How Prince’s Androgynous Genius Changed the Way We Think About Music and Gender

“If I was your one and only friend—would you run to me if somebody hurt you even if that somebody was me?” – Prince, “If I Was Your Girlfriend”

.

The 1970s was the Glam Decade. But in some ways the ’80s were even glammier. Gender-bending was rife, from synth pop’s eyeliner pretty boys to cross-dressing UK stars like Boy George, from Long Island’s frightwig rockers Twisted Sister to the Sunset Strip’s gaudy parade of mascara metal. Unlike the glitter ’70s, the pop charts were overrun not just by straight boys posing as gay or bi, but by actual gay frontmen like Marc Almond, Holly Johnson, and Jimmy Somerville. And for the first time women got in on the glamdrogyny too: Grace Jones, Annie Lennox, Siouxsie Sioux.

.

Prince was right in the thick of all this ambiguous ’80s action. Just check the covers of his records as the decade proceeds. On the back of 1980’s Dirty Mind, he poses languidly in black thigh-high stockings, bikini briefs, and little else: an invitation to the kinkiest of reveries. For the front cover of 1981’s Controversy, he’s fully-clothed this time, but still very much the dainty dandy, sporting eyeliner and blush, and clad in mauve coat, wing-collar, and cravat. On Parade, from 1986, he’s wearing mascara and a stomach-baring top that cuts away just below his nipple line. And by 1988’s Lovesexy cover, Prince appears as an angelic nude hovering amid lush blooms. In a sly, saucy touch, one flower's stamen—close by the singer’s crotch—mimics the arc of an erection.

.

.

Even the color that Prince fetishized so flamboyantly had gay overtones. Purple represents gay pride; its paler hue lavender was once code for homosexual pulp fiction and a word to describe marriages where one or both spouses were closeted. Over the centuries the color has also connoted ambiguity, royalty, artifice, and pretentiousness (“purple prose”), all of which fit Prince abundantly. In rock’s own lexicon, purple suggests hallucinatory sensory overload, thanks to Jimi Hendrix and more recently Future (aka Future Hendrix), who titled a recent mixtape Purple Reign. But you didn’t need to consciously tune into any of these resonances to grasp that Prince’s empurpled excess was a way of declaring himself “not like everybody else...”

.

Read more here: http://pitchfork.com/feat...nd-gender/

i dont understand the question, or thread premise...how did his what change what?

i mean.. i know what these words mean, but i dont understand what you're getting at, or asking about

RJOrion said:

i dont understand the question, or thread premise...how did his what change what?

i mean.. i know what these words mean, but i dont understand what you're getting at, or asking about

It's the title of the article posted in the thread...if you'd bother to read it.

avajane said:

Wasn't that David Bowie too?

Yes, he's discussed in the article.

[Edited 7/22/16 21:37pm]

avajane said:

Wasn't that David Bowie too?

And if they want to go back even further Little Richard. I see what they are trying to get at...but it misses the mark......way off pics are awesome though

[Edited 7/22/16 21:29pm]

Goddess4Real said:

avajane said:

Wasn't that David Bowie too?

And if they want to go back even further Little Richard. I see what they are trying to get at...but it misses the mark......way off pics are awesome though

[Edited 7/22/16 21:29pm]

True, he definitely had predecessors.

rogifan said:

I dunno, I would attribute it more to Bowie and maybe Boy George than Prince. Prince was never androgynous to me. It's kind of like the heavy metal hair bands Of the decade. They had long hair, wore makeup and all that but most were red-blooded males who loved women. No one ever questioned their sexuality.

The heavy metal look wasn't androgenous? Riiiiiight...

purplethunder3121 said:

rogifan said:

I dunno, I would attribute it more to Bowie and maybe Boy George than Prince. Prince was never androgynous to me. It's kind of like the heavy metal hair bands Of the decade. They had long hair, wore makeup and all that but most were red-blooded males who loved women. No one ever questioned their sexuality.

The heavy metal look wasn't androgenous? Riiiiiight...

Um, that look was not about being pretty and nobody questioned that they were straight at all.

Prince wore makeup, but he also made himself pretty, and sometimes posed like an object of desire. That's why some people made cracks.

None of these guys would pose like this:

[Edited 7/22/16 21:53pm]

Prince was not mainstream in any way in how he dressed. Never was! He threatened a large segment of the population with his blantant sexuality and ambiguity. Many people put him down for being gay, prissy, or jsut plain weird looking. I think Bowie in the 1970s was the person closest to having this image except not as sexualized. Boy George did challenge in the way he dressed and coming out as gay, but otherwise had a rather asexual persona. He was more like someone's bizarre aunt. IMO, the heavy metal guys who got made up were more like straight guys in comic drag. Totally nonthreatening except to parents, but their fans generally didn't think of them as gay or trans or even sexual. An exception to this may by the New york Dolls, who at times elicited boos for the unexpecting crowd early in their career much the same way as Prince did early in his career.

Interesting topic, keep it going.

purplethunder3121 said:

rogifan said:

purplethunder3121 said:

The heavy metal look wasn't androgenous? Riiiiiight...

This is probably a better example: [img:$uid]http://www.theglamnationnetwork.com/uploads/1/3/1/2/13123626/8210803_orig.jpg[/img:$uid] Everyone knew though these guys were into one thing only (besides partying) and that was women. That's why I never thought of Prince as androgynous, regardless of what he wore, because there was no doubt he preferred the ladies.

I think it became increasingly clear to his fans over his career that he was definitely into the ladies, but right at the start I don't think it was as clear. I think some non-fans who were tunred off by his image just stereotyped him in the way Rick James was doing in the article.

avajane said:

gandorb said:

rogifan said:

gandorb said:

Prince was not mainstream in any way in how he dressed. Never was! He threatened a large segment of the population with his blantant sexuality and ambiguity. Many people put him down for being gay, prissy, or jsut plain weird looking. I think Bowie in the 1970s was the person closest to having this image except not as sexualized. Boy George did challenge in the way he dressed and coming out as gay, but otherwise had a rather asexual persona. He was more like someone's bizarre aunt. IMO, the heavy metal guys who got made up were more like straight guys in comic drag. Totally nonthreatening except to parents, but their fans generally didn't think of them as gay or trans or even sexual. An exception to this may by the New york Dolls, who at times elicited boos for the unexpecting crowd early in their career much the same way as Prince did early in his career.

Thats interesting some thought this about P. Being from Minnesota and having family/friends who encountered P in the 80s and early 90s (my sister worked in a lot of Minneapolis bars and encountered P numerous times) there was no question about his sexuality. I think it's a real stretch for this article to wonder if/claim P's love for purple was partially a gay pride thing. I would argue it's probably because of the Vikings football team or even the color purple being associated with spirituality/religion (a symbol of royalty ). [Edited 7/22/16 22:57pm] [Edited 7/22/16 22:57pm]

I imagine being from Minnesota and how closely P was followed there gave you and others there a different perspective. I am not at all in disagreeent with what you say about his fondness for purple and his sexuality, but when you are introduced to Prince solely by I want to be your lover (which sounded like "I want to be the one you come for" - which certainly could refer to a girl but language more used for males) and then the next thing you see in P prancing around in panties, he made it easy to draw a different conclusions early on.