The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Resistance Shaped Popular Culture (1955–1979) by Jon Savage review – pop’s coming out period
In this erudite book with broad appeal, the renowned critic moves deftly from insightful analysis of pivotal artists and songs into the wider social history of the years that advanced gay cultureJon Savage’s mammoth new book skilfully navigates, across more than 700 pages, key moments in music and entertainment history and maps their significance for the advancement and acceptance of queer culture. The Secret Public takes its name from that duality of the public and private self and early chapters describe the brutal dangers and difficulties, before the legalisation of homosexuality, encountered by singers and artists in the UK and US who were not able to fully be themselves. Often, he points out, they had public personas and identities at odds with their private selves, operating as some of them were “in the claustrophobic sexual and gendered atmosphere of America in the early 1950s” where “any perceived deviancy was automatically suspect”. The book tells the story of how we have arrived at our modern moment, with LGBTQ+ artists more fully, if not entirely, accepted, while also serving as a prescient warning about not slipping back.As you would expect, Savage can really write about music, its poetry and cadences. Early on, he examines the opening refrain of Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti, digging deep into each syllable of that opening “first eruption”, describing how the final two syllables of “Awopbopaloobop alopbamboom” have the “force of a fist, a blow, an explosion – a caption in a superhero comic”. And by choosing a condensed period of time, just 24 years, he is able to revel in details, both the seismic and the sidelined. He brings new life to Bowie, Dusty Springfield and… Rock Hudson who, when it was thought his “natural speaking voice was too high-pitched for his macho image”, was forced to scream when he had a cold in order to permanently alter the tone, making it deeper and supposedly “more seductive”. With Bowie, Savage gives us not just the better-known story of the evolution of the stage persona, but the backstage and managerial minutiae of his rise as well. Continue reading...
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings