Favorite queer musicians

[rocknroll_girl]

There are about a bazillion fantastic gay, bi, lesbian and trans musical artists out there. Let's give 'em some credit - more obscure examples are great, but I'll start off with some obvious faves.

most of mine are ladies...

Ani Difranco
Kaia Wilson (all of Team Dresch and the Butchies, for that matter)
Melissa Etheridge
The Indigo Girls
Linda Perry
Joan Armatrading
Tribe 8
Melissa Ferrick
David Bowie
Tegan and Sara
Sleater-Kinney

[Becknudefck]

elton john...........?

[SelfControl]

I'm not 100% sure, but if Mike Kinsella isn't gay he does a very good impression.

[SelfControl]

Placebo. OK, so they've become a hideous parody of themselves in recent yuears, but the first two albums were pretty good.

[Down_In_It]

Most the members of The Scissor Sisters! They're DEAD GOOD! and The male lead vocalist is FINE :H

[SelfControl]

I'm sure they're gay, but they're unbearably shit. I had to dump a boyfriend once over Comfortably Numb. Damn my musical puritanism [sp?]. There's Selfish Cunt as well, but they're REALLY shit.

[rocknroll_girl]

Never heard of Selfish Cunt. What kind of music do they play?


There's a lot more girls than guys out. I'm not sure why that is, except that the nature of being a woman in the music business is already against the grain if you're not a boob-flashin' sexpot. So basically, I'm sure a lot of folksy and punk girls figure what the hell, we have nothing to lose.

Most dyke music is punk and folk becuase they're out-there mediums, I guess. Bratmobile, Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsy, the Gossip, all the riot grrrl stuff. I like it.

There's a gay male punk band called Blood Brothers. Mui's obsessed.

[SelfControl]

Selfish Cunt are a punk band, I'm told they're good live, but on record they're abysmal. Far better as far as gay duos go are the Yummy Fur, who make rather lovely electronic music.

Are the Blood Brothers really gay? I can imagine it, but it didn't occur to me. They are quite camp live, I'm told.

There's still quite a big stigma in rock music attached to male homosexuality. I know a guy who fronts a band and is bi, but won't tell anyone because he think his band won't respect him anymore. I tried telling him that no-one respects him any way, but it's kind of sad to think that he's got to balance the two. I've always been openly gay, which is probably why I'm not in a band.

[underground04]

i didnt know david bowie was gay.
well in that case, david bowie and elton john

[maryjaneguitargurl]

Micheal Stipe
Melissa Etheridge
Freddy Mercurry

peace
chickens

[SelfControl]

Bowie is bisexual, although that was pretty much the law in the 70s. Ricky Martin is apparently just "gay friendly", whatever the fuck that means. And Elton John is as gay as a window.

Lou Reed, maybe?

[SelfControl]

Yeah, wish I had those kinds of friends.

[Emsy]

Alex Parks *dribble* UK rock chick but winner of a reality tv show but still gorgeous!

[SelfControl]

rock chick?

[Snowdancer]

Bowie stated he was bi in the 70's but has sort of reneged on it lately. I still love his stuff & know how much pressure there is to be closeted.

I love Joan Baez who is another who says she is bi, has had romances but hasn't been with a woman in years.

Freddy Mercury's work was amazing! Definitely stood the test of time.

I wish the hell Little Richard would get out of the closet. :)

Both John Lennon & Mick Jagger experimented with Male to Male sex but I guess it didn't take for them. Charlie Watts, the Stones drummer is gay his beats are the heartbeat of their songs.

Styx wouldn't sound like themselves without Chuck Panozzo.

Billy Idol.... I get weak in the knees just thinking about him. He once left Rod's (a local gay bar) just before I got there. I was devastated. He could make me rebel yell anytime.

Joan Jett can make you like rock & roll even if you never heard it before.

I used to think that Phillip Glass was gay also Andreas Vollenweider were gay & haven't had information refuting nor confirming that. They are both so gifted & both very sexy.

Elton John Rocks!!!

I liked George Micheal's work with Wham & some of his post Wham work.

If at least one member of Duran Duran isn't gay they are missing the boat there. :) Same for A Flock of Seagulls.

Madonna was so omnisexual. I love dancing to her music.

Melissa Etheridge, that lady knows how to crank a tune.

Michael Stipe too.

When I saw Deep Purple play in 1973 I am sure I saw Jon Lord kiss Mick Simper so that fuelled my imagination for a long time. Again i have no proof & it is possible that they were just communicating. If you have ever heard them you will understand that you would have to scream in someone's eat to be heard over the tunes. :)

Is AC/DC AC DC? They sure rock your socks off.

Rufus Wainwright is cute & spins such beautiful melodies.

Does David Geffen count? A lot of the music industry wouldn't be the same as it is without him.

Allen Ginsberg recorded some of his poems with musical accompaniment does that count?

Does this have to be rock & roll/popular
k.d. lang country & Holly Near folk are deep in my soul.
I love the jazz work of Billy Strayhorn, Miles Davis was rumored to be bi, Cecil Taylor, if you ever have a chance to hear his piano you'll be in for a treat.

Big Mama Thornton You gotta hear her! It'll touch your soul. Blues the way Goddess meant it to be heard.

Life just wouldn't be the same without the tunes of Cole Porter, Sir Noël Coward, & Stephen Sondheim.

The following classical composers have laid the foundation of music as we know it IMHO they had help of their straight counterparts but their influence is so ingrained in the cosmic consciousness that I don't think that any of the musicians alive now would be the same without them. I have heard the feel of all of them in Grateful Dead at different times. If memory serves correctly Phil Lesh studied under Schoenberg.

Hildegard, George Frideric Handel, Arcangelo Corelli, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms has also been the subject of speculation, Frédéric Chopin was bi, Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky, Camille Saint-Saëns, Modeste Mussorgsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Francis Poulenc, Manuel de Falla, Virgil Thomson, Henry Cowell, John Cage.

Michael Tilson Thomas is one of the preeminent composer/conductors of our time.

[SelfControl]

Joan Baez is lovely, isn't she? Reminds me of my mum.

I'll see your Alan Ginnsberg and raise you William S Burroughs. He did a hop hop collaboration in his later days. No shit, really!

Does Little Richard really NEED to come out?

And allegedly Michael Stipe and Kurt Cobain had sex. If it's not true it's a very persistent rumour.

[rocknroll_girl]

Holly Near, that's my prescious! Oh man. And Cris Williamson. All the early girls.


Ginsberg and Burroughs did do many a hip-hop slam collaboration, I have no doubt. Gotta love those guys. Nothing quite like them. I did my first "heavy research" that I ever did on anything on the relationship those two had (politically) with Tim Leary and Ken Kesey. Cool generation-generation stuff. Maybe my next thread will be on queer writers.

Bowie and Reed are bi, and gorgeous. I love them.

[Patch]

i did my junior year thesis on the beat generation. it was absolutely fascinating...their novels and poetry we just so flowing and incredible...that wasn't my thesis...but you know.

dar williams...supposedly bi...i just saw her in concert last friday...drool.

[PhotoGra1]

I am SHOCKED that nobody has mentioned Steven Merrit/The Magnetic Fields! They are great. Also, Prince, does he count as gay, today? I also like Rufus Wainwright (sp?) and Matmos. I know there are others, but I am braindead right now...

Sometimes I wake up with a vague recollection of sexual encounters with Justin Timberlake. Does that count?

[lillian]

Le Tigre, Baby!

[Snowdancer]

>>Some Snipped>> Maybe my next thread will be on queer writers.

The literarary world has always been more filled with out of the closet GLBT folks, well maybe not so much the T's in the more distant past. It is going to be much easier to put a finger on queer writers.

[FreakyJoeMan]

Technically, Ani DiFranco's bi.

[SelfControl]

Sometimes I wake up with a vague recollection of sexual encounters with Justin Timberlake. Does that count?

Only if you're Enrique Iglesias. I love those holywood rumourmill sites.

Lil Kim, Missy Elliot. Unconfirmed, but probably true.

[rocknroll_girl]

Technically, Ani DiFranco's bi.
Queer = gay, bi, trans, or just plain into fucking with conventions

I would say Ani falls into the latter category. I'm not sure if you brought this up to establish that she's not a "complete lesbian" or whatever, but that was already kinda obvious. I mean, she married Goat.

[white ginger]

what about Tori Amos? She must be at least bi

[SelfControl]

what about Tori Amos? She must be at least bi

Only in so far as she probably isnt' too keen on the boys any more (rape, abortion, Trent Reznor, etc.)

Apparently Robert Palmer asked her to marry him, and she turned him down.

[skywhirl]

Janis Joplin!!!:cool:

[Snowdancer]

I did hear that she liked to have sex but I thought it was always with guys. I would greatly appreciate any info otherwise.
Janis Joplin!!!:cool:

[bedlam]

Freddie Mercury rocks

[Mui]

There's a gay male punk band called Blood Brothers. Mui's obsessed.
Indeed, except i wouldnt call the blood brothers punk... Clearly they are experimental surrealist-core.

I think they might be bi too.. hoo knows

How else do you think johnny can be so sassy?

I've seen pictures of them playign around with eachother... with clothes on and such... and ass packing eachother w/ clothes on...

first time i met them, they autographed one of mys hirts and gave me a handshake... Cody thee guitarist is so hot!

second time they gave me (a minor) alcohol.
How naughty.

So anyway, best queer bands or bands with queer members:

The Blood Brothers
Gayrilla Biscuits
Boy Sets Fire has a bisexual member ( i think )
also thursday? I think? maybe im wrong.

[SelfControl]

Is this Blood Brothers gay thing true? If it's not it's a very persistent rumour. Meh, good for them, nice to see a gay band making heavy music and not making a big deal out of it. Almost makes up for Selfish Cunt.

[PhotoGra1]

also, what about Cole Porter, Bob Mould, the Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, and Jimmy Sommerville & Le Tigre. All are good.

[Defence_mechanism]

um hello people ---> KD LANG!!! the best and most well known gay singer/artist in the world. lets give her some credit. she started a revolution! lol

and for a 40-something woman, she's not bad. her lyrics are beautiful, as is her voice.

[monosphere]

I gotta agree with you on KD Lang. She has a beautiful singing voice. I just found her cover of Leonard Cohen's "Halleluja". I haven't heard anthing that beautiful in a long time.

And the same goes for Freddie Murcury. He had an amazing voice that I've always admired.

[Orsino2]

Dennis DeYoung of styx was also gay. Now he's turned into some devout christian musician or something as far as I've heard since he stopped touring with styx.