Starting about a year ago, I have been actively interested in searching for and listening to music by gay bands/artists. It's been difficult to find a comprehensive list of all the currently active gay bands/artists, so I've had to search on my own based on recommendations (and the awesomeness that is allmusic.com band biographies).

So far, my search has led me to a varied list of bands/artists, and unfortunately, to a lot of bands/artists whose careers ended prematurely thanks to lackluster sales or lack of interest (Kitchens of Distinction, Extra Fancy, Gregory Gray).

Recently several gay artists have successful or critically acclaimed careers while singing about un-mainstream topics (Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart, Rufus Wainwright, Antony of Antony and the Johnsons), which is encouraging news (and this hasn't always been the case; my search for gay artists and bands led me to a lot of musicians who were closeted, such as Husker Du's Bob Gould or Judas Priest's Bob Halford).

For those who think this isn't a topic worth discussing because a person's sexual orientation has no impact on their musicianship, I think the topic is worth discussing considering the recent shift of society's view of gay culture and whether or not gay bands/artists that failed before would have successful careers now (Kitchens of Distinction? We'll never know). Also, I'm very curious about gay artists and music with gay themes, and I think there should be much, much more than there is now in alternative and indie-rock music.

Here's my list of my favorite recent or current gay artists/bands who sing about gay themes.

Mark Eitzel
Mr. Eitzel is my favorite discovery in my search for recent or current gay artists. Sometimes lead singer of American Music Club and sometimes hit-or-miss solo artist, he only started to sing about explicitely gay themes in his solo records (before he always sang about a "she" or a "her"). American Music Club is a fantastic find for anyone who loves indie-music, and although his quality as a solo artist is sporadic at best, Eitzel's musicianship makes him my favorite openly gay artist currently making music.

Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright's music is a joy to hear because it doesn't feel overtly challenging, theatrical or experimental (Xiu Xiu, Antony and the Johsons). It just feels like music I could hear from anyone else. Oh, but it's with gay themes. This is why he's one of my favorite gay artists.

Morrissey
Okay, so he's sexually ambiguous (and probably will be until the very end of his music career) and he's never outright declared a sexual orientation. But if the rumors and the content of his music is of any indication, I think it's reasonable to assume that he was referring to himself in Hand in Glove all those years ago. The former lead singer of The Smiths, my favorite indie-rock band of all time, Moz has also had a wildly fruitful solo career as well. Most of his solo-material has no explicit gay themes to it, but there is this wonderful sexual ambiguity about anything he does anyway. I love/hate him for it... But mostly love, because what better album is there than Viva Hate?

Xiu Xiu
Xiu Xiu is.... challenging. Sometimes I think Xiu Xiu's music is almost challenging for the sake of being challenging. But lead singer Jamie Stewart, who is openly bisexual (the 'b' of 'GLBT'), has written some wonderfully gay-centric songs that are a real find for anyone who likes music with gay themes. "Fabulous Muscles" is excellent in this way.

George Michael
George Michael has had a challenging last several years, thanks to bad publicity and an unfortunate bathroom incident that outed the man most of America thought was singing about a woman in Father Figure. For the young hispsters who are wondering why Mr. Michael "faked" being straight during those "Faith" years, they don't realize that things were much, much different in that time.
I can easily see why many people don't like George Michael the Musician because of his highly-polished pop/dance aesthetic. "Faith" is pure fluffy 80s pop, but I've always felt George Michael's music had a lot more oomph than people gave him credit for, thanks to his excellent production, mixing of jazz and electronica aesthetics, and a great voice. I actually thought 2004's "Patience" was one of that year's best records, and perhaps one of the best dance-pop records of the current decade.

Further topics of discussion....
What current/recent gay artists/bands are you really digging right now? What gay artists/bands can you recommend to me? What bands/artists have gay themes or gay members that most people don't even realize are there? (examples: Sigur Ros, Le Tigre, and many others) Is there such a thing as a "gay aesthetic" in music? What are some examples of bad gay bands/artists who sing about gay themes (Pansy Division, ick!)? Also, what is the deal with Morrissey!?

You can certainly add one of my fave bands, the Buzzcocks: Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks. Do you want women too because you didn't mention any obvious ones?

Certainly, I'm interested in finding any artists who write music about GLBT themes. The only female GLBT artists that I really know anything about are The Butchies, Le Tigre, k.d. lang, Mellissa Etheridge, The Indigo Girls... and that's about it.

I'll be sure to check the Buzzcocks out.

I didn't even know that any of those artists you mentioned were gay. I am surprised that you didn't mention Stephen Merritt (of Magnetic Fields fame).

How about Sleater-Kinney?

Edit: misread. Sorry, eric.

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Hey! Don't be hating on Pansy Division, now! I loves me some Pansy Division!

Don't leave Elton John out. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," after all?

One current band that immediately comes to mind is The Hidden Cameras. The Smell of Our Own was one of my favorite albums of 2003 and ditto the single "Ban Marriage." They're an excellent example of a band that wears their sexual politics on their sleeves.

If you want dig back a bit further, check out The Flirtations (as seen in the film Philadelphia), Phranc, and Romanovsky & Phillips. Given the artists you've identified so far, d., you might find their music a bit too campy, but they were all trailblazers in creating a distinctively queer musical scene.

If you really want to delve into issue, check out David Hadju's landmark biography of Billy Strayhorn Lush Life. It does an excellent job of examining how Strayhorn's sexuality informed his music and his role in the Ellington Orchestra and the jazz world as a whole. Gary Burton has, from a position of no small authority himself, described the jazz community as one of the least tolerant of homosexuality. He also has given some excellent interviews on the subject as has pianist Fred Hersch.

Finally, it's probably worth your time to look into the story of Billy Tipton, the curiosity of whose life has cause his/her musical contributions to cast a longer shadow than the music itself merits. The story, though, is worth noting.

Thought provoking subject, d. Thanks!

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Obviously add the Tom Robinson Band.

quote:

Originally posted by m.leland:
Edit: misread. Sorry, eric.

I missed the post. Did I temporarily feel the wrath of m.leland? lol. Now I know how Bobthespirit feels.

Yay, lots of good suggestions and input! Thanks LinnTate for the reading suggestions. This is definitely a something I want to do more research in.

In my search for gay artists, it's been very frustrating to find that most of the gay artists with prolific careers are so closety and un-gay in their actual music. Bob Gould, Morrissey (debatable), Stephin Merrit (which I just checked out today, thanks RavingLunatic) and many others have all come out as gay, but their music is (or was) still trapped in the closet. It's an artistic choice, yes, and many of these artists probably feel like they don't want to be judged based on their sexual orientation alone, they want to be judged based on their musical prowess. But it's frustrating as a listener hearing these artists sing about "she" and "her" (or for female artists, "him" and her.") It takes me out of their music. I would be interested in hearing The Hidden Cameras, since you mentioned that they actual wear their sexuality on their sleeve. (scurries onto eMusic and iTunes to listen to samples....)

Pansy Division does a great job of being expressive about their sexuality in their music. With them, it feels like they're a gay band (they are, aren't they?) actually singing to gay fans. Which is awesome, and it's exactly what I'm looking for right now. Unfortunately, I'm not so much a fan of their ultra-raw punk sound, and sometimes with them I wish there was a little more.... sublety.

Pansy Division is perhaps a "niche" artist, never as popular as other bands with similar aesthetics that don't sing about The Love That Shall Never Speak Its Name. Perhaps this is why so many gay artist remain sexually neutral in their song-writing? So that they reach more than just the gay audience?

Oh, and I was just reminded all of a sudden by Scissor Sisters. I can't believe I forgot them. All the male members of the band are openly gay.

I didn't know about Sleater-Kinney's gay connection (I love Sleater-Kinney! I guess this gives me an excuse to finally buy The Woods.) Does anyone know how many of the members of the band are GLBT?

First, a correction: it's Bob MOULD, not Gould. The drummer in Husker Du, Grant Hart, is also gay, at least according to the piece on them in Michael Azerrad's book Our Band Could Be Your Life

I recently discovered that one of my fave power pop artists, Tommy Keene, is gay. Didn't know that.

I'd second several of the artists already mentioned (Phranc, Eitzel, Pat Fitzgerald of Kitchens of Distinction), and I'll offer a few more:

Indigo Girls (duh!)
Tegan and Sara (I think they're lesbians, but if not, they've got a HUGE lesbian following)
Melissa Etheridge
Michael Stipe (of REM)

Tom Robinson (of the TR Band) was one of the first openly gay punk artists, and he organized several big benefits for equal rights in the late 70's (not just for homosexuals, but for ethnic minorities, etc). His "2-4-6-8 Motorway" may not be a gay-themed song, but it's a stone classic.

I would say that Merritt writes basically all his songs as openly gay love songs. It's just sometimes he has others interpret the songs for him so that they may seem to have a "larger" meaning. When you put out an album called 69 Love Songs, it would be a major accomplishment to sing all of 'em. "I Don't Believe in the Sun", "Come Back From San Francisco", "When My Boy Walks Down the Street", "Papa Was a Rodeo", "Underwear", "I Think I Need a New Heart", "Meaningless", and several others on that incredible album basically cry out, clearly, the joys and heartache of gay love. I admit that I enjoy the songs because I see them as universal. Love can save or kill anybody, no matter who you or your loved one are.

Merritt is the only "openly" gay musical artist whom I can enjoy despite the fact that he is obviously singing about loving another man. As Mark said, the strength of his love songs has nothing to do with whether or not he's gay, but because they are so beautiful and accessible to so many people, regardless of sexuality. Unlike Mark, however, I've never detected the "heartache of gay love" theme. The songs definitely do have to do with the heartache of love, but they are hardly saying, "I cannot love because I am gay."

Can anyone confirm that S-K are lesbians? Just because they're all women and sing angry songs doesn't necessarily mean they're gay.

quote:

Originally posted by droganzundt:
Pansy Division does a great job of being expressive about their sexuality in their music. With them, it feels like they're a gay band (they are, aren't they?) actually singing to gay fans. Which is awesome, and it's exactly what I'm looking for right now. Unfortunately, I'm not so much a fan of their ultra-raw punk sound, and sometimes with them I wish there was a little more.... sublety.

Yeah, subtlety is not something Pansy Division could ever be accused of practicing. I can certainly understand not caring for their overall sound and I figured that was the case.

I think you're right, too, that being so overt keeps them in the role of a "niche" artist. Artists who have played on sexual ambiguity, I'm think of Boy George in the 80s, have managed to achieve significant popular success, but the majority of gay artists that come to my mind have come out later in their career when their fan base was well established.

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:
I recently discovered that one of my fave power pop artists, Tommy Keene, is gay. Didn't know that.

Huh. Neither did I.

I seem to recall that Mould was outed rather than coming out of his own volition, but I cannot recall the details.

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What about Franz Ferdinand? I don't know if they are, but they have some gay references (see "Michael", "Do You Want To?").

I know there were a lot of popular gay artists in the 80s like Pet Shop Boys, Culture Club, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

I think you misunderstood me, pax. I never said anything about heartbreak due to gay love. I mentioned that it's irrelevant if you're gay or straight, you can find joy and heartache in love. It's just that Merritt is basically writing about gay love, and it's obvious, there's a lot of heartache involved. No big surprise.

Re: S-K - I know that the drummer, Janet Weiss, was married and later divorced from Sam Coomes, her partner in the super band Quasi. Carrie Brownstein has been in lesbian bands, so yes, she's out. I'm "confused" (insofar as your question) about Corin Tucker, who recently gave birth to a child. There are contradictory things about her floating around.

Probably obvious, but I don't think anyone has mentioned Antony yet.

And I can't help but think the Village People should at least get a mention.

And I'm pretty sure Joe Meek was out when he was producing.

Regarding S-K:

Vocalists/Guitarists Carrie Brownstein and Corrin Tucker are lesbians, and I think (though I'm not 100% sure on this) that they briefly dated each other (which is very hot in my mind ). If you're only familiar with The Woods, I don't think there's much in the way of lesbian themes there, but some songs off their older albums that have a lesbian vibe include "Buy Her Candy", "Milkshake & Honey", and the awesome "One More Hour".

Also, I'm surprised no one's mentioned Michael Stipe. Of all the openly gay rock musicians, he's got to be near the top.

EDIT: scratch that...I guess pE did mention stipe...

How about Freddy Mercury of Queen?

I'm never really listened to much of her music (just one song actually, "32 Flavors," which I like), but I know Ani DiFranco is bisexual.

That was part of my response I erased, eric. Corrin is not—publicly, anyway—a lesbian (she is married with child). Carrie is openly gay. Janet is divorced. The common misconception of S-K as lesbian grrrl rockers bugs me—but there was no wrath involved.

If you still feel like Bob I suggest a shower with turpentine and fire.

Edit: Jokes are funnier when spelled correctly.

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