Slog - Comments on The Top 50 Gay Albums of All Time http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album 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... Copyright 2007 Tue, 01 Aug 2006 10:30:25 -0800 Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:23:15 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by impossibleprince What? No Olivia Newton-John? I would nominate her TOTALLY HOT album to be on the list somewhere.

]]> impossibleprince http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439591 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439591 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 10:44:21 -0800 Comment by craig corrections
it's choirgirl HOTEL. tori would never a room from outdoors.

and as this country's most respected kate bush expert, I must say that her first album, the kick inside, is far gayer as a whole than lionheart even though the album has that cute little story about homolove "Kashka From Baghdad"

ok, I just looked up the lyrics and, considering the world right now, find the somg to be far more poignant than what she was going for in '78.

Kashka from Baghdad
Lives in sin, they say,
With another man,
But no one knows who.

Old friends never call there.
Some wonder if life's
Inside at all--
If there's life inside at all.

But we know the lady who rents the room.
She catches them calling a la lune.

At night
They're seen
Laughing,
Loving.
They know
The way
To be
Happy.

They never go for walks.
Maybe it's because
The moon's not bright enough.
There's light in love, you see.

I watch their shadows,
Tall and slim,
In the window opposite.
I long to be with them.

'Cause when all the alley-cats come out,
You can hear music from Kashka's house.

At night
They're seen
Laughing,
Loving.
They know
The way
To be
Happy.

"Watching every night.*
Don't you know they're seen?
Won't you let me laugh?
Let me in your love.


]]> craig http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439608 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439608 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:06:23 -0800 Comment by BostonBear Top 50 Gay Albums and Chrous Line is the only show album? And where is Ethel Merman's Disco Album?

]]> BostonBear http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439609 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439609 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:09:15 -0800 Comment by Lark Hawk Where are the Weather Girls? It's Raining Men is the gayest song evah!

]]> Lark Hawk http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439614 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439614 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:16:17 -0800 Comment by Nick No Hedwig! That's wrong. This list is very questionable. Entertaining none the less. Where are those Indigo Girls?

]]> Nick http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439621 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439621 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:22:50 -0800 Comment by I Heart Andy Bell
NO ERASURE???? That is a crime. Vince Clark was a genius and Andy Bell has one of the most beautiful voices of all time.

]]> I Heart Andy Bell http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439638 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439638 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:39:14 -0800 Comment by Cherry Jubilee Seriously, Erasure not being on that list is a serious oversight. They are one of the gayest acts EVER. Didn't anybody who made that list see any of their videos?

]]> Cherry Jubilee http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439642 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439642 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:43:47 -0800 Comment by Cherry Jubilee And obviously, I am very serious about my feelings on this matter. That's what I get for trying to do 10 things at once.

]]> Cherry Jubilee http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439643 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439643 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:45:15 -0800 Comment by Brian Man Who Sold the World ??? It is one of the heaviest Albums Bowie put out not very "gay". Whatever that is supposed to imply. But surely if you want to have a Bowie album with a "gay" theme or androgynous feel then it would be Ziggy Stardust.
"People Stared at the makeup on his face - Laughed at his long black hair, his animal grace"
But then I guess people always mix up the song "Man Who sold the world" with the Album of the same name.
Now where in this list is is a female point of view. This is all Male oriented and as usual representing everyone. What about some Susi Quatro, Marlene Detricht, Janis Joplin, Joan Jet. Also where is "Queen" in all of this, it is after all a UK mag that compiled the list?.

]]> Brian http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439662 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439662 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:03:39 -0800 Comment by Winky Divine is more gay then Andy Bell? SOMEONE has issues...

]]> Winky http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439689 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439689 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:39:46 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Bowie's wearing a dress on the original cover, which passes for gay in some circles I guess. Not in mine. The real gay Bowie is "John, I'm Only Dancing", but that's a single. If you had to pick a gay Bowie album, it would probably be Young Americans. The Weather Girls is a huge omission. In fact, this shouldn't be the gayest albums, it should be the gayest RECORDS, i.e., singles. You know, for dancing. Cher, for instance; nobody cares about the album, they want "Believe". I would also submit that almost all hair metal is sublimally gay, especially anything Axl Rose sings.

That's one hetero's POV.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439692 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439692 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:44:04 -0800 Comment by Bosco How about Jimmy Somerville's solo album where he covers Sylvester's "You Make me Feel (Mighty Real)." Now that's a gay album.

]]> Bosco http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439727 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439727 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 13:07:08 -0800 Comment by Slip Mahoney Leonard Bernstein's original score (especially "There's a Place for Us") to "West Side Story."

]]> Slip Mahoney http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439838 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439838 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 15:43:48 -0800 Comment by Smarm "UNPLUGGED" by Liberace:
.
Start the Day With a Smile, If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked a Cake, Rock and Roll Waltz, I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl That Married Dear Old Dad, You’re Just in Love, If You Wanna Be Happy, Hey Liberace, Don’t Ever Marry For Money, A Tisket a Tasket, Over the Rainbow, I’ll Be Seeing You, When Liberace Winks at Me.

]]> Smarm http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439850 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439850 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:00:01 -0800 Comment by impossibleprince I think this list is interesting, but I that it has more of UK spin on things. Perhaps Mr Schmader could come up with a US version.

There is a big difference between songs vs. albums. Too many single songs, actually. Some might include:

I Will Survive
We Are Family
Got To Be Real
I'm Coming Out
that RuPaul song?
numerous Madonna

]]> impossibleprince http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439874 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439874 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:07:58 -0800 Comment by Shrug No Magnetic Fields??

]]> Shrug http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439894 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439894 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 18:00:48 -0800 Comment by mjb Of course, this is silly. I can quibble with a lot, and I agree with a lot of the quibbles above. But to me there are two glaring omissions:

1) Depeche Mode's Violator. Enjoy the Silence and Policy of Truth were vital coming out messages for me...

and

2) Pink Floyd's The Wall. Perhaps less obvious, and maybe wishful thinking on my part - but I hear that album as a clarion call to come out. I listened to it at full volume, all the way through, the morning I came out to my family.

]]> mjb http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439902 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439902 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 18:41:23 -0800 Comment by dantsea No.

Not without Nina Hagen.

]]> dantsea http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439920 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c439920 Music Tue, 01 Aug 2006 19:51:02 -0800 Comment by BostonBear MJB - you reminded me that the song that triggered my first coming out to a friend was The Smiths "How Soon Is Now". Interesting what pushes that final step. I'll have to dig out The Wall and have another listen

]]> BostonBear http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c440020 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c440020 Music Wed, 02 Aug 2006 06:33:49 -0800 Comment by mjb BostonBear - The Wall can certainly be interpreted as other things, drug abuse, the isolating nature of rockstar fame, etc. But for me, the last lines of "The Trial", the climax of the album, ends with a judge declaring sentence on Mr. Floyd:

Since, my friend, you have revealed your deepest fear,
I sentence you to be exposed before your peers...
Tear Down the Wall!

(Followed by the crowd shanting "Tear Down the Wall" until it explodes)

then the final song, "Outside the Wall", quietly singing:

`All alone, or in twos,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.

And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.
...
OK, it's no Cher, but I like it.

]]> mjb http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c440112 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c440112 Music Wed, 02 Aug 2006 11:33:22 -0800 Comment by Slip Mahoney As far as singles, don't forget "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow and his spangled covered body suit.

]]> Slip Mahoney http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c440215 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c440215 Music Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:30:35 -0800 Comment by sujit no way! this is just so wrong. Where is Depeche Mode's "Speak and Spell"? Also, Talk Talk's first album should be there. Also, where the hell are The Smiths? ALL of their albums should be included, EVERY ONE. Roxy Music's Avalon should be there somewhere. What are the people who made this list listening to. I bet they prance around the house listening to WHAM going OOOOOOOH this is the most relevant music that I have ever heard! I have a message for you, stop ogling your george michael poster that you have placed above your bed, pick up EVERY depeche mode and smiths cd and listen, ok. Martin Gore is a genius, and you left his band out. BE ASHAMED. now I will let you go back to tongue kissing your pet shop boys cd cover.

]]> sujit http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c440556 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/08/the_top_50_gay_album#c440556 Music Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:23:15 -0800