazine on pages 30-33 here: DollyRox magazine issue 1

Review: CSS - La Liberacion

Originally posted on www.soundblab.com

Brazilian rock band CSS return with their third studio album La Liberacion. The album is an eclectic mix of musical styles clearlyinfluenced by electronica and alternative rock and overall it's a good effort, but it appears they may have stumbled into that difficult third album territory which most musicians become a victim to. Much of the album can be considered background music, as a number of the songs tend to blend into one another.

The album does make up for this background music flaw by mixing it up and not having every track brimming to top with electronic beats. They've alternated the sounds, with the opening tracks being more influenced by the beats and thuds of a club before moving into more alternative rock orientated tracks as the album progresses, still throwing in the odd electronic beat in here and there for good measure.

Although the album does have a tendency to go on a bit and drone into the background there are a number of stand out tracks that should get fans excited. These come in the form of the first single from the album, 'Hits Me Like a Rock' which features vocals from Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie and a good beat. The exchange of words between the band's lead singer Lovefoxxx and Gillespie almost sounds as though the song has a slight battle going on, which overall works and makes for a good first release from the album.

'City Girl', another fine track, might actually do quite well if released as a single, due to the Kesha-esque sound to it. Yes I know it's strange that I've just compared CSS to Kesha, but on this song it sounds as though there is a huge influence from the pop train-wreck, but I don't know how fans will respond to this. 'Echo of Love' features a chant-style chorus. True to the song it sounds like an echo and is one of the better alternative rock influenced tracks. Sounds pretty good so far but after the Portuguese sung 'La Liberacion' - probably one of my favourite tracks even though I can't speak the language - the album goes a bit down-hill as the remainder of the tracks all blend into one, and you get that background boring sound. Luckily the final two tracks, the XX sounding 'Red Alert' with its almost spoken-word vocal and 'Fuck Everything' with its rocky sound and aggressive vocals really come through to save the album. But will some of the fans stick around to hear this far?

Overall, the album is good in parts and has a few stand-out tracks, but with around five or six great tracks out of 11, it doesn't really bode well for the band. The best thing they can do now is to hit the road and try and gain some support for the album, because performed live with the interaction of a crowd it may actually sound better.