Music The Top 50 Gay Albums of All Time
It’s a weakness: I will pay attention to any and all music lists, no matter how arbitrary or pointless or stupid. So imagine my glee at the new list compiled by UK gay mag Attitude, ranking the Top 50 Gay Albums of All Time.
As far as arbitrary lists, this one’s a corker, drawing on some mysterious combination of nominations from celebrities (Boy George casts his vote for #10! Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears supports #25!) and the general gay sentiment of Attitude’s editors. A lot of the press coverage of the list focuses on the inclusion of the Beatles’ Please Please Me (“George and Paul singing into one microphone, their cheeks touching, was the gayest thing we’d ever seen,” says former Wham! manager Simon Napier-Bell), and there are a couple other such vaguely-gay acts in the rankings (Belle and Sebastian at #48! Kate Bush at #16!).
But mostly, it’s gay, gay, GAY, with the top spot taken, most righteously, by the Scissor Sisters, with Morrissey coming in at a respectable #3.
As for the glaring omissions: No Hedwig? No Erasure?!
As for subtler omissions: No Notorious BIG? Call me crazy, but that creepy way Puffy has of whisper-repeating every other line of Biggie’s has always seemed super gay to me…
Full gay list after the jump.
50. Divine - Jungle Jezebel
49. Girls Aloud - What Will The Neighbours Say?
48. Belle And Sebastian - Tigermilk
47. Tom Stephan - Drag Addict
46. Tori Amos - From The Choirgirl Motel
45. Jobriath - Jobriath
44. Dionne Warwick - Sings The Bacharach & David Songbook
43. The Associates - Sulk
42. KD Lang - Ingenue
41. Deee-Lite - World Clique
40. Malcolm McLaren - Waltz Darling
39. A Chorus Line - OST
38. Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis
37. Christina Aguilera - Stripped
36. Larry Levan - Live At Paradise Garage
35. Dead Or Alive - Nude
34. Diana Ross - Diana
33. Freddie Mercury & Monserrat Caballe - Barcelona
32. Lil' Kim - Hardcore
31. Cher - Believe
30. The Beatles - Please Please Me
29. Bananarama - Wow!
28. Barbra Streisand - Guilty
27. Suede - Suede
26. Steps - Step One
25. Prince - Controversy
24. Klaus Nomi - Klaus Nomi
23. Jesus Loves You - The Martyr Mantras
22. Bette Midler - The Divine Miss M
21. Lou Reed - Transformer
20. Bronski Beat - The Age Of Consent
19. Sylvester - Step II
18. Rufus Wainwright - Want One
17. Judy Garland - Judy At Carnegie Hall
16. Kate Bush - Lionheart
15. Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
14. Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
13. Take That - Take That And Party
12. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
11. Pet Shop Boys - Introspective
10. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World
09. Donna Summer - Bad Girls
08. Antony & The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
07. Madonna - Erotica
06. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome
05. George Michael - Older
04. Kylie Minogue - Light Years
03. Morrissey - Vauxhall & I
02. Abba - Arrival
01. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
What? No Olivia Newton-John? I would nominate her TOTALLY HOT album to be on the list somewhere.