Music/Society Modern Wrld (W7)
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StonewalltoLavenderCountry.pptxAfter Stonewall & Lavender Country
After Stonewall (Bullock reading)
1. LGBTQ activism became more explicit, forceful, vocal, visible
2. LGBTQ people become more visible in media
3. Gay Liberation Front founded (1969), gay pride parade started (1970) as an annual commemoration of Stonewall ‘riots’
Jewel Akens “He’s Good for Me” (1973) marketed as ‘first gay rock single 45 (record)’
1972 - Lou Reed Transformer album, includes songs: “Make Up” (coming out of the closet) and “Walk on the Wild Side” (about transvestite)
Glam Rock
1970s - Rock music starts to more explicitly play with gender and sexual identities; increasingly men wearing make-up, cross-dressing
Androgynous – ambiguity between male and female identity expression
David Bowie (1947-2016) – English singer-songwriter, actor; 1969 “Space Oddity”; 1972 takes on androgynous Ziggy Stardust persona (right)
More Glam Rock
New York Dolls –founded 1971 in NYC; pioneers of punk; “Personality Crisis”
Alice Cooper – “Godfather of shock rock”; goth; “I’m Eighteen” (1971) promoted pan-sexuality,
Kiss – founded NYC 1973 (bottom left)
Elton John – most successful out-gay musician of all time; gay rights icon; 1969 first studio album; “Your Song”
Rocky Horror Picture Show –movie depicting glam/goth style; transsexual identities
Lavender Country
Country music often promotes conventional gender norms: “macho”, heterosexual, tough men & subordinate, soft women
1939 – “Lavender Cowboy” Vernon Dalhart [mocks ‘unmanly’ men] [banned from radio]
1939 – “I Love My Fruit” Sweet Violet Boys
1951 – “The Sissy Song” Billy Briggs [mocks effeminate men]
1973 – Lavender Country album – Patrick Haggerty – ‘proud proclamation of gay identity’
“Cryin ’ These Cocksucking Tears”
Haggerty – as young gay man, rejected from Peace Corp.; struggled with identity; later politically active in HIV/AIDS work
Later Stars: k.d. lang “Constant Craving”; Shane McAnally; Lil Nas X “Old Town Road”
