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Post by rick on Sept 25, 2014 17:37:39 GMT -5
Here goes. 'Do Gay Men Really Have Terrible Taste in Music?' So, Rufus Wainwright, son of Kate McGarrigle, whose songs Linda has sung over the years, made the comment that "gay men have terrible taste in music" to explain away why he himself is not more popular among gay music buyers. The author gives a mention to Linda and "Heartbeats Accelerating" as proof that he has good taste in music! " I remember lying in bed on weekend mornings with Pietro, the first guy I dated in NYC, and listening to Linda Ronstadt's "Heartbeats Accelerating," his favorite song at the time, on repeat. It was written by Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Wainwright's mother and aunt, respectively! "
I think, if anything, the author of this piece on The Huffington Post heard Rufus' ridiculous generalization and used it as a springboard for an article on tastes in music. Do gay men make up a large part of the fan bases of singers like Bette Midler, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, etc.? Yes. Did they make up a large following of Judy Garland? Yes. Were they the only fans. No. Do gay people like a whole lot of other people, too? Yes, of course. I have friends who are gay and also big metal-heads and like Nine Inch Nails. Not my thing, but that doesn't make my friends any less gay or me more gay for not liking most heavy metal. Rufus has a knack for opening his mouth and inserting his foot. Here is Dame Shirley Bassey performing "Apartment," a song written for her by Rufus, for her 2009 album, "The Performance" --
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2014 17:49:03 GMT -5
my (ex) mother in law used to say 'all generalizations are wrong, including this one'...
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Post by erik on Sept 25, 2014 18:15:07 GMT -5
Well, like any demographic of any kind (ethnic; sexual orientation, etc.), there are times when you've got to wonder about that very thing, but of course it's all a matter of personal opinions. And of course when you get into something like this, you wind up going into the issue of stereotypes, which are not always accurate.
Personally, I don't think gays have bad taste in music when you talk about Bette Midler or Cher or Streisand or Diana Ross; these are true showbiz women, which is, I think, part of what gay people find so appealing about them, in a kind of old-fashioned way. Similarly, I think some of the anti-disco backlash we saw back in 1979 was homophobic in nature, since disco came at least partially from the gay subculture, even though a great many people, gay and straight, were listening and dancing to it.
Or how about going back to the folk music revival of the 1960s? One of the styles of music that was revived by it was bluegrass, a style whose stereotype image, at least up to that point, was that of old Southern rednecks and hillbillies in overalls chewin' tobaccy (sic) and doing a whole lot of "pickin' and grinnin'" (to use that kind of cornpone terminology)--and yet, in the context of such a turbulent time, look who was leading the charge of this revival: younger guys like Chris Hillman, Clarence White, Doug Dillard, and other bluegrass fanatics who made it "hip" to take this traditional kind of music into a modern context, making it relevant again. This led in part to the California country-rock movement of the later 1960s, which led, of course, to the Eagles and Linda.
One kind of has to do the research to see that stereotypes like these are not always accurate, nor even fair most of the time (IMHO).
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Post by fabtastique on Sept 26, 2014 6:36:26 GMT -5
I don't think I have terrible taste in music ... I'm on this forum aren't i! ?
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Post by philly on Sept 26, 2014 21:44:25 GMT -5
Rufus is probably thinking about, for example, Britney Spears gay following. Straight males who are fans of her music would probably be less forthcoming about it.
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Post by erik on Sept 26, 2014 22:45:46 GMT -5
Okay, I really don't want to be judgmental here (well, actually yes I do [LOL]), but those who listen to this repulsive s**t called bro-country really have bad taste.
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