My confession: On deadline, I selected the albums for my top 10 list in about five minutes, though I'd been mentally debating them for a month. Now, thanks to a little thing called journalistic integrity, I'm stuck with them forever -- and have to recapture the justifications for inclusion and/or your mocking. (At least I had two blurbs already contributed to the magazine version, so I was 80 percent done.) For more emotionally relevant commentary, you should totally read Noah's amazing list. My analytical brain apparently felt the need to consider these albums' importance in, like, the world. That said...
Shana's top 10 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time:
10. Melissa Etheridge, Brave and Crazy: I first heard Melissa Etheridge in this little indie movie about runaways in LA, 1992's Where the Day Takes You. I obsessed over the film credits, wondering who the hell this throaty, Janis Joplin-esque singer was and how I'd never heard her haunting voice before. She has a handful of cuts on the soundtrack, but it was "Royal Station 4/16" -- complete with actual trains howling in the distance -- and "You Can Sleep While I Drive," a heartbreaker of a hopeful getaway ballad, that sent me to the record store with nothing but her name and the pre-Google hope that they'd have a stack of her stuff hidden somewhere. This album, from 1989, is pre-Yes I Am (1993) but no less emotionally raw, and though I like a lot of what she's done since, it remains my favorite.
9. Frances Faye, Caught in the Act: Frances Faye may be the most forgotten nightclub singer in queer history, a brassy bisexual broad whose act was equal parts cabaret and comedy, the mischievous love child of Mae West and Cole Porter. Caught In the Act -- a live recording from 1959 featuring her wild versions of "Night and Day" and "The Man I Love" -- is rare, undeniable evidence that her audiences, which included Rock Hudson, Barbara Stanwyck and even Paul McCartney, were in on the all the dirty jokes. In "Frances and Her Friends" -- the best thing the L Word ever did for music was use this over the opening scene of an early episode -- anything goes: "I know a guy named Willie / Willie goes with Tilly / Tilly goes with Millie / What a ball!" And the crowd goes wild...
8. RENT, Original Broadway Cast Recording: Those of us who didn't grow up in New York City or within commuting distance of it have long had to make do with getting our sho-mo on by proxy. So I love movie musicals, and I love soundtracks -- both of which were able to bring me the power of Broadway no matter where I was marooned. Months before I was able to see a touring production of this show for the first time I borrowed the two-disc set from a friend. And once I started listening, I couldn't stop. I played "One Song Glory" on repeat for about three weeks straight. I missed half the jokes in "Light My Candle" because I couldn't see Mimi writhing around on the floor. I didn't care: it was a raucous, raunchy rock opera I hadn't known I needed.
7. Madonna, Like a Prayer: "Express Yourself" is one of the greatest, gayest songs ever -- both a clarion call for coming out and a promise to do so unapologetically. (Also I remember really vividly wanting to sleep with just about everyone in this video.) Plus "Like A Prayer" was the first corporate sponsor boycott I remember seeing unfold: If Pepsi was so sure an interracial love affair between a priest and a parishioner was too much, Madonna wasn't going to be the one who backed down.
6. Panic at the Disco, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out: If you have ever read Popnography, you had to know this would show up somewhere. The 2005 album is a ridiculously ambitious and confident debut, and Brendon Urie's soaring, dramatic voice demands your attention as the band references everything from The Sound of Music to Chuck Palahniuk novels. The songs are young and surprised at life's uglier truths, yet still full of braggadocio about sexual prowess and despair over dishonesty. (Two autobiographical exceptions are about lyricist/guitarist Ryan Ross' now-dead alcoholic father, which are rare among their peers' songs in that they are borne of legitimately emo circumstances.) Mostly, Panic pulls off one hell of a complicated techno-laden, punk cabaret, flamboyantly queer dance party. It's a party where if you wear the right pinstripe pants, everything goes according to plan, but where hookups in sad Las Vegas motels reveal there are "no raindrops on roses and girls in white dresses," only "sleeping with roaches and taking best guesses."
More, more, more, including Nirvana, Queen and my pick for the greatest, gayest album of all time...
As we come to end of our month long look at the making of our first ever Top 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time list created by polling over 100 musicians, filmmakers, writers and critics, Shana and I thought we'd be a bit indulgent and list our own top 10 favorite queer albums. [Ed. note: And by "indulgent" we mean allow you the opportunity to mock our musical taste.]
It was excruciatingly difficult to come up with this list, and as you'll see, not every album is by a queer artist but many/most of the albums I chose conjure up very specific memories of my formative years as a fag trapped in the industrial wilds of small town Wisconsin. These are the albums that kept me from stuffing my pockets with rocks and sinking myself to the bottom of Lake Michigan, by the artists I desperately wanted to be, screw, and/or be saved by.
Noah's top 10 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time:
10. Bjork, Debut: When I think of my junior year of high school, I think of a class trip to Italy and "Big Time Sensuality" on repeat in a tiny Roman hotel room while my friend Tiffany, drunk on peach schnapps, tried to seduce me. Like Bjork, I "didn't know my future after [that] weekend" but I knew enough to know it would never include heavy petting with Tiffany.
9. Depeche Mode, Violator: Depeche Mode makes the best make out music. It's sexy, but it's also sad. Sort of a "since the world is ending, why don't we hump?" kind of vibe. A word to the wise: If any guy ever takes me home and puts this album on he will be in for the hottest two to 11 (depending on how early I have to be up the next morning) hours of his life.
8. Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral: I went to my first gay club when I was in 12th grade. It was in Milwaukee, a half an hour away from my home, and it had an Industrial 16+ night (the very thought of which now qualifies as bona fide nightmare fuel). When "March of the Pigs" came on everyone cleared the floor so a handful of guys could pummel each other and whenever the snarling guitars dropped out and Trent purred "Now doesn't that make you feel better?" the entire club screamed, "NO!" I screamed along with them, but moments like that were one of the few times in high school I actually did feel better.
7. Madonna, Erotica: My parents made me buy the censored version, but I didn't care. I remember that fall was our volleyball unit in freshman gym class and I would practice serving over for hours in my backyard while my boom box blared "Bye Bye Baby" and "Deeper and Deeper" over and over and over again. I think I still probably serve like a fag.
6. Kate Bush, Hounds of Love: "Cloudbusting" is one of my favorite songs ever. Most people don't know it's based on the book by Peter Reich about his father, Wilhelm Reich, famed philosopher, sex theorist, and scientist who claimed to have a machine that could make rain. The government arrested him for his "dangerous ideas" and his son never saw him again. After my dad died last year it meant even more to me.
Read the rest of Noah's top 10 list after the jump...
Still, we have a few more top 10 lists to offer you. Today's comes from the lead singer of Ponytail, Molly Siegel (above center). Yelping and ululating over a labyrinth of spastic guitars and ping-ponging percussion, the young Baltimore-based art-rock foursome sound like they've chugged way too much Kool-Aid, but their sophomore album, released a few weeks ago, is perfect for the early days of fall.
Molly Siegel's top 10 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time:
10. Dazzlestorm, The Diary of Lisa Frank 9. Lil Wayne, The Carter I - III 8. The Slits, Cut 7. Queen, All of It 6. Salt n Pepper, Very Necessary 5. Queen Latifah, Black Reign 4. Lil Kim, Hardcore 3. Sleater Kinney, Call the Doctor 2. The Smiths, Hatful of Hollow 1. Le Tigre, Feminist Sweepstakes
All month long we've brought you some of our favorite individual top 10's from the over 100 musicians, actors, writers and critics we polled to create our Top 100 list, and today we're featuring the picks from Junior Vasquez. The DJ is famous for remixing some of the biggest names in pop music from Madonna to Elton John to Whitney Houston and for spinning at legendary hot spots like Sound Factory, Tunnel, and Twilo.
Junior Vasquez's top 10 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time:
10. Deborah Cox, One Wish 9. C & C Music Factory, Gonna Make You Sweat 8. Dead or Alive, Youthquake 7. Sade, Lovers Rock 6. Culture Club, Colour By Numbers 5. Cyndi Lauper, True Colors 4. Cher, It's a Man's World 3. Madonna, The Immaculate Collection 2. Sylvester, Living Proof 1. Donna Summer, On the Radio
Rufus Wainwright barely escaped a torrential downpour as he performed a six-song set at Manhattan's City Hall Park on Saturday in support of the Recovery Project, a multiyear initiative developed by A&E network, government groups and non-profits to help raise awareness that addiction is treatable and recovery is possible.
After thousands of participants formed a human chain across the Brooklyn Bridge in a life-sized symbol of recovery, they headed over to a rally at the park, where Wainwright concluded the ceremony. He may have started his performance around 11:30 AM, but the crooner's vocals were as stellar as always. He opened with "Vibrate" (a song he wrote right before he headed to recovery), then played favorites "Beauty Mark" (for his mum), "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" (about finding optimism in the face of addiction), "Going to a Town," and "Matinee Idol," before closing the mini-concert with his gorgeous cover of "Hallelujah."
Out: How did you choose your set for this performance? Rufus Wainwright: Well, I wanted it to be on one hand touching but also uplifting, which is what today is about. It was almost like a hit of Cher: You have your light moments and your dark moments.
How long have you been in recovery? Well, I'm a firm believer in the anonymous bit. It doesn’t really matter how long you've been sober or how you got there. This event is about supporting health.
You've been writing your opera. What can we expect from it? It's being presented in July 2009 in Manchester, England. It's a big fashion spectacle with a high soprano role. It's called Prima Donna, and it's about a day in the life of an opera singer. That's very meta. Yeah, it is.
When Out compiled its list of the 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time, you submitted your top 10 choices and selected an album by opera singer Maria Callas as your number one pick. Why? On all fronts -- whether classical or pop -- she is considered one of the greatest singers of all time. She encapsulates the drama and emotion it takes to be gay, but she remained positive and hopeful, which is part of being gay too. She is a real warrior.
Are you working on a new album now as well? Well, I won't go into detail about it, but I'm always writing songs, especially with the political shift we're experiencing now. I have a lot of inspiration.
What did you think of the presidential debate Friday night? The poor candidates are debating every day, so I understand that nothing massive happened. I'm an Obama supporter, and I think he held his own. He expressed himself as open, hopeful, and negotiable to the world. He did a good job.
Out's October music issue features our first ever Top 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time as decided by polling over 100 musicians, writers, filmmakers, and critics. All month long Popnography has been rolling out the individual top 10's from some of our favorite respondents.
Today's list comes from transgender author, playwright, and performance artist Kate Bornstein, perhaps best known for her books Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us and My Gender Workbook, both of which have been taught in classes at over 120 universities around the world. (We're huge fans of the latter especially as a fun, funny way to get the most serious of binary thinkers to open their minds a bit.) You can also check out Kate's recent blog post on helping the Stonewall Democrats spread the word about today's
cyber day of action during which trans folks and their allies can show
Senator Obama both their numbers and their support.
Kate Bornstein's top 10 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time:
10. Tegan and Sara, So Jealous, Tegan and Sara: These grrrls and this album give me hope for a very sweet, strong, and fun queer future.
9. Helen Kane, The Original "Boop-Boob-A-Doop" Girl: This album taught me most of what I needed to know about expressing myself as high femme.
8. Blondie, Parallel Lines: This album bends sexuality and gender with no apologies. I can still listen to it beginning to end and fully enjoy the strength it gives me as a queer.
7. ABBA, Gold: Oh come on. Joy, joy, joy.
6. The Beatles, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: My first taste of life outside the white, heteronormative, middle class box I'd been living in all my life to that point.
5. Pacific Overtures, original cast recording: Sondheim's musical about the westernization of Japan is a brilliant illustration of the means and effects of assimilationism, seen through the filters of race and citizenship. The principles apply to gender and sexuality as well.
4. Cris Williamson, The Changer and the Changed: It's a classic pioneering album of lesbian feminist activism and spirituality.
3. The Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground and Nico: First time I ever heard SM set to music. Holy poop!
2. Ferron, Shadows On A Dime: I came out as a tranny dyke in the mid-80s, and Ferron's music touched every single chord of strength I needed to overcome my vast quantities of self-pity.
1. All That Jazz, original film soundtrack: Bob Fosse's musical comedy salute to sex, art, ego and death. What could possibly be more queer than that? This is also my favorite film of all time.
Get all the rest of the music, fashion, interviews, and more from Out's October issue at Out.com. And while you're there, take a second and weigh in on your choice for the Greatest, Gayest Album of All Time.
Out's October music issue is home to our first ever Top 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time. The list was calculated by inviting over 100 musicians, filmmakers, writers, and critics to send us their top 10 picks for the best and queerest albums in their collections.
All month long Popnography is running some of those top 10's from our famous friends, like today's list from Chris March. The designer and sometimes drag queen was a viewer favorite on the fourth season of Project Runway and returned to oversee the drag competition earlier this month on the fifth season of Bravo's fashion design reality show.
Chris March's top 10 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time:
10. Sylvester, Do You Wanna Funk?: He's the ORIGINAL original.
9. ABBA, Gold: "Dancing Queen" made me have funny feelings about my best friend in 8th Grade.
8. Village People, Macho Man: I can still fantasize about the YMCA shower scene in "Can't Stop the Music."
7. Liza Minelli, Results: Liza and the Pet Shop Boys? Enough said.
6. Scissor Sisters, Ta-Dah: I still don't think most people get their name.
5. Dee-Lite, World Clique: Watch the gays flood the dance floor.
4. Blondie, Eat to the Beat: Who didn't want to BE her?
3. Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual: She helped bring out my inner drag queen.
2. Madonna, Like a Virgin: Enough said.
1. Judy Garland, Live at Carnegie Hall: Cliche I know, but listening to this album actually TURNS you gay.
We're still celebrating Out's October music issue featuring our first ever Top 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time which we created by polling over 100 musicians, filmmakers, writers, and critics.
All month long we're running the individual top 10 lists from some of the aforementioned famous friends, like Justin Bond. Most famous as Kiki of the beloved musical duo Kiki and Herb, Bond also starred in John Cameron Mitchell's (another contributor to our Top 100) Shortbus and can routinely be found haunting the bars and clubs of lower Manhattan.
Justin Bond's top 10 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time:
10. New Order, Power, Corruption and Lies: This album made me realize fags could dance and be made horny by something other than disco.
9. David Bowie, Hunky Dory: So glam! So Warhol!...Oh! You Pretty Things. Pre-dates Ziggy Stardust and is totally gender-queer.
8. Janis Ian, Between the Lines: At Seventeen made me question my sexuality and the answer was, "I'm a lesbian!"
7. R.E.M, Document
6. Diamanda Galas, Plague Mass: My grief...! My grief...!
5. Marianne Faithfull, Broken English: I Heard it for the first time on my way to my job at the Dairy Queen and pulled over to have that brilliant
EUREKA! moment realizing there was something more.
4. Patti Smith, Easter: "Rock 'N Roll Nigger" says it all.
3. Deee-Lite, World Clique: Total joy in the darkest of times.
2. Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters: Total joy in the most joyful of times.
1. Bronski Beat, Age of Consent: The first overtly political queer record. It saved
lives and broke hearts. "Smalltown Boy" is probably one of the
most haunting songs about the queer experience ever!
For more rock and roll mayhem from our October music issue, head over to Out.com. And while you're there, let us know what you'd choose as your #1 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time.
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