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.

How Music Gave Gay People a Voice

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

We’ve heard a lot of talk through our lives about how people and certain aspects of culture have helped change perceptions of gay people. From films such as Cabaret and Brokeback Mountain to people like Antony Grey and Peter Tatchell, and of course there are the Stonewall riots.

But one thing that has been a constant throughout the fight for equality is the sound of music, and I don’t mean the Julie Andrews film. Music is a way of connecting people from a broad range of social backgrounds as it expresses pain, emotions, determination and everything else in between and has certainly given many gay men and women across the world a voice over the years. Not only that but many of the artists have helped give us representation in the public eye for quite some time now.

Before and up to the mid 1960s it would have been pretty hard to release a record such as Lady Gaga’s‘Born This Way.’ During this period, many gay men attached themselves to songs such as ‘Over the Rainbow’ and ‘The Man That Got Away’ by Judy Garland, who is often considered a gay icon due to her struggles, which many gay men identified with. But back in the 1960s there was a counterculture big enough to see the release of some records that are now seen as gay. The book From the Closet to the Charts: Queer Noises 1961 – 1978 documents this and discusses a number of records such as ‘The Shower Song (I’m So Wet)’ that would have apparently embarrassed the Village People, and even an openly gay record label called Camp, which saw the release of 10 singles and two albums.

Music itself hasn’t always been as ‘straight’ as many would think. Openly straight songs about men and women falling in love dominated the charts back then, but you have to remember that during 1960s America black people had their own separate music charts. The mainstream industry was very straight and white then; some people didn’t even like the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.

However, as music progressed into the 70s and 80s it got a little more ‘queer’. We saw the birth of disco and glam-rock; filled with sparkles, platform shoes, big hair and men in make-up, and we saw gay men hit the charts and gay songs do very very well.

One of the most well-known and arguably most pivotal moments of the 1970s was David Bowie’s ‘I’m Gay’ interview in Melody Maker, which finally saw music come out, so to speak. However, years later Bowie stated that there was a backlash in America, but there’s frequently some kind of resistance over there. You only have to look at the controversy Adam Lambert caused during the 2009 American Music Awards – where he kissed a man on stage, prompting ABC (the American television network that aired the awards) to receive over 1,500 complaints and cancel Lambert’s performance on Good Morning America – to see just how shocking something like this would have been in the 1970s. Still, we progressed and music helped in our fight. Hits like ‘Y.M.C.A’ proved popular across the world, despite the majority of the straight population not realising that the song was referencing the YMCA’s reputation as a gay hook-up and cruising spot. Similarly, Sylvester burst onto the scene with ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’. With a black, gay drag queen now lighting up the charts we can see just how far music had progressed, and the exposure Sylvester gained for gay people should never be overlooked.

It’s no doubt that Sylvester helped inspire a barrage of gender bending stars of the 1980s. As the MTV generation was born, singers like Boy George, Steve Strange, Pete Burns and in many ways Annie Lennox – whose androgyny blurred the lines of what it was to be male and female – burst into the mainstream with their highly popular music videos showcasing a new non-traditional image for all to see. The decade saw gay people get a huge voice through music as Frankie told everyone to relax and Bronski Beat let the small town boys know they knew exactly how they felt. The 1980s saw the thumping sounds of so called ‘gay music’ burst onto the scene and dominate the charts the world over; I can just imagine the faces of many a bigot flicking on their TV sets to see Divine singing ‘You Think You’re a Man.’

Despite the negativity of the AIDS crisis, gay men and women were still fighting hard throughout the 90s, but not without a little help from the power of song. As Melissa Etheridge came out and Brian Molko and Billie Joe Armstrong announced their bisexuality, the queen of pop Madonna was bringing ‘voguing’ into the mainstream straight out of the gay clubs of New York. Not only that but she also released the very provocative ‘Justify My Love’ video featuring gay men. Despite the fact it was banned on MTV it was still out there and managed to become a huge hit. But one of the most significant parts of the 1990s, in terms of LGBT visibility and music, came from the overly camp Eurovision. Out were the days of Cliff Richard and Sandy Shaw with their wholesome images and in was Dana International, the transsexual Israeli pop singer and winner of the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest. By now we had moved a long way in terms of freedom and rights and music had progressed and indeed helped with it, but this was only the beginning.

As we swung into the 2000s gay people were out and proud; gone was section 28, in America Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was finally repealed in September 2011 and gay marriage has been a hot topic around the world for many years. In terms of music, we saw t.A.T.u hit number one on the charts, despite using lesbianism as an obvious marketing ploy, and Madonna kiss Britney Spears at the 2003 VMA Awards, in one of the most memorable moments in music history. By now it wasn’t just gay men making a splash, lesbians were also edging into the mainstream despite only having a few moments previously in terms of music. With acts like Will Young selling millions of records, and gay men and women popping up in the finals of massively successful programmes like The X Factor, it became apparent that gay musicians were now firmly a fixture on the charts.

We also witnessed many anthemic songs appear in the last 10 years – ‘Beautiful’, ‘Firework’, ‘Standing in the Way of Control’, ‘Born This Way’ – and gay men and women were being featured in music videos more frequently too (just watch Kylie Minogue’s ‘All The Lovers’ below). It’s clear to see just how music has helped shape the way gay men and women are viewed, not to mention giving them a platform on which to be noticed.

From the days of being closeted and listening to Judy whilst a sub-culture was being born, to the openly gay pop stars and songs telling us to embrace ourselves and love who we are, we’ve come a long way in our fight for equality and music has undoubtedly played a prominent part in that.

The Pink Pound and the Music Industry

Originally published on www.vadamagazine.com

In today’s music industry many artists dominating the charts take time out to lend their voice to good causes. They may relate to problems such as world famine, body issues, war and lately even gay rights. This may seem like something truly commendable as famous individuals lend their name (and hundreds of thousands of twitter followers) to a cause in order to give it a greater voice. However, in relation to gay rights just how much of this advocacy is truly on behalf of those suffering and how much is for personal gain?

This may sound a little cynical to some who believe these stars are truly helping gay men and women across the world become more accepted, which to extent they are. However, whilst having a big name star promoting a cause is a guaranteed way to make a mark for it, for the star it is also a way of gaining yourself a loyal fan base that will stick by you. The audience think you ‘get them’. The cynicism enters when thinking about gay men and women as the power of the pink pound and its appeal to PR executives everywhere is remarkable. Leading mostly metropolitan lives and statistically freer from the financial black-hole of childrearing, our demographic are often thought to have more disposable income. For many this is mostly true.

When you think about gay rights advocacy and celebrities today, one of the biggest stars that come to the forefront of most people’s minds is Lady Gaga. Now I am by no means accusing her of not believing in equality for everyone, in fact she has done quite a lot over the last few years to help LGBT advancement, but you cannot help but feel there is a slight marketing push behind it.

After watching her concert on DVD you are left with the feeling that the chanting about gay rights is a little too much overkill. Sometimes it feels as though she is trying too hard to ensure that those in the audience who are gay know that she loves them. Also when you listen to her album Born This Way, the running theme of gay rights throughout it is incredibly obvious, so much so that it starts to annoy you. It has to be said that the title song of the album was a brilliant way to gain exposure across the world for gay rights (I know it advocated rights and equality for everyone but the message for the LGBT community was much stronger), but also a great way to guarantee gay men and women would buy the single and the album and that it would be played as a gay anthem for years to come.

Now I do not want this to sound like I am ripping into Lady Gaga, after all she wouldn’t be the first star to have a large gay following, although she seems to be one of the first to specifically target them. That said her predecessor Madonna did this but in a much subtler way.

‘Vogue’ was a massive hit worldwide back in 1990 and it is well known now that voguing was very popular on the New York gay scene. Madonna helped bring this facet of gay subculture into the mainstream. However, back then it would have been much harder to publicly back LGBT people through song in the way Gaga has today due to widespread homophobia, the legacy of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 80s and the fact that as a community, equality was still a long way away in many more countries than it is today.

So when you look at it that way pandering to a gay audience has been going on for some time, whether it has been obvious or not. Rewind to the 50s and 60s when the biggest gay icon of them all Judy Garland was selling out concerts all across the world that were known to be frequented quite prominently by gay men. However, back then there was no marketing or pandering to gays and as Judy quipped when asked about her gay following, “I couldn’t care less. I sing to people.“ I’m quite sure that if being gay wasn’t the crime it was back then, some marketing savvy individual would have had her shouting out for gay rights across the globe.

So maybe it’s not the stars, maybe it is the marketing companies and their strategic soapboxing of stars that grinds my gears. By advocating a certain fight for equality they tap into a lucrative market in an attempt to exploit it for all they can. After all, stars such as Madonna and Lady Gaga just want to sing, entertain, love their fans (so they say) and be appreciated. As most people know, companies involved in marketing, advertising and PR are out for one thing and one thing only: Money.

So yes maybe stars are pandering to the capital of the pink pound, but is it because the teams behind them are exploiting them, and in turn exploit the pockets of fans across the world? I’ll let you think about that one.

Against Gaga

Originally published on www.differentscene.co.uk

Unless you’ve been living underneath a rock or in a small cave for the last three years then you’ve definitely endured the bid for world domination by one miss Lady Gaga. She has enjoyed huge success with sell out tours, platinum records galore and has every gay within a 50 mile radius of her falling to the ground in a Gaga induced mess. But doesn’t she just get on your nerves?

Now I, like most, am guilty of being drawn in by the perfectly crafted pop songs she’s launched over the past few years, and I am most definitely guilty of trying to emulate the Born This Way dance (that kind of resembles a chicken jumping over hot coals) on a drunken night out.

But amongst this plethora of songs, dance routines and bat shit crazy outfits you have to admit that she is quite possibly one of the most annoying people to hit the pop charts in recent years. Originality seems to be one of the main words that follows Gaga around, and this association is one thing that really annoys me about her, so lets look at this shall we? First of all lets just get something out of the way, Madonna did it first and Madonna did it better, way better!! The way she has crafted her huge theatre-esque stage shows are a complete rip off of what Madonna started way back in 1990 with the Blonde Ambition tour, the way that she uses sex and sexuality and juxtaposes it with religious themes was something the Queen of Pop herself started way back in the 1980s before Gaga was even born, does anyone recall the Like A Prayer video, the one that was almost banned by MTV? Yeah thought so. Well without this we wouldn’t have Lady Gaga because to be perfectly honest nothing that she has come up with has been totally original it has all been rehashed from someone who did it years before.To be honest we could probably detect where her career is going next by just looking at what Madonna did next.

Her original fashion isn’t even original. Yes I know she has worn a number of shocking outfits, the meat dress is the first that springs to mind and yes in her defence this was very original, but the attempt to shock with an outfit wasn’t. She recently dressed as a man for the MTV awards something else that was done back in the 1980s by Annie Lennox and then again a few years later by Cher, and I believe Madonna did something along the same lines in her 1989 music video for Express Yourself. Another musical icon she has ripped off is musical psycho Grace Jones, who even denied Gaga the chance of a duet due to her ‘copying her style’ you only have to look at photos on Google to see where she’s coming from.

Now I can’t spend forever looking at how Lady Gaga’s originality is anything but original, otherwise I would probably be here for a pretty long time, and I mean pretty long. So I’m going to look at one more thing about her that really annoys me, her self riotousness, lets be honest she pretty much thinks she’s god, and why wouldn’t she with everyone putting her on a pedestal and bowing down at everything she does. The woman could probably release an album filled with noises her body makes while she sleeps and it would probably sell a million copies, but I digress.

The woman is catering for the gay market, which is good there’s nothing wrong with that, look at Cher she’s done pretty well out of it. But Gaga has aimed everything towards gay fans, almost pigeon holing herself as a gay artist but to be perfectly honest this just appears to be some form of cleverly crafted PR, because if she appeals to the gays in every way possible, whether it be musically or politically, she’s tapped into an extremely lucrative market with quite a lot of disposable income who will buy her records. She does deserve a round of applause for that in all fairness.

But at the end of the day, when you watch her on TV or a video of her concert you just want to grab her, slap her and tell her that this isn’t a political rally, we don’t care about what you have to say, just shut up and do your job which is singing. This is one of the reasons I am yet to see her live, although I would probably enjoy two hours of listening to her music performed live I would have to resist the temptation to crash the stage and slap her when she decided to give some speech to the audience mid way through a song. It’s almost like she thinks she’s is some modern day Martin Luther King JR, Mother Theresa or even Jesus.

Yes I do love me some Gaga, but I just wish the woman would disappear for a while and come back with her own look and just sing and perform, instead of just rehashing someone else’s career whether it be a political career she’s rehashing or a pop career.