A gay anthem or LGBT anthem is a song that has become widely popular among, or has become identified with, the LGBT community; usually with gay men. The lyrics of gay anthems are often marked with hope against the odds, pride, unity, or defiance.
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Themes
Although every song is individual, the criteria for what makes a gay anthem does show a pattern among the songs. In the book Queer the following ten main themes were listed that are common among many, if not all gay anthems; they are:[1]
- Big voiced divas: Rather than particular song, this area of gay anthems is more akin to a cult of personality of a large gay male following for some particular diva-style pop music vocalists who are almost always female gay icons.
- Overcoming hardship in love: Usually a narrative of a wronged lover who comes back stronger than before.
- You are not alone: Songs about coming together as a community or reassurance to the lonely that there are others like them out there.
- Throw your cares away: A carefree narrative about putting your troubles aside and partying.
- Hard-won self esteem Here the themes involves fighting through oppression, darkness or fear to gain freedom, beauty or self esteem.
- Being a straight-acting/ masculine regular guy who just happens to like other guys: A new type of anthem from late 1990s and 2000s that includes songs on being a more masculine type of gay men and those who reject camp stereotypes
- Celebrating unashamed sexuality: The theme here is of transcending cultural shame to celebrate one's sexual nature.
- Search for acceptance: Songs about a welcoming promised land where the dream of acceptance and belonging and hope lives.
- Torch song for the world weary: A narrative about being used, abused and surviving to tell the tale of lament.
- Love conquers all: Tales of not giving up on love despite seemingly insurmountable odds.
- No apologies: Here the theme revolves around defiantly living one's life despite what others may want.
Timeline
Less common, but still notable, are gay garage rock, punk and hardcore anthems, including songs by artists such as Jayne County such as "Man Enough to Be a Woman", Buzzcocks' "Orgasm Addict", a number of singles by Pansy Division and songs by Team Dresch and Tribe 8 (See also Queercore).[original research?]
Also many post-grunge and emo band such as My Chemical Romance, 3 Doors Down, Daughtry, Nickelback, Creed, Lostprophets, Fall Out Boy, and Panic At The Disco also tend to make songs popular with the LGBT community.
Bibliography
- Gay Anthems (Book & CD). Music Sales Ltd. ISBN 071199742X
- Leila J. Rupp, Verta Taylor. Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret. University Of Chicago Press, May 15, 2003. ISBN 0226731588
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Simon Gage, Lisa Richards, and Howard Wilmot.. "Queer". pp. 26-7. ISBN 1560253770. http://books.google.com/books?id=FPHZbVhQQTUC&printsec=frontcover. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Sarah Lippek. "Disrupted Values, Erupting Culture: Cabaret and the Sexual Persona in Weimar Berlin". Social Science Research Network. p. 13. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1079945. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Richard Dyer. "Judy Garland and Gay Men". Queer Cinema ed. Harry M Benshoff and Sean Griffin. p. 162.. http://books.google.com/books?id=Uht9tepzwnkC&printsec=frontcover. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "The pink hit parade: Sing if you're glad to be gay". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-pink-hit-parade-sing-if-youre-glad-to-be-gay-422423.html. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Michael Bronski. "Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility". http://books.google.com/books?id=QBOARyvN-cMC&printsec=frontcover#PPP1,M1. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Tim Lawrence. "“I Want to See All My Friends At Once’’: Arthur Russell and the Queering of Gay Disco". University of East London. http://www.timlawrence.info/articles/pdfs/IWantToSeeAllMyFriendsAtOnce.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Benjamin Genocchio (February 19, 2006). "Exploring the Effects of Disco’s Beat". The New York Times. http://www.rozanehmagazine.com/MarchApril06/Anegarafkhami.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Elizabeth Kaminski and Verta Taylor. "We're Not Just Lip-synching Here: Music and Collective Identity in Drag Performances". Identity Work in Social Movements, p. 58. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=n9C-5XRGg4AC&oi=fnd&pg=PA47&dq=gay+anthem&ots=j2C-toaXy1&sig=QUF_e7vmnuHsODQhgzsJT4fV4Kk#PPA58,M1. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Nadine Hubbs. "‘I Will Survive’: musical mappings of queer social space in a disco anthem". Popular Music, 26 , pp 231-244. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=992192. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Jeff Perlman. ""Y.M.C.A." (An Oral History)". Spin magazine. http://www.spin.com/articles/ymca-oral-history. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Sasha Roseneil. "Queer Frameworks and Queer Tendencies: Towards an Understanding of Postmodern Transformations of Sexuality". Sociological Research Online, vol. 5, no. 3. http://www.socresonline.org.uk/cgi-bin/perlfect/search/search.pl?q=imagery&showurl=/5/3/roseneil.html. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Andrew Dawson. "The mining community and the ageing body". Realizing community Ed. By Vered Amit, European Association of Social Anthropologists. http://books.google.com/books?id=8MJGM51nbOwC&printsec=frontcover#PPP7,M1. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Verta Taylor and Leila J. Rupp. "When the Girls Are Men: Negotiating Gender and Sexual Dynamics in a Study of Drag Queens". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2005, vol. 30, no. 4. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/428421. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ Samantha C. Thrift. "Appropriate the Stereotype: Cultural Appropriations and the Queer, Lesbian, and Gay Spectatorships of Madonna and Martha Stewart". thirdspace, volume 2 issue 2 (March 2003). http://www.thirdspace.ca/journal/rt/printerFriendly/thrift/112. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
- ^ http://www.mosuniverse.com/music-djs/gay-anthems/christina-aguilera-beautiful
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