| |
|
Christ, I wish [insert artist's name here] would cut out the straight schtick. Boooring.
The funny thing is, that's exactly the way i honestly feel about almost the whole of the pop, R&B, lover's rock, emo and indie genres...
(of course, that's probably got at least something to do with me being a very sexually frustrated involuntary celibate, but it's interesting that queer* love songs don't make me feel anywhere near as much bitterness, in the same way that i can tolerate public displays of affection between queer couples much more easily than between straight couples...)
* queer-as-transgressive, not necessarily queer-as-non-heterosexual...
As in, it's possible to really hate Warhol posturing and cod-1920s Berlin theatrics without that dislike necessarily being connected to its perceived queerness.
I used to think i was homophobic - i.e., i thought i disapproved of (specifically male) homosexuality. It took me quite a long time to realise that i actually didn't have a problem with same-sex relationships at all, but just really disliked the "camp"/cheesily theatrical/"decadent" image which (at the time not knowing any actual men-who-have-sex-with-men) i thought to be an intrinsic part of male homosexuality. I suspect there are many other people who have been similarly influenced by such cultural stereotyping, and i think there's an argument that the theatrical/camp culture is actually to some degree counterproductive - but that's possibly a Head Shop topic...
As to the actual music of Anthony & The Johnsons, i'm very intrigued by it - i've only heard 3 songs, "For Today I Am A Boy", "Hope There's Someone" and "The Cripple And The Starfish" (and find the latter in particular one of the most moving and astounding things i have ever heard), but would like to hear more... somehow he manages to transcend all the things i usually don't like about anything "camp", without me really knowing why...
His actual voice is also rather astounding - to me it resembles a combination between Cedric Myton, Nina Simone and Tracy Chapman... i played the 3 songs above to a friend who identifies as both transsexual and intersex, and she was really freaked out - she said the voice transcended gender so much that she was almost certain "he" was actually an intersex person (the discussion about castrati up thread is really interesting, i'd like to hear the recrdings that exist of Moreschi(?), and see if they sound at all similar)...
got a lot of thoughts about Nina Simone, thatricality, politics and "camp" bubbling about in my head now... got to go find that Nina Simone thread... |
|
|
