TIME Asks "What Makes a Gay Song?"

-- snicks from AfterElton.com

 

TIME is running an interesting article and podcast from the True Colors Tour, asking people to define what a "gay song" is. One of the people they ask is radio DJ J.D. Doyle, who hosts a show called "Queer Voices", and takes umbrage with a popular perception:

"I could be describing my radio show to someone who hasn't heard of it, and I'd say its purpose is to share and preserve the history of gay music," Doyle said on a show a few years ago. "They'd say, 'Oh, disco music.' No, no. And I'd climb up on my soapbox and ask why they would think disco music is gay music, since most of it is by straight artists, mostly women, and only a tiny percent is lyrically gay. Very little of it is actually about our lives. By this time their eyes are quickly glazing over, and I realize once again I've taken the purist approach. But I certainly can't deny that to most people disco or dance music is the genre most associated with gay culture."

 

So what is a gay song, exactly? Is it any song by a gay artist? Is it a song by a gay artist that's explicitly gay? Can it be a song by a straight artist that has a gay sensibility to it? Or is there no such thing anymore as a "gay" or "straight" song? One of the people interviewed in the podcast is a teenage girl, who says that her generation doesn't really think like that. To them, a good song is a good song, and as long as it speaks to them, it doesn't matter who the artist is, or what the intention of the song is.

Do you agree with that sentiment, or do you have a list of favorite gay songs? Feel free to use the comments section to name your favorites, or explain why you don't think in those terms. Do you think that "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilara is a gay song? What about "Secret Love" by Doris Day, or "Father Figure" by George Michael?

And what about "Sugar Walls" by Sheena Easton, is that a gay song? It certainly was when I performed it at karaoke.

 

Discuss!

 

Comments

[AHTHA]

I think the way a song is approached and performed can make one perceive it as gay. However, a song often becomes known as gay when the gay community embraces it. And many singers need to thank God (or whomever they worship) for that, because without the gays and they're so-called gay song(s) they'd have no careet to speak of.

[JD Doyle]

Gee, they quoted me...nice, but wish they would have told people where they CAN find "gay music"...on my site, with over 8 years of archived, downloadable programs, with music of all genres.

JD Doyle