Comments by Java Mann

Aural Sex I had a curious experience today. While wandering the aisles of the local supermarket, I was both shocked and delighted to hear the song "Johnny are you queer boy" being played on the muzak system. The song itself is fairly harmless, and I think it’s funny. The most risqué part being the title, which is repeated throughout the song.

It’s by a punk (or punk- lite) girl group, possibly an early incarnation of the Go Gos, but I digress… What I found to be laugh out loud funny was how completely out of place the song was in a grocery store.

This got me thinking; homosexuals make up ten percent of the population (and the Religious Republican Right would have us believe that most of them are in the entertainment industry), and yet there are so few gay songs. To clarify, there are so few songs about being gay. Granted, most disco/dance music can be considered queer music, but even with all the innuendo and double entendres, it’s still a woman singing about a guy, or vice versa. Even openly-out performers tend to conceal their sexual identity in the lyrics to there songs. Why?

Even the most publicly-out performers, k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge, (and I would like to point out I would rather vote for George W than say anything bad about either of them) have refrained from publicly performing a song that says I’m in love with a woman. And Elton "My-closet-has-a-revolving-door" John is no better. George Michael did a video parodying his "experience" in an infamous LA rest room, but you wouldn’t know his sexuality from what he says in his music.

I can only name two songs I’ve ever heard on the radio that imply the singer might be gay. One is "I Kissed A Girl" by Jill Sobule, and that was more a novelty song than anything else. I mean, "Fabio" was in the video! The other is a song by a group called Huffamoose, who to my knowledge, are presently without a record label. Their song "James" melts my heart. You can hear it in real audio at: http://www.huffamoose.com/music/index.html

I find it ironic that there are straight performers, aware of their gay following, who write songs that gays and lesbians can embrace as their own. Garth Brooks has been known to rewrite love songs, taking out any gender specific references. Likewise, Cher. Allegedly, homosexuals spend more on entertainment than any other demographic groups. Why are entertainers so reluctant to embrace this, and actually produce for this market?

I just find it hard to understand why in the year 2000, when homosexuality is becoming less taboo and more widely accepted, performers fail to see what’s right in front of them. Until they do, I guess if I want to hear a guy sing a heartfelt love song to his boyfriend, I’ll have to start hanging around at the gay Karaoke bars.

JM

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