Songs by gay artists about being gay. (ie not just songs that are a bit camp, or songs aimed at gay men, or songs which are a bit ambiguous but are probably about gay sex, or even songs by gay men ab

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Yes, I know we've had this thread, but I'm not talking about YMCA or Lola or I Will Survive or Dude Looks Like A Lady or anything by Suede, but songs by gay men about being a gay man. Some examples:

Carl Bean - I Was Born This Way
Boy George - Same Thing in Reverse
Marc Almond - What Makes A Man A Man
The Hidden Cameras - The Man That I Am With My Man

― davidsim (davidsim), Friday, 13 May 2005 04:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"I Have the Moon"--Magnetic Fields
"Gimme Gimme Gimme"--Erasure

― elton, Friday, 13 May 2005 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Aluminum Group - Sad Gay Life

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 13 May 2005 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Husker Du - Pink Turns to Blue

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 13 May 2005 04:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Djing a coming out party, are we?

― Reggie, Friday, 13 May 2005 05:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Husker Du - "The Biggest Lie"

― kingfish maximum overdrunk (Kingfish), Friday, 13 May 2005 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

"New York City Boy" and "It's a Sin" - Pet Shop Boys

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Friday, 13 May 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Husker Du - Pink Turns to Blue

whu?

― zappi (joni), Friday, 13 May 2005 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm a Man Who Needs a Man, by the Gay men.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 13 May 2005 06:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ted, Woody & Junior" by Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 May 2005 06:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Tom Robinson Band - Glad To Be Gay.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 13 May 2005 06:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm. Yeah Tom Robinson would have been the second thing to come to mind. First thing I think of is Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy".

― The Silent Disco of Glastonbury (Bimble...), Friday, 13 May 2005 06:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Why has nobody mentioned Pete Shelley's "Homosapien"? A current obsession of mine.

― sleeve, Friday, 13 May 2005 06:37 (twenty-one years ago)

didn't Evan Dando do a song called 'Big gay heart?'
aldo see the comunards

― lukey (Lukey G), Friday, 13 May 2005 07:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I think a big influence on Tom Robinson militancy about his sexuality was a band w/Mick Ronson connections called Dead Fingers Talk, who had a song called 'Nobody Loves You When You're Old and Gay'. Think they nicked this title off an unreleased Lou Reed song BTW.

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 13 May 2005 07:48 (twenty-one years ago)

The Queen Of Old Compton Street - Fruit
Saturday - David McAlmont
Useless Man - Minty
There's More To Love Than Boy Meets Girl - The Communards

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 13 May 2005 08:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Every Rufus Wainwright song ever.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Friday, 13 May 2005 08:42 (twenty-one years ago)

It's Not Easy Being Green - Kermit the Frog
The Rainbow - Ween
Bill & Ted's Homosexual Adventure - Pansy Division

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Friday, 13 May 2005 09:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Suede - Wonderful Sometimes

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Friday, 13 May 2005 10:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Suede weren't gay

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 13 May 2005 10:05 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck fruit, kitchens of distinction were equally frank: "hammer" and "breathing fear" are the two that spring instantly to mind.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Friday, 13 May 2005 10:12 (twenty-one years ago)

You're wrong about Hüsker Dü's "Pink Turns To Blue..." That's about an OD.

― hector savage, Friday, 13 May 2005 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Franz Ferdinandn's "Michael."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 13 May 2005 10:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Songs by gay artists about being gay.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 13 May 2005 11:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Franz Ferdinand. They're 'mos, I'm telling you.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 13 May 2005 11:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh god, just remembered "Homosexuality" by Modern Rocketry. ("Homo-sexu-ali-tee! YES SAH!")

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 13 May 2005 11:53 (twenty-one years ago)

There's also a good case to be made for "Return To Oz" - Scissor Sisters.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 13 May 2005 11:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I may be being rather dense, but isn't Husker Du's "The Biggest Lie" about thinking you're better than you are because you've had some success, and coming back to reality with a thump? I can't quite see how this is about being gay (possibly the first two lines of the last verse, ambiguously):

You think you've made it to the top because people know your name,
It's still the same
Your daydreams aren't forever, better get your shit together
For a new game

Back to your day job
Back to your girlfriend
Back to your hometown
The biggest lie

Passing harsher judgement, but you brought it on yourself
By being you
You trade your work for no success, you tried to be a hero
But you end up nothing

― Andrew Norman, Friday, 13 May 2005 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Pet Shop Boys, "Can You Forgive Her?" or "In Denial" or "The Night We Fellin Love." The list goes on.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 13 May 2005 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

men fancying other men VS being gay

I'm from the school that says these are the identical thing. (Sorry, queer theorists.)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 13 May 2005 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Every Rufus Wainwright song ever.

I'm not sure that Rufus Wainwright has ever written a song that is actually about being gay. "I Don't Know What It Is" and "Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk" come closest, but they're still fairly allusive.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Friday, 13 May 2005 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

"Gay Messiah"?

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 13 May 2005 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

a couple grizzly bear songs are hardcore gay, talk about cumming on each other and stuff. people don't notice because it's just muttered, but it's there

― breezy, Friday, 13 May 2005 14:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree, the franz boys are total mo's and not very hot ones to boot, although that michael song is pretty hot

― breezy, Friday, 13 May 2005 14:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I never thought of "Pink Turns to Blue" as a "turning gay" song. It's an intriguing idea, but it's still about an overdose.

Now. "Green Eyes" is a great song either way you look at it. The line "It's a great big world / with a whole lot of guys / I feel so lucky when I look into those green eyes" can be taken in two completely different beautiful ways.

War Husker Du songs with colors in their titles.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 13 May 2005 14:54 (twenty-one years ago)

the reggae track "Tickle Tune" by Sex Boots Dread

Me take it up me arse
and me jam it in me pants
Me like a big man
with a four course romance
and him licking up me backside

― [that bastard] jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 13 May 2005 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

"I agree, the franz boys are total mo's and not very hot ones to boot, although that michael song is pretty hot"

Breezy, have you seen the drummer? Gay messiah indeed.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 13 May 2005 15:54 (twenty-one years ago)

most every other hidden cameras song (esp on the first album) is explicitly about being gay - "smells like happiness" and "ban marriage" being my favorites, i think.

― peter smith (plsmith), Friday, 13 May 2005 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

In the Guinness Book of Hit Singles my eye caught a song called "Free, Gay and Happy" by "Coming Out Crew"..(shudder)... anyone heard it???

And don't you forget "Gay" by Clifford T Ward ;)

― Janey, Friday, 13 May 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Pet Shop Boys - "Metamorphosis"
Pet Shop Boys - "To Speak is a Sin"

― Seb (Seb), Friday, 13 May 2005 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

The Smiths - "This Charming Man" and "Hand in Glove"

― The Sensational Sulk (sexyDancer), Friday, 13 May 2005 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Suede weren't gay

Their drummer certainly was.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 May 2005 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the relative absence of good songs that fit this category is rather telling, particularly when you compare it with the rich resources in literature when it comes to homoerotics (where we've got it pretty much covered via Plato, Sappho, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Proust, Gide, Lorca, Auden, Wilde, Whitman, Ginsberg, Cooper, Rich, etc etc etc). There's something about the context of singing in public to a pop and rock audience that just isn't queer friendly, even as you've got your Elton Johns and your George Michaels and your Morrissey's right out there being as camp as a row of tents, lyrically they still resort to subterfuge, switched pronouns, and "artful evasions" (to take the phrase from a great EMP paper about Morrissey). Just hauling off and singing about loving a guy (let alone sucking a dick) is still either taboo or a "novelty" (the standard line about Pansy Division). It's just vexed. That's why I was so pleased to hear Hidden Cameras and Grizzly Bear . . .

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Friday, 13 May 2005 18:42 (twenty-one years ago)

limp wrist - i love hardcore boys/i love boys hardcore

― joseph (joseph), Friday, 13 May 2005 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Boy George feat. Avenue D - "Fire Desire"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 13 May 2005 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Holly Johnson-Legendary children

― Eva van Rein (Gaia1981), Friday, 13 May 2005 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Pansy Division - Smells Like Queer Spirit

To name one

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Friday, 13 May 2005 19:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i should take a look at the drummer
maybe I have misjudged le franzes one too many times

re: drew
i hear you
it is nice to hear it in those bands, esp in the casual , non sensational way

i gotta listen to more hidden cameras

― breezy, Friday, 13 May 2005 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

"Left Handed" by Gene

― Steve Gertz (sgertz), Friday, 13 May 2005 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Useless Man - Minty

Approach with caution...

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Friday, 13 May 2005 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 64 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned "boom bye-bye"

― jb, Wednesday, 1 June 2005 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

this is officially the gay teenybopper corner of ILM

― joseph (joseph), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

isn't alan of the starlight mints gay? (i hope)

― reo, Wednesday, 1 June 2005 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

z-post. looking at patrick wolf made me think about how i hate loving hating loving these pretty boys. or maybe i love hating.....pretty boys. can we start a thread on that?

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 21:02 (twenty-one years ago)

patrick wolf ain't doing it for me either, but i'm not big on wispy femme boys in general

― joseph (joseph), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

most of them aren't what they're cracked up to be

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

the two guys in alcazar are both gay and apparently a couple, if i remember their bio correctly

― joseph (joseph), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 21:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Susan OTM about loving hating loving pretty boys. But this shouldn't be on ILM, should it?

Come to me all you tired, you poor...

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 23:03 (twenty-one years ago)

no, but it had to be said.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 1 June 2005 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

what about Anthony and the Johnsons' "I Fell In Love With A Dead Boy". One of the sweetest love songs I've heard.

― django (django), Thursday, 2 June 2005 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

antony= NOT a good singer and NOT hot, two strikes against him

― breezy, Thursday, 2 June 2005 02:53 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry, right..antony.

that's not really fair, his looks are beside the point.

― django (django), Thursday, 2 June 2005 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

we were discussing cute gay musicians for a little bit. i know the thread got off point

― breezy, Thursday, 2 June 2005 14:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Pet Shop Boys, "Boy Strange"

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 2 June 2005 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Although he's never made a statement saying he is a 'mo, Chris Lowe WAS a dapper lad back in the day, especially while wearing the "BOY" cap.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 2 June 2005 14:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Is Patrick Wolf really gay?!?!

― The Brainwasher (Twilight), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Why not just post photos of "Cute Gay ILM'ers"!!

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

sugar ray dude is at least bi! anyone up for some plastic, plucked so cal surf dude ass? ewww, he looks totally knarl duuude

― breezy, Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:20 (twenty-one years ago)

elton john ? there must be some songs where elton has been proud of his sexuality.

and culture club" sexuality"

― dogs of society, Thursday, 2 June 2005 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

eight months pass...

the frogs - homos:

"oh mom,was always wondering why i was into sports
oh mam,was always wondering why i was staying after school.
im into spotrs mom,and also i'm
in the locker room with the boys
i'm in the shower and i drop the soap everytime..
homos,aha,no one love a homo,like us,we love homos/

lesbians are fool,and straight are cool,but the homos are the coolest of the cool"

― funny fun, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 09:10 (twenty years ago)

eight years pass...

As this is kinda the closest thing to a Shockheaded Peters thread here, I guess -- Dom Shaw, a video director from the UK, has been digging up old clips he directed on obsolete formats and putting them on YouTube. He did that with the Cocteau Twins' "Pandora" and lo and behold, here's one he did for "I Bloodbrother Be"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MisfJux-dek

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 8 January 2015 17:51 (eleven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exBys7pLZoQ

now word had been gettin' around town
that shorty and i were
a little bit more than just friends
and she really wasn't
feelin' that
so she stopped calling me
but one day i ran into her
she was hanging out with this young boy
that liked to take her out and buy her things
and you know how we confuse love
with buying people things?
well, then she licked her lips
and whispered in my ear
she said, you know i've missed you
i said, cool
but when i asked her
what exactly was it that she missed
she said
uh
can't nobody eat my pussy
the way that you do

can you love me without shame?
you only want me for one thing
but you can teach your boy to do that
can you love me without shame?
need me when you feel pain
but now
you want to fuck around

― Tuomas, Thursday, 8 January 2015 21:23 (eleven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FN-4j7hfA0

(This one is pretty self-explanatory.)

― Tuomas, Thursday, 8 January 2015 21:27 (eleven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkRVodqIcvs

― Tuomas, Thursday, 8 January 2015 21:29 (eleven years ago)

Extra Fancy - "C'mon Louie" http://youtu.be/Te3fuKTfCig?t=15m5s

Mitch Ryder - "Cherry Poppin'"

Who will be first to feel this burst
Of love and hate for Mommy
So dry your tears and dash your fears
Roll over on your timmy
You are a man, you are a man
Now stop this ship I swear to you again
Roll over bitch and let me stick it in
Nothing's queer, just a loss of fear

― Hideous Lump, Friday, 9 January 2015 03:04 (eleven years ago)

Correction: Now stop this shit I swear to you again

― Hideous Lump, Friday, 9 January 2015 03:08 (eleven years ago)

I think this fits... Sophie B Hawkins - Damn! I wish I was Your Lover

― LimbsKing, Friday, 9 January 2015 03:36 (eleven years ago)

grant macdonald to thread

― don't ask me why i posted this (electricsound), Friday, 9 January 2015 03:44 (eleven years ago)

Big Momma, Cakes Da Killa (check out the Holy Water mixtape), etc......

― m0stlyClean, Friday, 9 January 2015 19:20 (eleven years ago)

wau at that tHC photo upthread

― fgti, Friday, 9 January 2015 20:53 (eleven years ago)

what would you know about this

― oi, rank account (imago), Friday, 9 January 2015 21:44 (eleven years ago)

two years pass...

How did Mould and Hart's sexuality 'inform' Husker Du's music? A start:

http://dentalhospital.tumblr.com/post/123117605615/bob-and-grant

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 15 September 2017 15:02 (eight years ago)

nine months pass...

My favorite queer songs.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 June 2018 13:19 (seven years ago)

alfred, is it the normal mix of smalltown boy or the extended tho?

― stoker (Ross), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 20:53 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qPnTyrvAv0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VT-Zr-QPDo

― Brainless Addlepated Timid Muddleheaded Awful No-Account (Pheeel), Wednesday, 27 June 2018 22:53 (seven years ago)

alfred, happy you posted smalltown boy. one of my favourite songs ever. heard it as a child in England, and damn it's stuck with me since

― music saved my life (Ross), Friday, 29 June 2018 20:19 (seven years ago)

it mixes perfectly with grimes crystal ball if you're djing

― music saved my life (Ross), Friday, 29 June 2018 20:19 (seven years ago)

alfred, happy you posted smalltown boy. one of my favourite songs ever. heard it as a child in England, and damn it's stuck with me since

― music saved my life (Ross),

it's gorgeous

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 29 June 2018 20:31 (seven years ago)

OTM

― music saved my life (Ross), Friday, 29 June 2018 20:33 (seven years ago)

two years pass...

five years on, I’m still in awe of this piece of queer dancepop from South Africa (plus of the fact that it was an actual number one hit there):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjWaET5AWCw
Black Coffee ft. Nakhane • We Dance Again

(they never made a video for it, unfortunately)

full-length version

― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 11:13 (five years ago)

no mention of John Grant ITT?

― Leighton Buzzword (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 11:38 (five years ago)

... apart from on Alfred's list.

Alfred, I didn't know 'Hymn To Her' was considered a queen song. it's absolutely lovely though

― Leighton Buzzword (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 11:40 (five years ago)

The ambiguity of the pronouns and nouns -- does the song mean "mother" literally? -- is part of the frisson.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 12:00 (five years ago)

yeah looked at it that way, it certainly could. Apparently it was written by a friend of Chrissy's who was into pagan imagery

― Leighton Buzzword (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 12:12 (five years ago)

Nakhane's music is awesome, he's a real gem

― you’re crying, I’m farting (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 16:15 (five years ago)

my god why did people ever think the frogs were remotely funny/cool/good

― ... (Left), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 16:20 (five years ago)

Re: “Hymn to Her,” mother/lover always confused me, so reading the song as queer makes perfect sense to me.

― A White, White Gay (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 16:22 (five years ago)

Lavender Country (1973 Gay Country album)

Drops of dawn are trickling on
The corners of our bed
That's full of your flirtin' fingers
Your body odor lingers
In my toes and in my nose and in my head

My belly turns to jelly
Like some nelly ingénue
Your ticklin' beard has got me geared
For a nice long day with you

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 17:12 (five years ago)

no mention of John Grant ITT?

I'll go with "Glacier".

― LeRooLeRoo, Tuesday, 8 September 2020 20:49 (five years ago)

Nakhane's music is awesome, he's a real gem

thanks for picking up on my revive :-)

― No mean feat. DaBaby (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 21:03 (five years ago)

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