Pride Playlist

For better or worse, I associate certain songs and genres of music with being gay. Or at least with me being gay. This goes to having gone to the local LGBT club after coming out in the 1990s, and enjoying the music and atmosphere there. I've never lost my penchant for synth/dance music during the intervening years, and that's the sort of stuff I listen to during LGBT Pride months.

It's PrideFest weekend in my hometown, so of course I've been listening to a self-curated playlist of songs that put me in mind of the joys, sorrows, ups and downs of being an out and proud gay man. Here are a few music videos of those songs, should you care to take a gander into the world of Matt's Pride Playlist. Hope you enjoy.

First up is a very recent title, the first single from a new album out later this month. It's Cher covering ABBA (very well). You can't get much more gay than that.

Always deserving of more than a little respect are synth pop duo Erasure, here with their thirty-year-old classic, A Little Respect.

Next up is Freaks, by Lippy Lou. It's a bouncy dance song that used to be played at Chester Street Dance Club during the mid-90s. Fun times.

There are a plethora of RuPaul songs one could choose from (Free to Be, Don't Go Breaking My Heart (duet with Elton John), Snapshot, Celebrate), but I went with her 1992 breakthrough single  Supermodel (You Better Work). I love how this also features spoken word by LaWanda Page (Aunt Esther from Sanford & Son).

How could there be a playlist like this without Madge, herself? Here's Madonna (and two male mermen) with her classic song from 1989, Cherish, directed by the late, great Herb Ritts.

How about spending some time at the Love Shack with the B-52s? RuPaul is in the video, and I was fortunate enough to see the B-52s live in concert last week. They still rock the house!

Blondie. Atomic. 'nuff said.

And we all know that Groove Is In the Heart.

I've been throwing around the word "classic" a bit, but Jimmy Somerville's version of disco classic You Make Me Feel (Might Real) is a classic to me.

Earlier I referenced Elton John & RuPaul's rendition of Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Well, here it is. I can't adequately explain what an impact seeing this played on MTV and VH1 made on me during the mid-1990s. Loved it.

2013 say a refined and reflective Boy George come out with King of Everything, a song I quite like, and that even gives me chills at one point.

Speaking of Boy George, here he is in a soulful duet with Antony and the Johnsons. You Are My Sister is one of the most touching, queer songs of the millennium. 

Let's wrap things up Pet Shop Boys' Somewhere. Their cover of the West Side Story song became a strong gay anthem for me in the Summer of 1997, and I like seeing Neil and Chris' playful banter in their music video for it. Two stable gay men who have performed together for over thirty years, making some of my favorite music.

And there you have it, a smattering of some of the songs featured on my LGBTQ Pride Playlist. It (hopefully) represents the best of LGBT life -- funny, sad, strong, vulnerable, sexy and brilliant. Happy PrideFest!