posted by davidt on Sunday February 19 2006, @12:00PM
Belligerent Ghoul sends the link / excerpt:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/story/391638p-332173c.html - NY Daily News

Excerpt:

If AOL and other media outlets are so eager to codify gay taste, maybe they should go all the way and create their own version of the Kinsey Scale. Brainstormed by the famous sexologist in the '50s, Alfred Kinsey's scale rated people's orientation on a measure of 0 to 6.

"0" was the "most straight," "6" the "most gay," with all kinds of tantalizing gradations in between.

For the musical equivalent of "0" you'd have, say, Buju Banton (the dance hall star whose songs call for gay people to be slaughtered en masse). For "6" you could have something by Morrissey, whose lyrics epitomize that famous "gay sensibility" more bitingly than anyone since Oscar Wilde.

The problem is, Morrissey has never declared his sexual orientation. And what would we do with someone like Rob Halford, singer of the metal band Judas Priest, who has come out but who makes the most conventionally macho music on the planet?

Maybe this "gay music" stuff isn't as easy as it looks.

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  • I'm sure Morrissey himself is laughing all the way to his four poster when it comes to speculation over his sexuality. However, I find a lot of this speculation to be in bad taste; it's quite creepy when people go on extended rants about what he (essentially a stranger) gets up to behind closed doors etc etc. Anyways, that's my two penneth about certain posts since the songs were leaked; I suppose he's no different to any other celebrity when it comes to the tabloid gutter culture of our generation.
    As for this little story, what's this guy on? The musical equivalent of 6 on the Kinsey scale? "Let me get my hands on your mammary glands", "She's too rough and I'm too delicate", "Where is the man you respect, and where is the woman you love?" ... these might not be from his own perspective, yet these, and many other examples make his music the equivalent of 3 or 4 or the Kinsey scale at least. As the man himself said, he sets out with the aim never to alienate 50% of the population.
    Try Frankie Goes To Hollywood when you're looking for a 6 next time. Morrissey's music is gloriously innuendo laden, but innuendo isn't applicable here; Buju Banton obviously doesn't bother with it to get his 0 rating.
    At least the guy has the courtesy to raise some doubts at the end of the piece, after all, I've certainly never heard Morrissey, or The Smiths, played in a gay club.

    Mozzersgirl -- Sunday February 19 2006, @12:42PM (#198871)
    (User #14229 Info)
    "There's more evil in the charts than in an al-Qaeda suggestion box" - Bill Bailey
  • Sexometer (Score:2, Funny)

    When I was around 12, I used to peek at a weekly magazine intended for sexual education, not just raw pornography. One of the issues was on "levels of homosexuality", according to statistics drawn from how frequently you have had sex with people from the same sex as yours, or with people from the opposite sex. The results would then show you were sligthly gay or lesbian if you had sex around two times (or less), moderately so if you had it three times or more, seriously if you had it more times than your fingers could count. To me, this sex graphic was very confusing; if you do desire someone, it doesn't mean anything according to the graffic; if you enter a gay phase, then you're forever gay even if you feel attraction for the opposite sex at some point in your life. And so on and so forth. Now, I was only 12 at the time, and I'm surprised these statistics are still causing sensation! People have the need to classify and quantify everything, even if it never gave them a straight answer about themselves. Where do you put the ones who have had sex change operations? Or the castratos of the past, or those born with two sexes? Is sexuality based on gender? I think you'd have to put a same-sex couple and a different-sex couple in a lab, measure the frequency of the acts, or go to a gay bar with a notebook and measure how many times per minute/hour different people kiss and touch themselves. The whole thing seems like a comic nightmare from an George Orwell novel, which could be called 2006, instead of 1984. (I'm seriously suspicious of my male dog by the way. I'm going to check out how many times he's been humping my male cat).
    Mrs. Woolf -- Sunday February 19 2006, @01:07PM (#198875)
    (User #14157 Info)
  • the interview!

    David the dunce strikes again
    Anonymous -- Sunday February 19 2006, @02:24PM (#198893)
  • I'm sorry but Judas Preist had songs about 'Leather Boys' - they get a six!
    Anonymous -- Sunday February 19 2006, @03:31PM (#198904)
  • Pete Burns always frightened me, but I felt that his friendship and brief collaboration with Morrissey was equally perplexing and intriguing.

    Pete Burns was quoted somewhere in '85-'86 that he would love to be 'caught' or 'photographed' with 50 nude sailors- or something like that.

    Dead or Alive really frightened me on many different levels- whereas Boy George/Culture Club amazed me with their "slower"/"softer" songs ("Mistake No. 3," "Time[Clock of the Heart]," etc.)

    Incidentally, most of Culture Club's better music was never a 'hit' as far as the charts are concerned. I am surprised that Morrissey did not collaborate with Boy George- even if only briefly.

    NOW, on the other hand, I found George Michael/Wham! to be totally gross and apalling on many different levels- almost sleazy and cheap like Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Bronski Beat was the antithesis to Frankie, IMHO.

    George Michael is a disaster and a car wreck waiting to happen. I once saw a photo of him and Andrew frolicking on the beach in Speedos, and I immediately wanted to fall on the floor. I heard George Michael's 'MTV Unplugged' session (which never aired, by the way--) was an absolute disaster- with the fans actually heckling George Michael; he appeared on stage with a devil's haircut and a frightening goatee! Ick! I need a bath.

    Now- on another note- I always felt that Morrissey should collaborate with k.d. lang. Her album, "Drag" is a hidden gem.

    I don't know where I am going with all of this. As far as heterosexuality is concerned, I am convinced that Morrissey should honestly do a duet with no-one other than Sade. Now THAT would sell albums!

    Sexuality is overrated, and people will always be very human on the inside- irregardless of what labels they choose or deny.

    What do you believe?

    With love,

    Ken S.
    ps- I found a degree of honesty with Rufus Wainwright- does anyone else agree? Morrissey should consider having Rufus as an opener.

    ps- Phranc was a bit intimidating,; the Indigo Girls would have been better.

    sycophantic_slag -- Sunday February 19 2006, @07:33PM (#198929)
    (User #3940 Info)
    "And I just can't explain/ So I won't even try to."
  • Buju Banton did apologize for the "batty boy boom boom" comments -- no word on whether he was sincere. He now sings love songs and Bob Marley knock-offs.

    For a real ultra-hetero band, I was thinking more along the lines of Pantera (angry steroid metal freaks) or Led Zeppelin (groupie loving sex freaks). Take your pick.
    ATLpunk -- Sunday February 19 2006, @09:03PM (#198936)
    (User #13585 Info)
  • labels (Score:1, Insightful)

    i've given great thought over the years to Moz not making a definitive statement in interviews regarding his sexuality.

    i think he is smart to stay obtuse. i think he senses, like Bob Dylan did ages ago when people tried to crown him as a 'protest singer', that having any kind of label attached to you diminishes the artist somehow. perhaps he senses it would be easier for critics and audience to dismiss him if they could simply shove him into some kind of pre-conceived 'gay' box. he's far more complex than that and refuses to live under anyone's flag. which i admire.

    that said, i think his mannerisms really tell the story. i find the quirky, dramatic gestures to be very effeminate. or at the very least, a sign of a deep lack of self-awareness in the sense that he looks like both a total poof and a self-absorbed twit.

    but of course deep down i love the man and owe him everything. he really did save my life in the 80s during the terrible teen years.

    i loooove to hear him sing, but i can't watch him in video or on stage anymore. it's like they're 2 different things entirely. anyone else feeling this?
    Anonymous -- Sunday February 19 2006, @10:54PM (#198941)
  • I always thought bands like the Arcade Fire, the Firey Furnaces, and the S.Pumpkins were gay. Does that count?
    Anonymous -- Monday February 20 2006, @09:37PM (#199058)
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