National Pride Month feature: Gay and Lesbian musical artists

[alphanguy74]

These guys need no introduction... (pulling out the Oprah voice) THE VILLAGE PEOPLE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiyqfdmwWoM&feature=related

[quartermainefan]

YMCA is such a great song, and it is so catchy everyone loved it no matter what it was about. Macho Man is another great song. In The Navy was good, but not as.

[alphanguy74]

Tonight we have Boy George/Culture Club. If you haven't read Boy George's book, I highly reccommend it, candid and dishy, yet not exploitive. Some brilliant music came out of that group, much of it written by George about him and Jon's relationship (Karma Chameleon). He's been through alot of problems, but seems on a more even keel now, a great talent to be sure. This is one of my favorites, great message, and the bridge of this song is just awesome. Helen Terry's vocal parts in this just send chills down your spine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwpR22ovuww

One of thge best videos ever made, IMO... some of those scenes are kind of disturbing, that little girl crying at 2:12 is just so raw, and the little boy laying down to go to sleep on the rock, the woman in the wedding dress with the train on fire, etc.

[alphanguy74]

Helen Terry was an amazing vocalist, and I wish she'd either been an official member of Culture Club, or had more success on her own:

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[DRW50]

You're right about her voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVzAH0FtNwg

My favorite of their videos - a lot of playfulness which rarely seemed to be there in real life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwb9-OlQimc&feature=relmfu

For all everyone talks about how things improve and progress over time, Boy George would never be popular today. He would be shunted onto Ru Paul's Drag Race.

[DRW50]

Another very good video, which is very ahead of its time (that flashing back to past videos with sepia tones is now a staple of Youtube fanvids), and is better than the song. Check out the not so subtle innuendo between Jon and George.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YewVugPHon4&feature=relmfu

Their Behind the Music, which gets very emotional for some of them and which got enough notice to bring up a brief reunion. This seems to be all that is on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6ccnkj1dyA

[alphanguy74]

Your'e right about that, Carl... I don't think Boy George would be given any kind of chance today. That behind the music was great, I remember seeing it the first time, Roy talked about being dissapointed in their fame because he was caught in and endless gay soap opera. He was like "where's the drugs! Where's the girls?" He talked about one time that George wouldn't come out of his dressing room because he was mad at Jon, so Jon took a towel, soaked it in vodka, put it under his dressing room door and set it on fire. And then George come running out screaming "Did you see that?!!! He's trying to burn me!" Hilarious stories.

[alphanguy74]

Tonight we have an artist who was critically acclaimed, but didn't find alot of chart success. Long John Baldry was primarily a blues singer, but had one massive number one hit in 1968 in the UK with "Let The Heartaches Begin", a ballad that was unlike anything he'd recorded before. He also had a minor hit in 1971 in the US with "Don't try to Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock And Roll", which was a big hit in Canada. He was close friends with Elton John and Rod Stewart, and Elton's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight": was written about him, as John is the one who convinced Elton not to get married to Linda Woodrow in 1967 to just accept his gayness and get on with his life (this was after Elton attempted suicide because he was desperately unhappy).

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgVW3SGu0Ng

[alphanguy74]

Another great performance from Bobbie Gentry's UK TV series in 1968:

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[DRW50]

That generation of British musicians seemed to tap into soul so effortlessly - it's quite remarkable, and not something you find very often today, where, as with The Voice's recent singer Tyler James, soul means [!@#$%^&*] falsetto and constipation faces.

Too bad Baldry and Dusty never duetted.

I had no idea Bobbie Gentry would have a TV show in the UK.

He also did the voice for Dr. Robotnik.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rVOzGrMEGM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZI7EPGmdUs&feature=related

[I Am A Swede]

They may be incredibly silly, but I love songs like this. They just make me happy.

Here's another of the same kind. It was originally called "Sind sie der Graf von Luxemburg?" but this is a Swedish version. The recording is from 1968.

Sorry about this little detour from the original subject of the thread.

[alphanguy74]

I don't mind the detour... that song is cute as hell!

[alphanguy74]

Tonight we have Rufus Wainwright. One of the first music artists to be out from the very beginning of his career, his father had a minor folk hit "Dead Skunk In The Middle Of The Road" in 1973. Here is a performance from his show, "Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! does Judy! Judy! Judy! " where he performs the entire Judy Garland 1961 Carnegie Hall album :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6B8TMVz4NM

[Bright Eyes]

One of the best musicians of our generation.

[alphanguy74]

Just another one from Rufus... this is awesome:

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