There's been a wee bit of debate on The 'Spill this week about music lists, and in a timely fashion, a list has turned up.
Out Magazine, having polled 100+ celeb folk, have come up with what they call "The 100 gayest albums of all time"
Here's the list:
99 Joni Mitchell - For The Roses
98 Ferron - Testimony
97 Janis Ian - Between The Lines
96 Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
95 Culture Club - Kissing To Be Clever
94 Hair Original Broadway Cast - Hair
93 Sade - Lovers Rock
92 Morrissey - Viva Hate
91 Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
90 Kate Bush - The Kick Inside
89 Fifth Column - To Sir With Hate
88 Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade
87 Madonna - Confessions On A Dance Floor
86 Madonna - Madonna
85 Nina Simone - Anthology
84 Cyndi Lauper - True Colors
83 Bette Midler - The Divine Miss M
82 Cher - Believe
81 Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah
80 Rufus Wainwright - Want One
79 T. Rex - Electric Warrior
78 Various - The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack
77 New Order - Substance
76 Ani DiFranco - Imperfectly
75 Carole King - Tapestry
74 Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
73 Various - Fame Soundtrack
72 Donna Summer - Once Upon a Time
71 Elton John - Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
70 Rent Original Broadway Cast - Rent
69 Frances Faye - Caught In The Act
68 Nirvana - Nevermind
67 Hüsker Dü - Candy Apple Grey
66 Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
65 Le Tigre - Le Tigre
64 Patti Smith - Easter
63 Björk - Debut
62 Jeff Buckley - Grace
61 Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
60 R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
59 Bronski Beat - The Age of Consent
58 Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
57 Prince - Dirty Mind
56 Team Dresch - Personal Best
55 David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
54 Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
53 Culture Club - Colour By Numbers
52 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
51 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome
50 Rufus Wainwright - Poses
49 Patti Smith - Horses
48 Cris Williamson - The Changer and the Changed
47 The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
46 Madonna - Ray of Light
45 Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped
44 Pet Shop Boys - Very
43 Prince - Purple Rain
42 ABBA - Gold
41 Melissa Etheridge - Yes I Am
40 Pet Shop Boys - Behavior
39 Laura Nyro And Labelle - Gonna Take A Miracle
38 Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis
37 Blondie - Parallel Lines
36 Madonna - Erotica
35 Yaz - Upstairs At Eric's
34 Donna Summer - Bad Girls
33 The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow
32 The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
31 Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstacy
30 Diana Ross - Diana
29 Pet Shop Boys - Actually
28 Queen - The Game
27 Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
26 Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
25 k.d. lang - Ingénue
24 Sylvester - Living Proof
23 Deee-Lite - World Clique
22 The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
21 David Bowie - Hunky Dory
20 Queen - A Day at the Races
19 The B-52s - The B-52's
18 George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. I
17 Lou Reed - Transformer
16 Queen - A Night at the Opera
15 George Michael - Faith
14 Erasure - The Innocents
13 Ani DiFranco - Dilate
12 The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico
11 Various - Hedwig And The Angry Inch Soundtrack
10 Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
09 Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
08 Madonna - The Immaculate Collection
07 Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
06 The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
05 Judy Garland - Judy at Carnegie Hall
04 Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls
03 Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
02 The Smiths - The Smiths
01 David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Thoughts?
17 comments:
So THAT'S how Swells releases his pent-up inner geek . . .
Aaand Blimpy morphs into JAP before our very eyes.... startling how many of those I have in my collection. Liza Minelli and the PSB's Results should figure largely too. And no Communards??? How come Substance is on the list?
I have approximately a third. Thank gawd I'm not that keen on Bowie, I'd be seriously in trouble then! No Dollar, FP? And Nevermind, gay? REALLY?
True and from experience (ie my very dear gay friends) we need some Sebastian Tellier, Air, Daft Punk - a bit of French Touch!
Or second thoughts, that's perhaps because they're French. As opposed to gay.
@darce - according to my google analytics reports for The 'Spill, at least one person found their way to our website by googling "steven wells"
wtf?!
On the list, whither "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven"?
I really don't understand what makes some of those albums gay.
In fact, I really don't like the idea of "gay albums" much at all, speaking as a "gay person".
I have quite a few of the albums on the list, but lots of music I like I can't ever see appearing on any kind of LGBT type list.
I mean, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, the Dead, Fairports, MBV, JAMC, Hendrix?
Lists like this just serve to clog the tubes to be honest....There's some top stuff on there that's nowhere near any gayness whatsoever..
Who dreams this stuff up?
And after re-reading through, before posting, I wonder why it actually matters? And to who(m)? Top sounds are just that after all.
I can't remember how I dropped upon your blog, a couple of weeks ago, but am glad that I did, you lot have a lot to say that's challenging & interesting, and spotlights some different avenues of listening goodness.
Keep it up!
(Please)
hi carole,
i left any opinion of mine about the whole concept of this list out of my original post to see what comments got left, and to see what debate may get started - cos I think there's a lot of interesting issues here.
None of which are to do with how gay a record may or may not be....
hi gypsy james - don't worry, we will.
And if you'd like to write for the blog, just drop me a line via the sidebar link.
cheers!
Huh! Has no one heard of that great lost classic French language album 'Il dirige un petit magasin d'antiquités avec son ami' by Les Jardiniers de Montée?
Just kidding, naturally. Such an odd list though in many ways. The unintentionally gayest looking album sleeve, however... Now that would be a worthy debate!
Nominations please!
Meaningless stat, but I've got a quarter of those.
NO idea what it's trying to say - half of them are not 'gay' albums, they're just albums by artists who happen to be gay.
And Nevermind & Substance score less on the gayometer than Mike Ashley and Dennis Wise do on the Christmas card lists of Newcastle taxi drivers!
@DsD - this is actually a government sponsored test, set in order to be able to determine future funding limits and tax breaks based on a person's "percentage-that-way". You are officially, therefore, a quarter gay. Sound right?
As for me, I've only got 17 of them, so practically qualify for my pint of mild and membership of the Jim Davidson fan club...
Apparently, though, the list was compiled by a survey of a hundred gay celebrities and icons, finding albums that mean a lot to them etc etc. So it is probably a triumph of marketing over substance - call it The Gayest Albums of All Time and we're all looking. Call it The 100 Albums Most Influential on Gay People of All Time and maybe we all shrug?
But sreiously, though, which was that Rufus album with 'Gay Messiah' on it?...
Now imagine if anyone other than "out" magazine put together a list of "gayest albums" or a list of most hetrosexual albums come to that.
To Carole's point, surely, most gay people's taste in music is as diverse (or not) as anyone elses.
Exactly Shoegazer, the whole thing is crap.
People generally like music that moves them in some way, speaks to them or however you want to put it.
OK, lots of LGBT people buy music by LGBT artists, I mean every lesbian I know (this is a slight exaggeration) owns at least one Dusty Springfield CD, unless they are under 25 and then it is Tegan and Sara, but really the whole idea is just daft.
Categorising people is a bad idea.
Came on to respond to Snadfrod's line about being a quarter gay (specifically: "I can live with that"), but having read Carole's latest comment, I just want to add wholehearted donds to that too.
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