Comments on: Comments on 18119

Post number 18119

kirkaracha — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 09:56:59 -0800

Over the rainbow and onto the charts Creative loafing counts down the Gay Top 40. [via What Do I Know]

By: Tin Man

Tin Man — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:01:46 -0800

Okay, this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I see the usual suspects are there -- I Will Survive, Vogue, Believe, etc. But it's kind of annoying. I'm wondering if I'm the only gay man who's not a big dance music fan.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:06:35 -0800

I have to agree with Tin Man. I mean, YMCA at # 7? Please.

By: whatnot

whatnot — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:26:14 -0800

They forgot "It's My Life" by Talk Talk.

By: dydecker

dydecker — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:32:24 -0800

What a terrible bunch of songs.

By: Skot

Skot — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:32:30 -0800

All "best of" lists are inherently arbitrary, but this list somehow seems even more arbitrary than usual. Every gay friend of mine, incidentally, rightly loathes Cher's "Believe."

By: evanizer

evanizer — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:38:51 -0800

Silly fun, but I loathe most of those songs. I'm pretty much a failure as an 'out and proud' gay man, preferring to bliss out at home to Bach's Goldberg Variations or a disc full of Two-part Inventions. I think what is identified as 'gay culture' is actually 'nightlife culture' and, since nightlife gives me hives, who am I to judge? Besides, the world's gayest piece of music is Ravel's Daphnis And Chloë.

By: TuffAustin

TuffAustin — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 10:41:21 -0800

Careful Skot - you're setting yourself up to be flame-bait for Wolfdaddy. And Tin Man is pretty observant, this list leaves out Ty Herndon, the county heartthrob caught in a tea room, who had songs titled "Don't tell Mama" and "Living in a Moment". The nod to Tchaikovsky was nice though.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:03:03 -0800

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (heh) I'd like to include The Soundtrack to "Newsies"

By: spilon

spilon — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:15:56 -0800

What's so gay about Right Said Fred?

By: websavvy

websavvy — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:17:03 -0800

I'm straight, and live in the gayest part of Toronto. This weekend, I'll be fully closeted, hiding with my clothes from the onslaught of truly awful music at Toronto's Gay Pride celebration.

By: grum@work

grum@work — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:25:33 -0800

I'm a straight man and I'm ashamed to admit that I enjoy a bunch of those songs on that list. Not because they are "gay" songs, but because they are just bad songs (except for "Smalltown Boy", "1812 Overture" and "Streets of Philadelphia"). But that doesn't mean I don't privately enjoy singing/humming along to "It's Raining Men" or "A Little Respect". Boogie!

By: grrarrgh00

grrarrgh00 — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:26:29 -0800

OK, so if they're going to choose a random song by Cole Porter, why not "You're the Top," which has much more suggestive gay subtext than anything else in his repertoire, I think. :)

By: RJ Reynolds

RJ Reynolds — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:32:02 -0800

...you're setting yourself up to be flame-bait for Wolfdaddy. Sounds hot! Pictures please! Oh yeah, and umm without Tribe 8, Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Imperial Teen, The Toilet Boys, and Robin Black, among many others, let us all remember that disco sucks dog dick for quarters. pardon my french

By: evanizer

evanizer — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:36:16 -0800

Funny, but I had you pegged as a disco bunny, RJ. Go figure.

By: spilon

spilon — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:41:24 -0800

What's so gay about Right Said Fred?

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:57:10 -0800

Argh-- Q just had a top 5 gay anthems from Boy George, but I can't find it online. The only interesting choice was a Buju Banton anti-gay song. The idea being the backlash from the song made Banton a better person.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 12:01:31 -0800

I would think Chances Are and Sally Go Round The Roses should have made the list.

By: internal

internal — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 12:21:15 -0800

Here's the car for you to drive whilst listening to these songs. Anyone ever heard the thing about Losing my Religion being about coming out? New one to me...

By: y2karl

y2karl — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 12:57:49 -0800

disco sucks dog dick for quarters. You are so wrong. Pardon my French but Va bouffer ta merde, va te faire voir!

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 13:17:55 -0800

Careful Skot - you're setting yourself up to be flame-bait for Wolfdaddy Ooo, I just can't resist a little vanity. However Skot's comment isn't very tempting, but that's only because I'm old enough to have seen Sonny and Cher in concert (I was eight, but still). This: "What's so gay about Right Said Fred?", however, is a juicy morsel asked twice in seeming innocence that I simply. Must. Address. spilon, what's so gay about Right Said Fred? This is what's so gay about Right Said Fred. I trust you see what I mean. :) Oh, and uh, RJ, sweetie pie? I'm more effeminate than you! :-D As for what I'd add to that so-called Gay Top 40. Let's not even go there. Tammy Wynette.

By: Skot

Skot — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 13:22:31 -0800

Gee, and I had some great ideas for photos too. *Goes home* (PS--The "Losing My Religion" took me aback as well.)

By: dnash

dnash — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:15:42 -0800

I think the only connection "Losing My Religion" has with being gay is that Michael Stipe has come out of the closet. Similarly I think the only connection "Streets of Philadelphia" has with gay-dom is that it was in that oh-so-earnest movie where Tom Hanks gave yet another oh-so-earnest oscar winning performance as an AIDS patient. Not that it's a bad song - it is a very good song, it's just nowhere near the gay top 10. The big, huge, glaring, stupid omission: Sister Sledge's "We Are Family."

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:28:21 -0800

23 of those 40 are in my MP3 collection right now. I wonder if I know something I haven't told me?

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:30:23 -0800

Congrats, Crash! You're a FauxMo.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 14:44:50 -0800

Cool. Do I get a parking placard?

By: evanizer

evanizer — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 15:04:29 -0800

Didn't you both propose to me at one time or another? I seem to have that effect on married men. When you both decide to switch over, gimme a call. We can listen to "Newsies".

By: RJ Reynolds

RJ Reynolds — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 15:18:15 -0800

Funny, but I had you pegged as a disco bunny, RJ. Go figure. /me freaks out, sticks safety pin in nose, turns up yeah yeah yeahs ep, window-dresses bunker to hide from gay pride onslaught. We have to have these ridiculous gay threads at least once a month. Muy entertaining Metafilter break. I'm butchly resisting Wolfdaddy's bait... for now.

By: chuq

chuq — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 15:28:57 -0800

But it's kind of annoying. I'm wondering if I'm the only gay man who's not a big dance music fan. No, you're not. Not only am I "not a big dance music fan", I despise 99.999% of what's played in gay dance clubs. It's painful. I like rock (indie/alternative especially), classical, trad jazz, blues, good roots country and alt.country, roots/trad music of almost any variety, and lots of truly danceable music, from African pop to down and dirty blues to zydeco to the Grateful Dead. I don't like Madonna, or ABBA, or the Pet Shop Boys, or Frankie Goes to Hollywood, or the Weather Girls. I also find the concept of one's musical taste being keyed in to one's sexuality to be quite bizarre (but that's just me). I guess I'm a bit of an odd man out, musically. Sigh.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 15:46:41 -0800

My tastes run toward punk, showtunes, queercore and country-western so, chuq, I see your "odd" and raise you one. ;-)

By: emptyage

emptyage — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 16:11:47 -0800

dnash, etc: I think you can explain "Losing my Religion" by the fact that it's an Atlanta pub, and you can't mention music in Georgia without discussing REM. But I was floored to see how many out artists come from the Peach state. And hey! Where's Bob Mould?

By: Su

Su — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 16:38:30 -0800

Hrm. I've got more of these than I expected(and I think I missed a few), but I'm not sure they count: Relax - Kevorkian Death Cycle Losing My Religion - Gregorian Justify My Love - Frontline Assembly or Sleep Chamber Smalltown Boy - Plastic Noise Experience Dancing Queen/Ballroom Blitz - Black Sweden Vogue - Astralasia

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 16:44:52 -0800

11. "Smalltown Boy," Bronski Beat -- This song perfectly chronicled the journey of a young gay man coming out and leaving home How about "Strange Town" by The Jam? But I was floored to see how many out artists come from the Peach state. Some of the artists (R.E.M., B-52s) are from there because of the University of Georgia.

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 16:54:49 -0800

We could probably do this forever, but-- Joan Jett! "I don't give a #@&*^% about my bad reputation!" Yeah. She's out now too, I understand...

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 16:59:10 -0800

"She's out now too, I understand..." Sure, destroy another of my adolescent fantasies.

By: patricking

patricking — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 17:10:24 -0800

joan jett: not necessarily a dyke. fantasize onward.

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 19:13:35 -0800

Sure, destroy another of my adolescent fantasies. Ah, but it depends on whose adolescence we are talking about here, no? Heh. And patricking, I read that entire article, and the evidence seems pretty straightforward: the only thing missing is her signed and sealed coming out statement. As far as everything else goes, all indications look clear--I mean, season's tickets for the WNBA! What could be more overt... So I claim priority fantasizing rights.

By: jacobm

jacobm — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 20:20:47 -0800

jokeefe: if a woman buying season tickets to the WNBA is sufficient proof that she's a lesbian, what does that say about all the beer-bellied family guys with season tickets to the regular NBA? Umm ... err ... never mind.

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 20:35:46 -0800

what does that say about all the beer-bellied family guys with season tickets to the regular NBA It means I am a very happy homewrecker ;-) not really. not really much

By: jacobm

jacobm — Fri, 28 Jun 2002 20:46:05 -0800

It means I am a very happy homewrecker ;-) I don't know about you, but I can't imagine too many beer-bellied sports fans I know who'd be on my list if I decided to jump the fence. Brad Pitt, on the other hand ... or Tom Cruise ... now there's a dynamic duo that could turn me. Or the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt, to bring the thread ever-so-slowly back towards on-topicness.

By: kerplunk

kerplunk — Sat, 29 Jun 2002 01:40:46 -0800

I've never ever heard YMCA in a gay club, but maybe I don't get out enough.

By: yonderboy

yonderboy — Sat, 29 Jun 2002 04:43:54 -0800

How Soon Is Now?

By: evanizer

evanizer — Sat, 29 Jun 2002 05:48:19 -0800

Gayest.Song.Ever. [Real Player File, suspiciously via jonmc]

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Sat, 29 Jun 2002 15:18:18 -0800

Hel-LO! Wait a minute, I'm straight. But, I did grow up in Chelsea and Provincetown...

By: jonmc

jonmc — Sat, 29 Jun 2002 20:02:02 -0800

Gayest.Song.Ever. [Real Player File, suspiciously via jonmc] A note from lisa, aka mrs jonmc-- Ev, we dance to it every night... cheek-to-cheek. (Webcam, coming soon!) :)

By: mediareport

mediareport — Sun, 30 Jun 2002 01:43:32 -0800

No Smiths and no Pansy Division. That says it all, doesn't it?