Friday, September 5, 2008 - Top 10 Gayest Songs
If you are "having the time of your life" you may be dancing to the gayest song ever...
The lyric comes from ABBA’s Dancing Queen which topped the list of gayest songs of all time all over the internet (voted by critics, readers and even by some openly gay musicians). The Village People’s YMCA came in second, followed by Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive. Of course, many already disagrees with the results... I guess, our taste is as diverse as the colors of the rainbow.
Here's a quick run-down on the top ten list of gayest songs with some facts about them.
Enjoy them proud and loud!
10. Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Some members of the band were openly gay, and the lyrics make some pretty graphic references to sexual acts. The line, "When you want to come" is a reference to orgasm.
This was banned by some UK radio stations for offensive lyrics, which helped make it a hit. In the US, the lyrics were not considered controversial, as they could be interpreted many different ways. Somehow, "When you want to suck to it" was ambivalent enough to keep it on US radio.
This was a huge hit in England. It was on the British charts for over a year.
Three videos were made. The first, which MTV refused to play, was filled with extravagant homo-erotic images. MTV aired the third video, which showed the band performing at a show.
This was produced by Trevor Horn, who was a former member of Yes and The Buggles.
This was featured in the 2001 Ben Stiller movie Zoolander. In the movie, this song triggers a male model to carry out an assassination. It was also used in "Body Double," a 1984 suspense movie in which the lead character, a B-movie actor, performs a scene to the song, virtually a music video within the movie.
9. Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland
Written for the movie The Wizard Of Oz, this song was used early in the film when Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) longs to escape her dreary life on the farm in Kansas. A deeper interpretation can have Dorothy longing for heaven.
The music was written by Harold Arlen, The lyrics by Yip Harburg. They were asked to write this based on their previous hits, "It's Only A Paper Moon," "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime," and "Lydia The Tattooed Lady."
The original title was "Over the Rainbow is where I want to be."
Some of the artists who recorded this include Glenn Miller, Bob Crosby, and Larry Clinton.
This was almost cut from the movie. Some executives from MGM thought the film was too long and wanted this removed. They thought it slowed down the action too early in the movie.
This won an Oscar in 1939 for Best Original Song. Garland was urged to sing it when she accepted the award. She did, but had a hard time getting through it because she was so excited.
The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, but had the misfortune of being released the same year as Gone With The Wind, which won Best Picture. The Wizard Of Oz won only for this and Best Score, which was written by Herbert Stothart.
In a 2001 poll conducted by the Recording Industry Association Of America and the National Endowment for the Arts, this was voted the #1 song of all time.
8. I’m Coming Out - Diana Ross
Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards wrote this and produced it. They were the leaders of the '70s Disco band Chic, and brought that Disco sound to Ross for this album. Rodgers got the idea for the song when he went to a transvestite club in New York City. He went to the bathroom, and while he was standing at the urinal, he saw 3 men who looked like Diana Ross. "Coming Out" means coming out of the closet and being openly gay.
In 1997, Puff Daddy sampled this on the track "Mo Money Mo Problems," which became a #1 hit in the US.
7. Can't Get You Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue
This was Minogue's first hit in the US since 1988, when her cover of "The Locomotion" hit #3. She has been very successful in England and her home country of Australia.
This is known as "The La La Song," because the chorus is her singing "La La La, La La La La La" over and over.
Minogue is an actress and sex-symbol. She dated INXS singer Michael Hutchence, has appeared in Australian Soap Operas, and had a part in the movie Moulin Rouge shortly before this was released.
In England, this sold over a million copies and was in the Top 40 for 5 months.
This was written by Cathy Dennis and former Mud guitarist Rob Davis. Dennis had a few hits as a solo artist in the early '90s, including "Just Another Dream" and "Too Many Walls."
This was originally offered to Sophie Ellis-Bextor, but she turned it down.
6. Cher - Believe
This was the biggest-selling single in US in 1999 and in UK in 1998.
When this hit #1 in the US, it was the longest anyone had gone between #1 hits in the US. Her last chart topper was "Dark Lady," which hit #1 in 1974. At 25 years, this broke the record for biggest gap, which was previously held by The Beach Boys, who went 22 years between "Good Vibrations" and "Kokomo."
This was the biggest UK hit by a solo female artist, selling 1,672,108 copies.
Cher was 52 when she topped the UK charts, making her the oldest female artist to have a #1 hit in the UK.
Cher's vocals were processed through a device called a vocoder, which gave them a distorted sound.
5. Vogue - Madonna
"Vogueing" was a dance craze popular in the gay community where dancers used elaborate hand gestures and frequently stopped to pose. This song brought the dance style to the mainstream and solidified Madonna's standing as an icon in the gay community.
Madonna's best friend Debi Mazar first noticed the Vogue craze while they were out clubbing. She was fascinated by the way these men would "Strike a pose" while holding their bodies in strange positions. Madonna took the idea to the New York producer Shep Pettibone, who she had recently begun working with, and they wrote the song together.
As of 2007 Lauren Bacall is the only surviving legendary actor or actress mentioned in this song. Of the others mentioned Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Grace Kelly, Jean Harlow, Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, and Bette Davis all died before the release of the song. While Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Joe DiMaggio (the only non actor mentioned), Marlon Brando, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, and Lana Turner have all passed away since the song's release.
The video was directed by David Fincher, who directed Alien 3 2 years later and went on to direct Seven, Fight Club and Zodiac.
This was included on Madonna's album I'm Breathless, which was "inspired by" the movie Dick Tracy. Madonna starred in the movie with Warren Beatty.
4. It’s Raining Men - The Weathergirls
The Weather Girls were the duo of Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes, who were both overweight and also recorded as Two Tons Of Fun. Wash, who had a very powerful voice, sang on many projects over the next several years, including songs by the groups C&C Music Factory ("Make You Sweat") and Black Box ("Strike It Up"). She was often uncredited and replaced in videos by models lip-synching her lines. She eventually sued for royalties and released a solo album under her own name. Rhodes died in 2004.
This became a gay anthem. Like "YMCA" by The Village People, the gay community helped popularize it.
Geri Halliwell, formerly a member of The Spice Girls, recorded this in 2001. Her version was used on the soundtrack to the movie Bridget Jones' Diary. When released, the single shot straight to #1 for 2 weeks. This was Halliwell's fourth #1 single in a row, and it made her the British female artist with the most #1 singles (11 in total, 7 with the Spice Girls and 4 of her own).
This was written and produced by Paul Shaffer and Paul Jabara. Shaffer is David Letterman's bandleader; Jabara wrote "Last Dance" and "No More Tears" for Donna Summer.
Barbara Streisand and Diana Ross were both offered this song and turned it down.
3. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
This is a female-empowerment anthem. It is about moving on after a bad relationship. Over the years, it has taken on meaning for people who have overcome just about any difficult situation.
This won the 1979 Grammy for Best Disco Recording. It was the first and last time that the Grammys offered this category.
This has been reproduced in 20 languages, including Arabic.
Gaynor sees this song as just a simple song about survival, regardless of what you have to overcome: "I love the empowering effect, I love the encouraging effect. It's a timeless lyric that addresses a timeless concern."
This became an anthem in the gay community. It is also one of the most popular songs to be sung on Karaoke.
VH1 named this #1 on their list of the 100 Greatest Dance Songs.
2. YMCA - Village People
Y.M.C.A. stands for "Young Men's Christian Association," which is commonly associated with the gyms that often provide temporary housing to men.
The Village People sing about the YMCA as a place where you can hang out with all the boys. It's implied that this is more of a concealed kind of place to gather in-the-closet gay young men so they can leave their worries and troubles behind and let loose. While the lyrics don't contain any specific gay references, the song became a gay anthem.
This is a very popular song at sporting events, especially baseball games where it is often played between innings. The song plays at Yankee Stadium when the grounds crew dredges the infield. The crew stops to perform that arm gestures at the appropriate times.
1. Dancing Queen - ABBA
This was written by ABBA members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. They were inspired by Queen Silvia, who married King Gustaf XVI of Sweden in 1976. Abba performed this at a televised tribute to the couple the day before they were married.
This is arguably the world's first Europop Disco hit. (This was ABBA's only #1 hit in the US. They had 14 songs crack the Top-40 in The States.)
Regarding the lyrics, "Night is young and the music's high," many listeners interpret this as a statement that the music makes you feel high. In ABBA's part of the world, however, it simply means that the music is loud.
According to the BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, when this song was played at a Windsor Castle event Queen Elizabeth said: "I always try to dance when this song comes on because I am the Queen and I like to dance."
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