Queer Noises: From the Closet to the Charts 1961-1978
- Product information
- by Various Artists
- Star rating
- Product link
- http://www.trikont.com
- Publisher
- Trikont
A long time before the Village People, there was a mass of pop ephemera that was out and loud. Queer Noises, a 24 tracker, 15 years in the making, compiled by critic Jon Savage, is an album that locates gay desire at the heart of the pop experience. From the flounce of Byrd E Bath and Rodney Dangerfield’s ‘Florence of Arabia’ (catchline: ‘Get a load of her!’) and Joe Meek’s sly Tornados flipside, ‘Do You Come Here Often?’ to the sophistication of the Kinks’ ‘See My Friend’, Queer Noises is the hubbub of gay lives lived mostly on the margins. But the journey of the gay pop song is not a smooth one. B Bubba’s ‘I’d Rather Fight Than Swish’, cut in the early 1960s, predates Stonewall by several years. And though Jobriath’s 1973 ‘I’m A Man’ had an emphatic message, Dead Fingers Talk’s 1978 punk offering ‘Nobody Loves You When You’re Old And Gay’ is off-message for the time. The problem with collecting songs under the criteria that they either are overtly gay or encourage a particular type of reading is that much goes under the radar – and here, it’s the women who lose out. The works of say, Dusty Springfield or francophone Suzy Solidor would fit nicely in this album; lesbians are represented here solely by 1973’s ‘Coochy Coo’ from Polly Perkins, a former children’s TV presenter. By 1978, the battle for visibility had been won: the sexual disco delirium of Sylvester’s ‘You Make Me Feel’ closes the album with an energy that still spins mirror balls.
Join over 10,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, issue alerts, contests, and more!
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
New Internationalist (NI) workers' co-operative exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.
Except where otherwise noted, images on this site are copyright of the photographer/illustrator or representative agency.Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
