Who do you think is a 'gay music icon' (besides Lady Gaga)?

[Sam Blum]

Well, I just found out that apparently Courtney Love is a gay icon! I have to say that I have an enormous learning curve ahead of me...

 

[hungprep]

No comments on Jimmy Scott?


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRYJbaxwJ20&fmt=18"]When Did You Leave Heaven? Jimmy Scott[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBNzwxkdDYk&fmt=18"]If You Only Knew Jimmy Scott[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4LZJ_m8J0c&fmt=18"]When Your Lover Has Gone Jimmy Scott[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

Hmm… Are people here really that dull?


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqj3wTUBlMY&fmt=18"]They Say You Cry Jimmy Scott[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzQ5Q0XhI9I&fmt=18"]Almost Blue Jimmy Scott[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I83sDtfsKkk&fmt=18"]For All We Know Jimmy Scott[/ame]
.

 

[David DeVour]

I forget her name, but there was a lesbian jazz singer in the 1st half of the 20th century who beat the hell out of 2 sailors who hassled her.

Wayne/Jayne County swung a mic stand with a heavy circular base onto Handsome Dick Manitoba's (from the Dictators) collar bone and broke it. He came up to the stage to attack Wayne. They fought while the band played on.

Debbie Harry was quoted in the early seventies as saying, "The only people who can do anything new in rock and roll are girls and gays." Debbie was influenced by the Warhol drag queens and I think it shows heavily on the first album and on the songs Platinum Blonde and Puerto Rico. They played a gay pride parade very early on.

What did Barbara Streisand do for gay people? Was it before 1980? I'm not knocking her, I'm just curious.

 

[hungprep]

^ Besides supporting the Democratic party…?


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO-IIExuDAg&fmt=18"]The Way We Were Jimmy Scott[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4bMvQXiq48&fmt=18"]Holding Back the Years Jimmy Scott[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaQYtdk1Tko&fmt=18"]What I Wouldn't Give Jimmy Scott[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

And gay people have this vaunted reputation for having 'Good Taste' and discernment…

Well, they supported Jimmy Scott from the beginning of his career (when the ignorant and intolerant made fun of him for sounding 'too much' like a woman), and they kept his extraordinary music alive during some very dark years, filled with prejudice, for both…


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck7YriOlooo&fmt=18"]The Crying Game Jimmy Scott[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYG55t2JcIA&fmt=18"]I Cried for You Jimmy Scott[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsoMjMcS4nc&fmt=18"]Smile Jimmy Scott[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4aHWG7aqPM&fmt=18"]Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child[/ame]


^ Jimmy Scott at Birdland


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwnBOIH7PkE&fmt=18"]The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face[/ame]


^ Jimmy Scott on Eastwood After Hours


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiwtDoxHT2Y&fmt=18"]Sycamore Trees Jimmy Scott[/ame]


^ From Twin Peaks
.

 

[hungprep]

^ Good call – though a lot of the stories about her, including her death, were later shown to be apocryphal.

For starters, here's a short film about her with one such story – part truth, part legend… and – oh, yeah, everyone – feel free to jump in anytime…


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te_X3W2h0wQ&fmt=18"]Bessie Smith: An Introduction[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go6TiLIeVZA&fmt=18"]Downhearted Blues Bessie Smith[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VKEKkTQU-k&fmt=18"]Taint Nobody's Business if I Do[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZVD8QqNoak&fmt=18"]A Good Man Is Hard to Find Bessie Smith[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKn-QVQzISo&fmt=18"]You've Got to Give Me Some Bessie Smith[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0TDNR3NEY0&fmt=18"]I'm Wild about that Thing Bessie Smith[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUVzQ5o7J1U&fmt=18"]Mistreatin' Daddy/Frosty Morning Blues Bessie Smith[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxQncVvsuyg&fmt=18"]Young Woman's Blues Bessie Smith[/ame]


^ Featuring Joe Smith (cornet), Buster Bailey (clarinet) and Fletcher Henderson (piano)


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BsIntS_Io4&fmt=18"]Empty Bed Blues Bessie Smith[/ame]


^ With Charlie Green (trombone) and Porter Grainger (piano)
.

 

[hungprep]

I just hope someone else is enjoying these great songs as much as I am…


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6SJ0eaLvo&fmt=18"]Weeping Willow Blues Bessie Smith[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4s1Sdan_G8&fmt=18"]Careless Love Bessie Smith[/ame]


^ With Louis Armstrong (cornet), Charlie Green (trombone), and Fletcher Henderson (piano)


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx-VAqKDDuc&fmt=18"]I Ain't Got Nobody Bessie Smith[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out…


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MzU8xM99Uo&fmt=18"]Nobody Knows You… Bessie Smith[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhfPP-YUEMQ&fmt=18"]Gimme a Pigfoot Bessie Smith[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6BdDhrKKSo&fmt=18"]Me and My Gin Bessie Smith[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE_OWy2fQnY&fmt=18"]After You've Gone Bessie Smith[/ame]
.

 

[evanrick]

I cant believe nobody has said Darren Hayes

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqGnsP4wOf0[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HpA7UZvWdc[/ame]

 

[hungprep]

David Sylvian

Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, November 1982…


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHy3b7tsSyk&fmt=18"]Ghosts Japan[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

Bettye LaVette…


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C3TTD2vKv8&fmt=18"]Before the Money Came Bettye LaVette[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJi6maTueSc&fmt=18"]Love Reign O'er Me Bettye LaVette[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGUaLuRre7o&fmt=18"]Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me Bettye LaVette[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

Does anyone else agree with me, that the next song would make a better, more meaningful, 'gay anthem' than an insipid piece of pop drivel like Born This Way? It's a song with a more universal appeal, that no one would feel awkward, or ashamed, to sing – and, consequently, could bring all people together, in support of our cause.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHruPW8hK2g&fmt=18"]How Am I Different? Bettye LaVette[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrbUrtL9mdU&fmt=18"]Stand Up Like a Man Bettye LaVette[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RKzpS_XBYM&fmt=18"]Joy/Let Me Down Easy Bettye LaVette[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

To celebrate this Fourth of July weekend, let's turn the Wayback Machine to September 1978 at the Downtown Café in Atlanta, Georgia – about a month before the release of their first album…

(To see the vids, just do what they say, and click the links to YouTube – song titles/band name – I put in the tops of the video window frames. Now, party!)


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJgvJvIo2-U&mt=18"]52 Girls The B52s[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NgMuUowxjs&fmt=18"]Runnin' Around The B52s[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSe6SYvsk9E&fmt=18"]Devil's in My Car The B52s[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp5hzCMJE_A&fmt=18"]Downtown The B52s[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo7vXBeTlJM&fmt=18"]Hero Worship The B52s[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN8hV4AyNss&fmt=18"]Dance this Mess Around The B52s[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnU3WoQZHJE&fmt=18"]Rock Lobster The B52s[/ame]
.

 

[hungprep]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KyhesAa-DA&fmt=18"]Deadbeat Club The B52s[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EPP3gkh_00&fmt=18"]Planet Claire The B52s[/ame]


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASHO3gOSnaM&fmt=18"]Private Idaho The B52s[/ame]


In just the past two days, I've posted more videos by Fred Schneider and The B52s in my other thread Think of a Song About Masturbating
.