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Queer Noises Male and Female Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century Music John Gill |
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Gay men and women have been involved in making music since music was first made. But as John Gill observes, many of the central figures of twentieth-century music have been forced to keep their sexuality a secret. Witty, opinionated, and occasionally outrageous—"Did Elvis Presley want to be tied up?" asks Gill about this rock legend's famous pose—Queer Noises is an attempt to end the silence about the contributions of gays and lesbians to the canon of twentieth-century music. That silence, says Gill, is all the more problematic given that rumor, scandal, and gossip in the music industry—the most devalued sources of information in our society—have known about and discussed homosexuality in music for many, many years. And sometimes that silence can have tragic consequences, as in the case of Janis Joplin, one of rock's first out lesbians. Gill's revealing yet sensitive treatment of the lives of a host of performers-from Benjamin Britten and John Cage to Bessie Smith and Janis Joplin, from Billy Strayhorn and Cecil Taylor to Sun Ra and the Pet Shop Boys—makes public what has always been known but all too frequently suppressed: that many of this century's greatest musicians are gay. In the process, Gill also examines the forces behind this "code of silence"—families and relatives, managers, and business associates, journalists and critics, historians and musicologists, the inner workings of the music industry itself. A book for lovers of music of all kinds and of all kinds of music, Queer Noises is not simply the story of homosexuality in the music business; it is a very personal account of how one gay critic sees himself, and by extension, his culture in relation to music and musicology in the late twentieth century. “Amusing, accessible, and highly entertaining.” —Contemporary Literature "Gill is always provocative and entertaining." —The Daily Telegraph (London) "I welcome Queer Noises, an historical survey of gays in pop music by John Gill, music and books editor for London's Time Out from 1981 to 1988. The book frequently takes us away from the critical crises of the moment to enjoy again the decades of break throughs and accomplishments and known gay figures, and of course, some we didn't know. The book is a fast survey of gay presence and influence in a wide range of modern music. In Gill's book, some gay performers are almost inseparable from their stage persona, while some aren't identified much by it at all. That Gill, and others are open to an abundance of interpretation rather than a couple of strict truths sounds positive to me, for it creates a wider common ground for those seeking validation for atypical gay passions." —City Pages "Gill's book offers interesting insights into 20th Century queer musicians. Informative." —etcetera "Gill is at his best. He has met and interviewed many of the performers he discusses, and these chapters are extremely readable and entertaining. Queer Noises is a fun read." —Lesbian Review of Books "Queer Noises is a very readable and entertaining book—Gill's prose is often witty and quite humorous. Queer Noises raises useful and provocative questions about the intersections of queer identities, politics, and music- questions that are nowhere near fully answered in the (still new) field of queer music studies." —NOTES, Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association John Gill was music and books editor at Time Out from 1981 to 1988 and has written about music for various publications including Sounds, Vox, and Smash Hits. He published a novel, Hype!, in 1990, and claims to have appeared on MTV masquerading as a member of the Residents. 216 pages | 5 3/8 x 8 3/8 | 1995 |
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$23.00 paper