filed under Music
My Last Post Before I Let This Tiffany Thing Go
12PM ON
21/06/2008
BY
Matthew Lawrence
For some ungodly reason I woke up at four this morning, which means that I had hours and hours to dwell on the fact that one of the biggest festivals in the city this year is trying to pass off Tiffany as an exciting musical option. And, being the way I am, I started thinking about other gay-ish bands that I’d actually like to see performing downtown today. Like, for instance, bands who may have actually been culturally relevant in this no-longer-new millennium. Here’s eleven suggestions for a homo music festival that people might actually enjoy. To the Youtube-mobile!
1. The Magnetic Fields
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQyuaJAl1S0]
This might seem like an obvious choice, although Stephin Merritt’s probably not the type for the festival crowd. (He doesn’t like people standing up at Magnetic Fields shows, and when people clap after songs he clutches his ears in horror and dismay.) Nevertheless, the man did write When My Boy Walks Down The Street, a song that’s so gay someone even made a Youtube fan video with Stephen Fry.
2. Hercules and Love Affair
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4x9XrMRjgQ]
You want gay? They’ve got gay. You want disco? They’ve got disco. You want Antony? They’ve got Antony. They might be a little overhyped, but whatever. They’re fun. And their new video (which isn’t showing up, for whatever dumb reason) is ridiculously vogue-y, in a good way.
3. Captain Ahab
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN4CVwhfr9w]
Not good for the music so much as the in-your-face performance, this might be just the kick in the nads that a Pride festival could use. Also, this video is hilarious.
4. Ssion [nsfw video]
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGM5q0IfY6U]
Right?
5. The Ballet
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjyhRBwqTwU]
They’ve only put out one album and their website is six months out of date, but this song (and I Hate The War, both of which are downloadable for free on the group’s website) gets stuck in my head all the time, almost two years after the first time I heard it.
6. Judas Priest
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhBb8AsaoFE]
Right?
7. Team Gina
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3I5y4cnkNw]
Mildly annoying, yes, but Wife Swapping (on their Myspace) is wonderful.
8. Amerie
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQB74XbyuRQ]
If the gays insist on listening to R&B divas, why not get one who’ll be doing songs that aren’t old enough to vote? I’m guessing that Amerie’s going rate isn’t that high, considering that her stupid label never even released her last album. But it’s awesome, and she has at least as many hits as, say, CeCe Penniston.
9. Sophie Ellis-Bextor
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXBeb-9pUrc]
Speaking of albums that were never released in the US, Sophie’s Me and My Imagination album finally combined her austere vocal style with songs that were actually fun to dance to. Okay, so she’s big in Europe and tagging along with Take That on their greatest hits tour and probably not available for private American bookings, but imagine if Sophie (or Girls Aloud, or Annie) showed up stateside for events like this? Hello, finally breaking the American market after years of not trying!
10. Margaret Berger
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKQ9PycgGw0]
One big trend with Pride festivals nationwide is getting people that lost on American Idol to perform; this year Frenchie Davis, Kimberley Locke, and probably others that I don’t remember are playing, and a couple of years ago the Rhode Island event had first season reject and internet himbo Jim Verraros to play. But why not mix up the formula a little and get somebody more interesting, more talented, and, frankly, cuter?
Margaret Berger lost the second season of Norwegian Idol but last year put out the awesomely poppy Pretty Scary Silver Fairy which, uh, never got released in the US. Plus, how much do I actually want to watch Norwegian Idol now?
11. Gravy Train!!! [nsfw video]
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtNA6ki2W_8]
This video, though about five years old, sounds and feels more or less exactly like when I saw the group play live at Club Hell about two years ago. They’re absolutely ridiculous, and would be way more suited to agay festival than T*ff*ny.
June 21st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
May I suggest Electric Six ‘Gay Bar’ so that people can dance? It is a festival after all.
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:12 am
the magnetic fields would be awesome.. anyway i was downtown for most of the day… when did tiffany perform? i crimped my hair and everythign for her performance (i wish)
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:50 am
What about Matmos? Or maybe the ghost/rotting corpse of Joe Meek?
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 am
Hercules and Love Affair are awesome. What, no Pansy Division?
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Patrick Wolf would be great too.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HeR9_7cACUc
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:41 am
i forgot about patrick wolf! although i kinda can’t stand looking at him.