The most comprehensive history of LGBT music ever compiled, encompassing a century of music by and for the LGBT communityLGBT musicians have shaped the development of music over the last century, with a sexually progressive soundtrack in the background of the gay community’s struggle for acceptance. With the advent of recording technology, LGBT messages were for the first time brought to the forefront of popular music.
David Bowie Made Me Gay is the first book to cover the breadth of history of recorded music by and for the LGBT community and how those records influenced the evolution of the music we listen to today.
David Bowie Made Me Gay uncovers the lives of the people who made these records, and offers a lively canter through the scarcely documented history of LGBT music-makers. Darryl W. Bullock discusses how gay, lesbian, and bisexual performers influenced Jazz and Blues; examines the almost forgotten Pansy Craze in the years between the two World Wars (when many LGBT performers were feted by royalty and Hollywood alike); chronicles the dark years after the depression when gay life was driven deep underground; celebrates the re-emergence of LGBT performers in the post-Stonewall years; and highlights today’s most legendary out-gay pop stars: Elton John, Boy George, Freddie Mercury, and George Michael.
‘An excellent book.’
—Gay Star News
‘Well-researched and brimming with intrigue, Bullock’s comprehensive study not only makes the work of scores of musicians sing anew; it also demonstrates how the pendulum of acceptance can swing from era to era.’
—Kirkus Reviews
‘A fascinating chronicle [and] a necessary and hard-hitting reminder that there is still progress to be made… a comprehensive and compelling work, in terms of its extensive discussion of music, history and, of course, a human struggle for tolerance, acceptance and respect.’
—Nudge Books
‘Lovingly detailed and exhaustively researched - easily the most readable and comprehensive guide I’ve seen to this fascinating hidden history.’
—Tom Robinson
‘A look back at a century of LGBTQ music, [David Bowie Made Me Gay] serves as a primer of a movement in which Bowie was key.’
—Billboard
‘An up-close-and-personal look at the legacy that formed our musical and cultural landscape, David Bowie Made Me Gay takes a provocative look at how the spectrum of LGBTQ culture changed the mainstream.’
—Journal of Musical Things
Buy David Bowie Made Me Gay now:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
Hi Darryl,
ReplyDeleteI just finished your wonderful book DAVID BOWIE MADE ME GAY. What a marvel of information. Kudos to your exhaustive research skills. I did however think of a band that should be in the book, a San Francisco band from the 80s-90s. As I read your chapters covering those time periods, I kept thinking they would show up, but I did not see any info about an incredible gay band called Voice Farm. If there are reprints, please think about including them.
I saw them in concert in the Bay Area about 10 times and they were a spectacle each time with multi-media, film, dancers, props, and amazing songs.
https://www.facebook.com/realvoicefarm/
http://voicefarm.blogspot.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_Farm
Thanks for an entertaining, enlightening book!
JEF
Hi Jeff. Thanks for the info; I'll definitely look into Voice Farm and if there is opportunity to write about them or include them in an update then I shall.
DeleteReally glad you enjoyed the book, your kind words are hugely appreciated!
Wonderful book and well written, I actually wanted to see their take on Boy George and guys like that, but the part about those down home Blues Singers of the 20s really fascinated me. Lucille Bogan, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith - those were some tough women dealing with the triple blow of being Black and poor, women and also with lesbian tendencies. Nearly every name had me searching on line and it was fascinating, great for anyone who thinks gay music started with fakes like T Rex and Bowie who were married with kids.
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