If music is the common language, then what makes a tune an LGBTQ anthem? LGBTQ artists have at all times been on the forefront of music, spanning each style and period, however with pop music, these artists have a conduit to specific each the ache of isolation and otherness in addition to the jubilant feeling of self-love and neighborhood. To rejoice LGBTQ Pleasure Month, listed below are among the most memorable songs that commemorate the LGBTQ expertise.
Observe the Final Pleasure playlist on Spotify.
33: Rubbish: Queer
Regardless of its title, “Queer” wasn’t conceived as a celebration of individuals figuring out as LGBTQ+. Certainly, vocalist Shirley Manson’s main lyrical theme was tolerance quite than sexual orientation. Nonetheless, this slinky, trip-hop flavored alt-rock basic (a Prime 30 success on either side of the Atlantic in 1996) was embraced by the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, main guitarist Duke Erickson to inform Scene journal that “as musicians, we’re totally open to the song’s gay appeal.”
32: Carly Rae Jepsen: Lower To The Feeling
A protracted-time supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, Carly Rae Jepsen is lengthy established as a queer icon, with lots of her dancefloor-friendly singles corresponding to “Call Me Maybe” and “Run Away With Me” having fun with reputation with the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. One other sizzling favourite is the glowing “Cut To The Feeling,” recorded for 2016’s French-Canadian animated journey comedy movie Ballerina and a sizeable hit in Japan.
31: Lesley Gore: You Don’t Personal Me
Lesley Gore was solely 17 when she recorded “You Don’t Own Me,” but she invested the tune with a gravitas seemingly method past her years. That includes a lyric in search of respect and equal parity for girls in a person’s world, this haunting, but defiant ballad struck a chord with a world viewers and it peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Sizzling 100 in 1963. It’s lengthy since been accepted as a tune symbolizing girls’s empowerment and stays a agency LGBTQ+-endorsed favourite.
30: Shania Twain: Man! I Really feel Like A Girl
One other memorable, LGBTQ+-friendly feminine empowerment anthem, Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” was impressed by drag performers the singer noticed onstage whereas working at an Ontario vacation resort previous to her musical profession taking off. Lyrically defiant, but additionally extraordinarily radio-friendly, this country-pop basic exuded large mainstream attraction and – with assist from an excellent video parodying Robert Palmer’s “Addicted To Love” – it bagged Twain a Grammy Award.
29: Who Is Fancy: Goodbye
Pop followers actually did marvel Who Is Fancy when his debut single “Goodbye” was first launched in 2015 and broke into the U.S. Prime 30 hit courtesy of a mysterious web marketing campaign supported by three separate promotional movies. Finally, Who Is Fancy was revealed to be Jake Hagood: a proficient younger Arkansas singer-songwriter who identifies as homosexual and has since launched the roots-influenced album Southern Nation as Fancy Hagood. “Goodbye,” although stays a profession excessive: an emotive break-up tune which has been embraced by not simply the LBGTQ+ neighborhood, however pop followers of all persuasions.
28: Mika: Fashionable Tune
Because of the success of hits corresponding to “Grace Kelly” and “Love Today,” Lebanese-British singer-songwriter Mika constructed up a staunch LGBTQ+ following throughout the earliest days of his profession. Extra not too long ago, the wonderful “Popular Song” (greatest identified in its remixed single kind with particular visitor star Ariana Grande) from his third album, 2012’s The Origin Of Love, has been extensively celebrated as a high quality queer pop basic.
27: Kim Petras: Coronary heart To Break
Kim Petras is a fully-fledged LGBTQ+ icon, with “Unholy,” her 2022 collaboration with Sam Smith making her the primary overtly transgender artist to high the U.S. Billboard Sizzling 100. Previous to that milestone, although, Petras had already launched a sequence of wonderful dance-pop singles, with 2018’s “Heart To Break” proving particularly well-received in LGBTQ+ circles and past.
26: Nelly Furtado: Maneater
Canadian pop famous person Nelly Furtado was supported by the LGBTQ+ scene from the off and she or he’s at all times reciprocated: usually advocating LGBTQ+ rights and showing at quite a few Pleasure-related occasions together with London’s Mighty Hoopla. Her catalog contains quite a few queer-friendly pop hits, not least the evergreen “Maneater,” the irresistible third single from her multi-platinum third album Unfastened, impressed by the 1982 Corridor & Oates hit of the identical title.
25: Kacey Musgraves: Observe Your Arrow
Make no mistake, even nation music has its share of LGBTQ songs, even when their message isn’t specific. Whereas the 90s gave us nation divas like Shania, Reba, Trisha and Martina, it wasn’t till Nashville outsider-turned-critical-darling Kacey Musgraves got here alongside and instructed us to “kiss lots of boys – or kiss lots of girls” that the style was really shaken up.
24: Carly Rae Jepsen: Run Away With Me
Like Robyn, Carly Rae Jepsen faucets into one thing deeper along with her pop hits, not shying away from the sentiments of loneliness and disappointment that include unrequited love. She’s lengthy eclipsed the success of “Call Me Maybe” and delivers the type of escapist LGBTQ songs that talk to the queer expertise, particularly on “Run Away With Me,” the place the road “I’ll be your sinner in secret” has enshrined the tune’s singalong standing.
23: Kylie Minogue: All The Lovers
The Australian pop sensation has been churning out LGBTQ anthems since “Your Disco Needs You” again within the early 00s, so it’s almost unattainable to decide on only one defining monitor. Amongst her spectacular catalogue of dance-pop gems, “All The Lovers” marked the primary time the singer appeared to immediately tackle her homosexual fanbase, together with the accompanying video that encompasses a mass of {couples} of all stripes making out round her.
22: Janet Jackson: Collectively Once more
On her critically-acclaimed Velvet Rope album, Janet Jackson bought private and tackled an array of taboo matters. On “Free Xone” she sings about “One rule, no rules/One love, free zone”; she flips the gender script on Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s The Night”; and, on the bittersweet disco hit “Together Again,” pens a triumphant tribute to the buddy she misplaced to AIDS, incomes a GLAAD Media Award within the course of.
21: Melissa Etheridge: Come To My Window
LGBTQ songs could dominate pop and disco music, however they can be present in rock music and the singer-songwriter realm. The steely-voiced Melissa Etheridge squashed rumors after titling her album Sure I Am and penning one of the iconic lesbian (or in any other case) love songs.
20: Rupaul: Sissy That Stroll
Whereas “Supermodel (You Better Work)” stays a timeless anthem, RuPaul has amassed a formidable discography because the 90s, together with her homage to ballroom tradition, “Sissy That Walk” off 2014’s Born Bare. If “Supermodel” was constructed for the runway, “Sissy That Walk” is a thumping name to the dancefloor. Solely Ru may get a tune that options “My p_ssy is on fire, now kiss the flame,” on the Billboard charts.
19: Bronski Beat: Smalltown Boy
The British trio’s common hit spoke to small-town boys (and ladies) all over the place who had been trying to escape the oppressive nature of their hometowns. From the tune’s opening synths and Jimmy Somerville’s unmistakable falsetto, “Smalltown Boy” marked a historic second in pop music, particularly coming from an overtly homosexual group throughout the peak of the AIDS disaster.
18: Elton John: Elton’s Tune
Even earlier than he publicly got here out within the late 80s, Elton John launched one of the revealing songs of his profession with “Elton’s Song,” a shifting piano ballad that was clearly a few hopeless crush on a boy. Co-written by Tom Robinson (who gave us “Glad To Be Gay”), it’s one of many uncommon LGBTQ songs that eschews the dancefloor for a extra tender second.
17: Pet Store Boys: Go West
Whereas a lot of their earlier work within the 80s relied on sexual ambiguity (“West End Girls”), or a scarcity thereof (“Domino Dancing”), Pet Store Boys’ Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe had an immense influence on queer pop and dance music at giant. Amongst their numerous hits, their cowl of Village Individuals’s “Go West” stands as their most enduring homosexual anthem.
16: Janelle Monáe: Make Me Really feel
From Prince acolyte to drive of nature, Janelle Monáe ditched her futuristic android persona and reclaimed her sexuality on the revelatory LP Soiled Laptop and its lead single “Make Me Feel.” Sonically it’s the religious cousin of “Kiss,” whereas lyrically it an embrace of sexual fluidity, all with a palpable sensuality that bursts forth out of your audio system.
15: Tradition Membership: Do You Actually Need To Damage Me
Rising from London’s gay-bar circuit, Tradition Membership and their frontman, Boy George, introduced each style and gender fluidity to the MTV era. George’s secret relationship along with his bandmate Jon Moss impressed a lot of the angst and heartbreak on their second album, Color By Numbers, together with the immortal hit “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me.”
14: Madonna: Specific Your self
Madonna crafted one of the iconic LGBTQ songs many years earlier than “live your truth” entered the pop lexicon. Whereas many level to the ballroom culture-inspired “Vogue” as her pivotal LGBTQ anthem, “Express Yourself” and its homoerotic visible was a siren name to followers, encouraging them to have autonomy over their wants and needs.
13: Erasure: A Little Respect
Because the torch-bearers of 80s queer pop, British synth-pop masters Erasure didn’t simply write flashy floor-fillers, they wrote songs that captured the extreme longing and need of queer relationships. The truth that Andy Bell was passionately singing about an emotionally unavailable boyfriend was completely misplaced on the 1000’s of teenage ladies that might swarm their live shows.
12: Grace Jones: Pull Up To The Bumper
One among music’s best instigators, Grace Jones was at all times a beloved homosexual icon. From her placing androgynous model to disco cred, she knew find out how to navigate homosexual membership tradition and convey it to the mainstream. Her pivot from disco gifted us the reggae-infused New Wave basic “Pull Up to the Bumper,” a sexual-innuendo-loaded hit about taboo pleasure. With its effervescent bassline and infectious guitar lick, Jones’s ode to nameless intimacy nonetheless sounds transgressive.
11: Donna Summer season: I Really feel Love
Regardless of her “Queen Of Disco” label, Donna Summer season did extra for the evolution of EDM than she’s given credit score for, due to her pioneering collaborations with Italian producer Giorgio Moroder. From the pulsing Moog synths to Summer season’s erotic trills, her 1977 hit “I Feel Love” turned the dancefloor right into a celestial realm.
10: Robyn: Dancing On My Personal
What began out as a story of heartbreak over seeing an ex with a brand new lover shortly advanced right into a triumphant anthem of self-acceptance. Impressed by “sad, gay disco anthems by Sylvester and Donna Summer,” Swedish pop icon Robyn turned an remark on membership tradition into one thing a lot bigger. With its pulsating beat and lyrical themes of isolation, “Dancing On My Own” was instantly absorbed into the queer canon.
9: Village Individuals: YMCA
Defining homosexual anthem of the disco period or healthful celebration of younger male-oriented neighborhood facilities? Coming from a band with the hit single “Macho Man” and an album referred to as Cruisin’, you resolve. Earlier than it was blasted at each bat mitzvah, this 70s hit, with its infectious refrain and easy choreography, was a fixture at New York Metropolis’s homosexual golf equipment.
8: Carl Bean: I Was Born This Method
A long time earlier than Gaga’s homosexual anthem and pre-dating The Village Individuals, Carl Bean introduced homosexual satisfaction to the golf equipment (and charts) on the 1977 Motown smash “I Was Born This Way.” Initially launched as a disco single by Valentino, Bean introduced his gospel-powered vocals to the monitor, as he proclaims, “I’m happy, I’m carefree and I’m gay/I was born this way.” The tune has outlived disco via numerous remixes through the years and nonetheless sounds triumphant immediately.
7: The Climate Women: It’s Raining Males
“Tall, blonde, dark and lean.” The Climate Women didn’t discriminate when it got here to the male specimen, so, naturally, their disco-pop hit was adopted by all. Co-written by David Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer, “It’s Raining Men” could be nothing with out the powerhouse vocals of Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes-Armstead.
6: Queen: I Need To Break Free
Whereas Freddie Mercury by no means publicly got here out throughout his lifetime, lots of Queen’s enduring hits may be learn as LGBTQ anthems, none extra so than “I Want To Break Free.” Written by Queen’s bassist, John Deacon, the tune spoke to any repressed particular person. When the band satirized the favored UK cleaning soap opera Coronation Road by dressing up in drag for the music video, the world laughed with them – other than America, which clutched its pearls at perceived subversive content material.
5: George Michael: Freedom 90
Although greatest remembered for its supermodel-starring music video, “Freedom 90” is an unabashed LGBTQ anthem for the previous Wham!-singer-turned-sex image. “I think there’s something you should know/I think it’s time I told you so/There’s something deep inside of me/There’s someone else I’ve got to be,” George Michael sings on this timeless 90s hit.
4: Girl Gaga: Born This Method
When Girl Gaga penned her bombastic ode to self-love, her phrases cemented a higher shift in cultural attitudes round homosexuality. “Born This Way” was not solely a triumphant LGBTQ anthem however a retort to anybody who questioned their self-identity. Not like her 80s and 90s pop predecessors, Gaga didn’t have to cover behind cryptic lyrics. The fierce LGBTQ ally made her intent loud and clear, and simply so occurred to spawn one of many largest pop hits of the century.
3: Diana Ross: I’m Coming Out
Like so many LGBTQ anthems, “I’m Coming Out” used Prime 40 pop to convey extra subversive messages to the neighborhood. “I’m Coming Out” didn’t simply allude to the former Supreme’s disco makeover, it was an indication of assist to her homosexual fanbase (whether or not Diana Ross was overtly conscious of it or not) crafted by funk architects Nile Rodgers and Stylish co-founder Bernard Edwards.
2: Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive
Gloria Gaynor’s resilient disco anthem took on a deeper that means after the AIDS disaster hit. Outlasting the fallout of the notorious Disco Demolition Evening, Gaynor’s tune advanced right into a rallying cry of a neighborhood that was being decimated by illness. Each then and immediately, “I Will Survive” is among the most enduring LGBTQ anthems for instances when survival itself turns into an act of defiance.
1: Sylvester: You Make Me Really feel (Mighty Actual)
The “Queen Of Disco” was by no means a sufficiently big title for the dynamic, gender-fluid singer often known as Sylvester. Along with his ethereal falsetto and dynamite stage presence, the overtly homosexual artist at all times stored it actual, and that boldness may be heard in his music. A celebration of liberation, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” stays one of the outspoken LGBTQ anthems of all time.
In search of extra? Uncover the LGBTQ musicians who helped their followers discover a voice.
