LGBT Artists Who Are About The Music, Not Their Sexuality!

September 2, 2008

Whether they have wanted to or not, people have been subjected to the, ah, musical stylings of one Katy Perry and her hit singles "Ur So Gay" (a screed against metrosexuals) and "I Kissed A Girl." Of course, Perry is far from the first pop starlet to try and get some spins from appearing to be Sapphic, with the big controversy that occurred with Madonna and Britney or the ongoing saga of LiLo and her supposed 'coming out', to yes, even George Michael's arrest in a public bathroom stall and subsequent music video poking fun at it. Of course, this tactic is becoming less and less successful for artists. I mean, we all know what happened the last time the general public started ignoring poseur-lesbians.

So, while Katy Perry might be trilling her little heart out about how she kissed a girl, I'm instead going to focus on those artists out there who are gay, but don't have to go around proclaiming their sexuality in the hopes of selling a few more records. These artists are about the music, not the hype!

THE LADIES

Peaches

She went from being a kindergarten teacher in Toronto to rock star now residing in Germany. I'm not entirely sure which job had the unruliest fans, but Peaches seems to have way more energy than she ought to for either of those jobs, as anyone who has ever seen her live can attest. Incredibly bi-sexual, Peaches has collaborated with artists such as Iggy Pop, Karen O, Josh Homme and Joan Jett. On top of that, she's toured with Nine Inch Nails. Oh yeah, and most of her songs are about sex, but not in a vapid, juvenile way: Peaches likes to challenge gender identity and cultural attitudes towards gender and sex. Case in point: the name of her second album was titled Fatherf*cker and featured Peaches on the cover - in a full beard.

Janis Joplin

Arguably rock's First Lady, Joplin's arc through music could be compared to artists such as Kurt Cobain or Layne Staley. Like the two aforementioned grunge vocalists, Joplin was an amazing, emotional singer with a distinct and powerful voice. She also had credentials that most rockers drool over: she was friends with John Lennon, she toured with artists such as Jimi Hendrix and The Band, did not ascribe to the prevailing attitudes towards race or gender and was friends with other counterculture figures such as cartoonist Robert Crumb. Joplin was also a very sexual individual, spending time with men and women alike and not discriminating in the least, although she never identified herself as being bisexual, nor did she really feel the need to. All that was important for her was the music, not making the tabloids. I mean, when you've got a voice like Joplin's and you're belting out classics like "Take Another Piece of My Heart", you don't really need to care about who you're snogging. Unfortunately, Joplin also shared the same vices as the Nirvana and Alice In Chains frontmen, and died of a heroin overdose while still in her prime.

Patty Schemel

An openly lesbian drummer, Schemel beat the skins for Hole's albums Live Through This and Celebrity Skin, and has been worked with early queercore pioneer Phranc whose exploits in the 70s group Nervous Gender would make the boys in Slipknot a little scared. On top of all that, Schemel has never tried to hide her sexuality, but she also hasn't actively promoted it – she's content being who she is and focusing on more important things...like MUSIC!

Kathleen Hanna

Quick, raise your hands if you helped pioneer a political or social movement. Yeah, self-proclaimed bisexual Kathleen Hanna managed to be at the vanguard of the riot grrrl movement of the early 90s, actually accomplishing something with her outspokenness. Honestly, there isn't a whole hell of a lot that she hasn't done. She was involved with zines (an early predecessor to blogs), worked as an exotic dancer and volunteered her time for various social causes, fronted Bikini Kill and Le Tigre and has been involved with bands such as Green Day and Sonic Youth. Oh, and Kathleen owns one mean set of pipes, throwing more emotion into any single verse than most singers can hope to do in a lifetime.

Maja Ivarsson

A relative newcomer, Maja is the frontwoman to Swedish indie rock group The Sounds, although she isn’t content with becoming Sweden’s #2 musical export. Setting the bar high for herself, Maja has said that she wants to become the biggest female vocalist of the century, and seems to be on the right track, having toured with artists such as The Strokes and Panic At The Disco, and earned fans among the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Pharrell, Bam Margera and Dave Grohl. Grohl is so much of a fan that he...well, check out the video for "Times Like These." Maja's also been dating a girl for three years, although she's yet to pen a song titled "I Dated A Girl And I Then Entered Into A Mutual Relationship With Her Because I Liked Her." One, because that's a damn long title, and two, because she's not using her sexuality as a springboard!

THE GUYS

Billie Joe Armstrong

Identifies as bisexual, Armstrong's revelation can be traced back to the album that put Green Day on the map: 1994's Dookie. The song "Coming Clean" has been described by Armstrong as being about coming to terms with his own sexuality. In addition, Armstrong has some fun with gender bending with a track off Nimrod, "King For A Day", a song about crossdressing and one that, when performed live, featured Armstrong putting on a joke strip-tease. As mentioned earlier, Kathleen Hanna has also worked with Green Day, while Armstrong penned a song about Kathleen, the eponymous "Kathleen" for his sideproject, Pinhead Gunpowder.

Rob Halford

Openly gay and one of the biggest names in metal. Rob Halford rules. There. See you later. What, you need to be told that Rob Halford rocks? He's the freaking frontman of Judas freaking Priest, for crying out loud! That's not good enough for you? How about this: while a member of Judas Priest, Halford used to come out on stage on a motorcycle (a Harley Davidson one, at that!). One time, he accidentally broke his nose and passed out, onstage, in front of thousands of fans. A lesser man would've started crying his eyes out and called it a night. But Halford? He picked himself right up from the floor, went out there and rocked everyone's faces off with a BROKEN NOSE. Yeah, how about you try playing Guitar Hero with a broken nose and then get back to me, okay?

Bob Mould

The former Hüsker Dü frontman could be included in this article simply because he was a part of Hüsker Dü. Seriously, check out Zen Arcade. However, for those too young to remember the Dü in all their umlauted glory should keep in mind that Mould also penned the opening theme riff to The Daily Show. Y'know, that little show hosted by Jon Stewart? So of course, it has now been scientifically proven that Bob Mould ROCKS. Mould is also gay, but he's spent his life focusing on important things relating to his career, rather than devolving into kiss and tell.

Owen Pallett

The creative force behind Final Fantasy, as well as having been involved in working with artists such as The Arcade Fire. Pallett, who is openly gay, won the inaugural Polaris Prize for Music with his album He Poos Clouds, a semi-concept album that has 8 of the 10 songs based on schools of magic from Dungeons & Dragons. You know what else is associated with D&D? That's right: SATAN. You know what else is affiliated with Satan? ROCK MUSIC. Yeah, Owen Pallett brings twice as much Satanic influence as your average run of the mill rocker and has a geeky quotient that is rivaled only by Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Freddie Mercury

C'mon. This one is an absolute gimme. So here we have arguably THE frontman for a rock and roll band. Freddie's legacy is one that looms large over rock: no one since has come close to rivaling his energy and antics onstage. Queen wound up BLACKLISTED by the United Nations. Yeah, take THAT, Bono. Freddie Mercury's ability to rock is unquestioned: this is a guy who cited Liza freaking Minelli as an inspiration and NO ONE batted an eye. Seriously, Freddie Mercury was the man, but he was also a gay man, an aspect of himself that he paradoxically kept hidden and open to his fans, making sly references in the media, while making his relationships with other men incredibly private. Sadly, the world was robbed of Mercury's awesomeness, as he passed away in 1991, robbing the world of one of the most awesome singers of all time. Want proof of Freddie's awesomeness? Witness the only video evidence of Pauly Shore being involved in something that completely, totally and utterly rocks.

So, that's our list of musicians whose sexuality really hasn't been a huge issue when it comes to determining their abilities as rock musicians. Some of them may sing about being gay or bring their sexuality into the mix, but they don't lower themselves down to the trashy standards that Ms. Perry has sunk to. They may be "out", but more importantly, they rock out.

Photographs Courtesy Getty Images, except Owen Pallett and the Hole/Hüsker Dü album art.

Comments

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