The last century of LGBTQ+ history, two beams out of the prism

August 20, 2022 1:06 PM

100 Years Of LGBT+ Music: From Ma Rainey To Lil Nas X [42m58s] comes from YouTube's AreTheyGay and, while it curiously skips over the 80s Europop gay invasion, draws a line from the early 1900s to today. Meanwhile, Kat Rowe has Terror And Vice: LA's Painful Gay History [35m], which covers the same time period, but has much more to do with the direct effect of the dominant culture on the queer underclass.

Bonus, the AreTheyGay video The End Of Rainbow Capitalism, which takes an hour to examine gay representation in media and the increasingly corporate presence of "gay culture" and how maybe, just maybe, we are entering an era when all this becomes moot, with Our Flag Means Death as the springboard.

posted by hippybear (5 comments total)

First, I did not know about Wendy Carlos, and was happy to learn about her, in that first video by the adorable latino queer.

Second, I appreciate that he talked about Women's Music. Most histories of queer music focus on the stars who were popular in the mainstream, but the Women's Music movement was huge and diverse. Very few mention the handful of gay performers, like Romanovsky and Phillips, who also did openly and explicitly gay music outside the mainstream.
posted by Well I never at 3:27 PM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Autocorrect ate the name of the second video's creator. That should be Kaz Rowe.
posted by hippybear at 4:20 PM on August 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

First, I did not know about Wendy Carlos...

I suddenly feel, not just old, but incredibly ancient. OTOH, it’s cool to see someone discovering her, both for her story and her music.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:34 AM on August 21, 2022 [4 favorites]

I suddenly feel, not just old, but incredibly ancient. OTOH, it’s cool to see someone discovering her, both for her story and her music.'

I knew about her in the sense I am familiar with Switched-On Bach—-I was born in 65. I didn't know she was trans, though looking at her website yesterday, it seems like she doesn't necessarily love that language or want to talk about it, which is her right.

I said on Facebook yesterday:

Today I learned that Wendy Carlos, the pioneering synthesizer musician behind Switched-On Bach, and a collaborator with Bob Moog in creating his first synthesizers, is a AMAB human who began living full-time in her true identity as a woman in about 1968. You youngers might not be familiar with Switched-On Bach, an electronic interpretation of Bach's music, but it came out in 1968 and was pretty culturally salient throughout my youth.

Googling after reading this tidbit, I learned that she also composed the scores for Tron (both the original and the sequel), A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining. I never thought I'd watch Tron (bad and boring) or A Clockwork Orange (disturbing!) again, but I might have to just to appreciate her.

I know a fuckton about queer and trans history, as well as Black history (Wendy Carlos is white, but the video where I learned about her trans identity started by talking about the many Black, queer performers who pioneered R&B, rock music, and drag/camp culture in the early 20th century) but I am always finding out that someone else is gay, bisexual, trans, or some combination thereof. There are so, so many of us.

Straight people, I respect your creativity and artistic gifts. But queer and trans people, especially Black queer people, have been drivers of innovation in music, art, dance, and culture for a long, long time.

When I was a baby dyke, people would show up to Pride events sometimes—I mean, show up to participate and march—with signs that said things like, "It's not a choice! Would I have chosen this hell if it were?"

I mean, things were pretty shitty back then.

But I've always been proud to be a part of that community and that history. It's not a choice, but I'd have chosen it in a heartbeat. It's cost me a lot, being queer (Hi there! I was disowned by my biofam!). But it has given me so much more.

Thank you, Wendy Carlos. I have so much respect for people like her who knew themselves so well that they could live their truth even before there was an organized movement and community of support. I could not have done it.

Sorry to have made you feel ancient, Thorzdad. You're not that much older than me. We are in the prime of our lives, amirite? With so much to look back on, and so much to look forward to.
posted by Well I never at 6:45 AM on August 21, 2022 [3 favorites]

Well, queer people have history issues because of the massive zones of death. It’s not surprising when younger people are too busy staying alive to learn from elders….
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:30 PM on August 21, 2022