http://www.thestranger.co..._usa_u.php


Top Gay Albums
Posted by DAVID SCHMADER at 11:52 AM

Last week, I Slogged about Attitude magazine’s well-hyped list of the Top 50 Gay Albums of All Time.

“I think this list is interesting, but it has more of UK spin on things,” wrote Impossible Prince in the comments section of the post. “Perhaps Mr. Schmader could come up with a US version.”

One week later, Impossible Prince’s wish is my command. Having carefully weeded out the work of those great gay-music-making Brits (Pet Shop Boys, Smiths, Bowie), I compiled my list of America’s Greatest Gay Albums, which you’ll find, complete with dashed-off commentary, after the jump.

This list is in no particular order. Nevertheless, it starts with:

1. 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields
Take the word "gay" out of this list's title and Stephin Merritt's brilliantly conceived and executed opus still ranks near the very top. It's a postmodern highwire act that ends up going places you never imagined. It's hilarious, heartbreaking, gorgeous, and totally soaked in gay.

2. Hedwig & the Angry Inch Original Cast Recording
A homo home run from Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell. The best tracks—"Tear Me Down," "Angry Inch," "Midnight Radio"—are the most viable rock n' roll ever produced for a "rock musical," and "Origin of Love" will be a standard at alterna-weddings until the end of time.

3. Flip Your Wig by Husker Du
Between 1984 and 1988, the greatest band in the universe was Husker Du, and Husker Du was two-thirds queer. (Shockingly, the member with the big gay moustache was the only one who wasn't a cocksmoker. Go figure.) And yeah, New Day Rising and Zen Arcade are "better" records, Flip Your Wig is the first Husker Du record I ever loved, plus it has "wig" in the title, which is inherently gay.

4. Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney
Between 1995 and 2006, the greatest band in the universe was Sleater-Kinney, and Sleater-Kinney was two-thirds queer, at least during the recording of Dig Me Out, the popular winner for best S-K album and understandably so (although I have a permanent soft spot for the intricate experiments of The Hot Rock...)

5. Dirty Mind by Prince
The only explicitly "gay" thing about Dirty Mind is the bisexuality Prince admits to in "Sister" (it's about Prince fucking his). And while it's odd to have bisexuality placed in the same realm as compulsive incest, Dirty Mind still scored major queer points for flying its freak flag so freakishly high (Prince hits the sack with an ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend in "When You Were Mine" and retains a bride-to-be's virginity by face-fucking her in "Head"), with Prince in full faggot-flasher drag on the cover.

6. Scissor Sisters
Attitude's poll-winners, and rightly so. So gay it couldn't have existed ten years ago, and now it's critically acclaimed mainstream pop. Miraculous.

7. The Immaculate Collection by Madonna
Duh.

8. Folksinger by Phranc
I first heard this self-proclaimed lesbian folksinger when she opened for the Smiths on the Queen is Dead tour, and her first album captures everything that made her great: smart, sweet, political, and funny as shit. Archness took over on all her subsequent releases, but Folksinger remains a model of self-identified lesbian music.

9. Ingenue by KD Lang
The greatest thing to happen to lesbian sex since the thigh harness.

10. Want One by Rufus Wainwright
I picked this over his debut because I like it more. He'll make even better records in the future. With the Scissor Sisters, pop music's great gay hope.

Honorable mentions:
Personal Best by Team Dresch
Transformer by Lou Reed
New York Dolls (yeah, they were all straight, but thematically, this is some of the queerest rock ever)
The B-52s
Fit to be Tied: The Best of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
The Georgia Peach by Little Richard

There is nothing gay about Dirty Mind. Controversy deserves a place in a poll about gay albums cos it's ambiguous, but Dirty Mind is as straight as it comes. And the cover isn't particularly gay, it's just a straight man dressed fantastically perverse.

lol

RitaQoS said:

in a certain mindstate, dm can come off as ambiguous as well.


true. dunno why they pinned it with the description they did...drawerz and a trenchcoat. where's the "gay" in that shit?

Well, there we have it yall. Prince is gay.

Nobody ever listens to my ass.

Imago said:

that because yer ass is nasty.

How is P. admitting to bisexuality in Sister? Wouldn't that make him heterosexual to the extreme?

FrancerulzV99 said:

the line she's the reason for my sexuality obviously got them confuzzled. that line don't refer to whatever way he swings, it's more along the lines of, in no uncertain terms, "she's the reason why i'm a total slut! wee!!!"

I have 3 of those 10 albums. That makes me 30% American gay.

sextonseven said:

i've only got one of those 10.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Agreed.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Wait, I spoke too soon. I have two of the honorable mentions also. If those count as half of each of the top 10 entries, then that makes me 40%.

I'm almost an American bisexual.

And I have 5 of the 10, which means I'm 50% gay. That's just about right.

Hilarious. Any Top Ten list is good when Prince and Husker Du share the spotlight.

Gay people are funny.

squirrelgrease said:

yeah, i just noticed husker du's on there. minnesota made it...twice!

HereToRockYourWorld said:

then what the fuck's with the 10% i got? i'm nowhere near het.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Well, as it turns out, you are. Check yo mail, I'm sending some polish for your loafers.

HereToRockYourWorld said:

chuck taylor loafer polish

This thread is so gay! By the way Prince is not .

nurse said:

*le sigh*...i'ma repeat a bit of what i said on a similar thread i participated in over on housequake: just because the album got a spot on this list DOES NOT imply anything about the man's own sexuality.

this shit should be face-smackingly obvious, but as you've demonstrated here, i suppose it won't be to some of you after all.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Sure it's obvious and not to insult your intelligence, but it was just a post-nothing serious was meant by it.

Since the first time I heard that track and to THIS day!
I am convinced that hesitation is actually:
"...the reason for my (bi) sexuality"
I know theres no written proof of this but this is maybe where the reviewer was thrown for a loop too. There's nothing bisexual about Sister aside from that (misheard) lyric.


and I bang plenty of chicks in my speedo trenchcoat getup. usually from behind, in a dark alley, and they never fully take their panties off. but im positive they're chicks, right?

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

This list is just WRONG. Magnetic Fields at #1? Please. Where is ABBA Gold? Where is the Moulin Rouge soundtrack? Where is The Very Best of Cher? Where is the soundtrack to RENT for cripes sake?!?!?

The actual list published by Attitude magazine is quite good.

I'll highlight the ones I've got...

50. Divine - Jungle Jezebel
49. Girls Aloud - What Will The Neighbours Say?
48. Belle And Sebastian - Tigermilk
47. Tom Stephan - Drag Addict
46. Tori Amos - From The Choirgirl Motel
45. Jobriath - Jobriath
44. Dionne Warwick - Sings The Bacharach & David Songbook
43. The Associates - Sulk
42. KD Lang - Ingenue
41. Deee-Lite - World Clique
40. Malcolm McLaren - Waltz Darling
39. A Chorus Line - OST
38. Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis
37. Christina Aguilera - Stripped
36. Larry Levan - Live At Paradise Garage
35. Dead Or Alive - Nude
34. Diana Ross - Diana
33. Freddie Mercury & Monserrat Caballe - Barcelona
32. Lil' Kim - Hardcore
31. Cher - Believe
30. The Beatles - Please Please Me
29. Bananarama - Wow!
28. Barbra Streisand - Guilty
27. Suede - Suede
26. Steps - Step One
25. Prince - Controversy
24. Klaus Nomi - Klaus Nomi
23. Jesus Loves You - The Martyr Mantras
22. Bette Midler - The Divine Miss M
21. Lou Reed - Transformer
20. Bronski Beat - The Age Of Consent
19. Sylvester - Step II
18. Rufus Wainwright - Want One
17. Judy Garland - Judy At Carnegie Hall
16. Kate Bush - Lionheart
15. Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
14. Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
13. Take That - Take That And Party
12. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
11. Pet Shop Boys - Introspective
10. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World
09. Donna Summer - Bad Girls
08. Antony & The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
07. Madonna - Erotica
06. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome
05. George Michael - Older
04. Kylie Minogue - Light Years
03. Morrissey - Vauxhall & I
02. Abba - Arrival
01. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

They must've been paid to put SS at #1, were they on the cover that issue or something?!

Imago said:

69 Love Songs is such a great set! I love Magnetic Fields

Justin1972UK said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Prince is gay.