Entertainment For Lively Minds
The gay 80s
Posted by Mr Fade on 22 February 2010 - 2:24pm.
Mark Almond, Boy George, Andy Bell, Jimi Somerville, Elton, Limahl, Frankie (Holly and Paul), George Micheal, Pet Shop Boys...the 80s were dominated by gay popstars. Most of them household names who enjoyed huge success. What happened? The independent scene was spearheaded by REM in the states and The Smiths here - with lead singers a far cry from the current laddish indie scene. Now I see the coming NME awards features a 'hottest female' category!
Things have really changed. Haven't they?
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Did you mean...
Mark-Almond
or Marc Almond?
(I know the answer, but couldn't resist being a smartarse...)
Heh!
I'm surprised at my error there and it's too late to edit. Still, I had never got to gaze at the wonder of Mark-Almond with a K before so it was worth it.
Weren't a fair few of 'em on the 'dl' during the 80s?
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Certainly have changed
Andy Bell ended up in Oasis. Who'd of thought it?
Is Mika gay?
I honestly don't know.
There simply aren't really very many male pop stars around. Except hip-hop artists and members of boy bands, who aren't allowed to be gay even if they are.
I don't think it's out of any intolerance of gay men on the public's behalf. Lots of mainstream entertainers are gay. Maybe being gay just isn't seen as a particularly big deal anymore, a fascinatingly exotic point-of-difference which it once was when it was less tolerated or less 'normal' than it is now.
If a pop star came along now making a big deal of being gay (not that all of those cited did, by any means) I think the public response would be "yes... and? ... so what?"
I think we've moved on from the days of 'gay pop star' to 'pop stars who happen to be gay" (Will Young is a good example) which is a positive thing isn't it?
Now public interest in this area...
has moved on to sports stars.
Maybe, just maybe, one day people won't give a toss about whether someone is gay or straight or asexual. But sadly I don't think I'll live to see it.
Where are the people who give a toss, I wonder?
I don't know any, and I know, ooh, dozens of people...
The big battles..
..have been won, surely? There's equality on the age of consent, no more Clause 28 and the introduction of Civil Partnerships. I don't think sexuality is anything like the big deal it was in the 80's and that we've seen a real cultural change during the last 30 years.
I thought two things as I pressed 'post comment'
1. Someone would pretend to confuse Andy Bell Oasis with Andy Bell Erasure.
2. Someone would point out Mika and The Scissor Sisters.
I forgot about Will Young actually. And, now I think about it, Rufus Wainwright.
For what it's worth I don't think it's true that things have moved on so much now nobody's bothered if you're straight or gay.
Personally, I think post-Oasis Indie music has been 'laddified'. Dance music has been very heavily influenced by hip-hop/rap in its maleness too.
I think the 80s were more progressive myself. Obviously on my own here!
I quite agree
HAVING been too long an archetypal laddish guitar music snob brought up in 80s, I have recently (thanks to the GLW's once derided collection) listened to lots of Erasure, Marc Almond and other artists listed above.
While loading up an iPod I bought her, I was struck not only by how much a) the music has lasted and b) just how much of it is being robbed wholesale by current artists like Chew Lips and The Mary Onettes on the last but one Now Hear This! CD with this magazine.
I don't think Erasure and Marc Almond have ever been given the credit that they deserve.
I don't particularly care about the sexuality of the artists now, but do think that it lurked in my dismissal of them back when I was less enlightened and less secure in myself.
cameo -word up
a great track
can't link to youtube at the mo'