A TEST :GAY ALBUM COVER

[Anonymous]

HALLO!

i'm Francesco from Italy and i'm doing a strange collection....

disco album with gay subject on cover (macho, village people, boys town gang)

can you help me to find other album like this. i need only the title (if you know something like that).

THANK YOU.

Francesco

[Move2This]

Both The Richie Family and Taana Gardner had gay-themed album covers but I can't offhand recall their titles. I think both were from 1979.

[markydefad]

Definitely check out the cover of the Italian group Easy Going's Greatest Hits. It shows two guys "wrestling", wearing nothing but motorcyle caps, leather vests and boots; the picture is composed of a mosaic of tiles. Hard to describe, but very homoerotic.

[kelvy]

What about the WILD FANTASY album from 1978 or so? Up to this date, i have never seen an album of that vintage that was more overtly gay themed than that one.





get back at me,

kelvy



ps -- speaking about gay-themed albums, i would like to hear input on how the general public reacted to these covers back in the late 70s. It's a topic that has been rarely touched yet facinating.

[Move2This]

Interesting issue about the public reaction to these album covers. I can't say for sure but I strongly suspect that in the area where I lived at the time (Portsmouth UK), not many people (including my teenage self) actually realised these covers were gay-themed. I'd say it was a classic case of the covers meaning a lot to those "in the know" and very little to everyone else!



It sounds ludicrous to say this now, I realise, but outside a few major metropolitan areas, the type of gay sensibility we are used to now simply didn't exist back then and also, it simply wasn't considered very credible to like disco anyway, so people who might not have liked these covers maybe never got to see them ....



Lots of maybes and ifs there - what do other people think?

[jpp]

other covers to check out are from Seventh Avenue, Den Harrow, Manefredi ,Man 2 Man, Sylvester, etc

[kelvy]

On 2001-10-23 15:56, Move2This wrote:

Interesting issue about the public reaction to these album covers. I can't say for sure but I strongly suspect that in the area where I lived at the time (Portsmouth UK), not many people (including my teenage self) actually realised these covers were gay-themed. I'd say it was a classic case of the covers meaning a lot to those "in the know" and very little to everyone else!



It sounds ludicrous to say this now, I realise, but outside a few major metropolitan areas, the type of gay sensibility we are used to now simply didn't exist back then and also, it simply wasn't considered very credible to like disco anyway, so people who might not have liked these covers maybe never got to see them ....



Lots of maybes and ifs there - what do other people think?

Funny enough, i remember being a kid during the village people heyday and the gay-oriented themes they portrayed, well, i did not "get it". As a matter of fact, the concept of homosexuality did not even cross my mind back then, let alone the birds and the bees.



The coming about of these gay-themed album covers speaks volumes about the slowly-but-surely acceptance of gays & lesbians into the mainstream even if was within their shared spaces. Come to think of it, ever since the heyday of disco, i have not seen any prevalence of gay-themed album covers.



What about artists such as Theo Vaness & St. Tropez, they had gay-themed albums as well. And what about the album by Passion from 79/80 on Prelude? The album cover itself is not gay-themed (but certainly X-rated in heterosexual fashion). There's one song in there where the vocalist sings a lyric to extent of "...it doesen't matter if you're gay or straight. (paraphrasical form)". I think it may have been the song "In New York". And Theo Vaness had a song where he alluded to "gay man, straight man".



Also, we can not leave out Carl Bean's "I Was Born This Way", a catharic paean to unconditional love regardless of sexual preference. From what i've read, the song was written during the time when the word "gay" was still a covert way to classify homosexuals; it still had its original 'happy' definition. Could someone clarify this theory? Thanks.



get back at me,



kelvy

[maarten]

On 2001-10-23 12:17, Move2This wrote:

Both The Richie Family and Taana Gardner had gay-themed album covers but I can't offhand recall their titles. I think both were from 1979.

The Ritchie Family would be the "Bad reputation" cover with leather dressed biker guys.



I also suggest the CD compilation series Gay Anthems and Club 69 (not disco but Peter Rauhofer is clearly a fan given his - excellent - remake of "Love is the message").



Francesco obviously was already aware of Village People, Boys Town Gang and Macho.



Do Sylvester and Divine count?





_________________

"ON THE BEAT"



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: maarten on 2001-10-24 06:43 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: maarten on 2001-10-24 06:44 ]</font>

[jpp]

also look for Paul Lekakis, Klaus Nomi, Fancy, DC La Rue....interesting, but i can think of more "gay" covers from 79~early 80's vs earlier....probably because people were less "out" in the mid 70's

[markydefad]

I also thought of the Skatt Brothers LP on Casablanca; sort of an early eighties attempt to create a new Village People minus the camp. I never saw them perform (if they ever did) but Trocadero in SF played the hell out of their "Walk The Night" tune.

[BrunoRepublic]

On 2001-10-24 11:43, markydefad wrote:

I also thought of the Skatt Brothers LP on Casablanca; sort of an early eighties attempt to create a new Village People minus the camp.

Village People without the camp? Would there be anything left? :lol: Actually, I think the LP was from 1979, but I'll have to check on that.

I never saw them perform (if they ever did) but Trocadero in SF played the hell out of their "Walk The Night" tune.

Well, it was damn good and raunchy. Am I the only one who thinks that Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" has a similar sound?...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Graham Start on 2001-10-24 12:29 ]</font>

[markydefad]

Graham, I think you're right about the Skatt Brothers LP being released in 1979. The title was "Strange Spirits".

[NickNack]

Maarten mentioned some cd compilations with gay-themed covers. Here are some more:



Rhino's "GIVE YOUR BODY UP: CLUB CLASSICS AND HOUSE FOUNDATIONS."



Hot Productions' "GAY ANTHEMS: VOLUMES I thru XII."



Also, RuPaul's got it covered for illusion on all his covers.



Hey Kelvy --- Wild Fantasy was also one of my fave album covers. Too, too hot!



_________________

Dancin' All Over It!

Nicky

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: NickNack on 2001-10-24 13:51 ]</font>

[kelvy]

On 2001-10-24 13:50, NickNack wrote:

Hey Kelvy --- Wild Fantasy was also one of my fave album covers. Too, too hot!



_________________

Dancin' All Over It!

Nicky



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: NickNack on 2001-10-24 13:51 ]</font>

Hey Nick! i caught a view of that album cover a few years ago when i was at a huge vinyl warehouse and getting my fingers dusty (vinyl excavation). THe "Wild Fantasy" album cover seems to be the most daring of its day (with the exception of St. Tropez). In regards to gay-themed album covers, did the sales & marketing groups for the record companies fear a homophobic backlash against them because of these covers? i think with the case of these albums, they knew their target market well yet they designed them with just enough sexually-neutral or hetrosexual nuances in order to avoid the stigma and heavy-handed homophobia. For isntance, what about one of the covers for Boystown Gang where Earline Bentley stands rather in haphazard fashion between two really close guys.



Someone must write a chapter on this phenoemon for the history books and i think this board is laying down a good foundation for said topic.



get back at me,

kelvy

[JussiK]

Have a look at the flipside of the first Macho sleeve. Now turn it upside down. What do you see? The image now seems to have changed shockingly. The neck is now something plunging into a ...well, see for yourself. - I used to go to record stores and place the album this way and then check out people's reactions.