Tag: music history
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Songs That Soundtracked the AIDS Epidemic: Spice Girls “Holler”
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“I want to make you holler, and make you scream my name” a song on the third studio album of The Spice Girls, opens up with a sonic reference to TLC’s “No Scrubs” and was released in the UK on October 23, 2000, three days before my 17th birthday. The…
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DONNA SUMMER
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donna summer. the mere mention of her name evokes visions, feelings, and sounds of heaven on the dance floor. dubbed the queen of disco, along with sylvester, donna’s voice soundtracked the queer utopia that was the 1970s. from her 1975 seductive breakout hit “love to love you baby” to her…
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Songs That Soundtracked the AIDS Epidemic: Patti LaBelle’s “You Are My Friend”
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every year, just as pride season is about to kick off, the interwebs argue, fight and debate about who is and who isn’t a queer icon. thankfully, many of these exhausting debates center non-black celebrities who have generally mastered performative allyship, for the sake of rainbow capitalism. frequenting gay clubs…
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Songs That Soundtracked the AIDS Epidemic: Shirley Murdock’s “As We Lay”
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“It’s morning, and we slept the night away” that’s how we are introduced to the soft and powerful voice of Shirley Murdock, in the hit song “As We Lay.” Recorded in 1985, “As We Lay” was released on her debut studio album “Shirley Murdock” on February 18, 1986. On the…
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Songs That Soundtracked the AIDS Epidemic: Gwen Guthrie’s “Can’t Love You Tonight”
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dubbed the queen of paradise garage, legendary 1980’s new york night club, gwen guthrie scored her biggest hit when she topped billboard’s r&b chart in september 1986 with the self-penned and produced “ain’t nothin’ goin’ on but the rent.” that same month, the surgeon general’s report on AIDS was released.…
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Songs That Soundtracked the AIDS Epidemic: Jermaine Stewart’s “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off”
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in january 1986, the CDC reported more people were diagnosed with aids in 1985 than all of the earlier years combined. even as health experts were predicting that the number of diagnoses could double within the year, the US was still without a coordinated effort to address the AIDS pandemic.…
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PAULA ABDUL
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in the late 1980s, paula abdul’s popularity rivaled that of her contemporaries, janet jackson and madonna. paula had gone from being an LA lakers cheerleader to an in-demand choreographer that helped catapult janet jackson’s first three music videos from her 1986 breakout album “control” to legendary status. it wasn’t long…
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Songs That Soundtracked the AIDS Epidemic: Pet Shop Boys “Being Boring”
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by the late 1970s, homosexuality had been decriminalized in multiple states including iowa, nebraska and wyoming. with the hypervisibility of disco, which served as a trojan horse ushering queer culture into the mainstream, any and everything seemed possible for queer and trans people. if the 70s were the ball, and…
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Songs That Soundtracked the AIDS Epidemic: Whitney’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”
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in 1987 the AIDS epidemic was still unfolding. it was still a death sentence. those living with HIV–who were still among the living–were at constant war with a government that willfully denied, withheld and blocked necessary resources to address the epidemic. it was a brutal time. but it was also…
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Songs That Soundtracked The AIDS Epidemic: Janet’s “Together Again”
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Sweet harp chords flourish as “Together Again” starts, then it picks up momentum with these lyrics “There are times when I look above and beyond, there are times when I feel your love around me baby, I’ll never forget my baby.” Janet Jackson released this single on December 2, 1997,…
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SYLVESTER
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sylvester, believed that god was found on the dance floor. his live performances were a revival and his lyrics were that of anointed sermons, “you are a star. you only happen once.” proclaimed the literal queen of disco during the genre’s peak in the late 1970’s, sylvester set both the…
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My Ode to Ultra Naté’s “Situation: Critical”
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Sometimes we are late to the BBQ right? Well in the case of Ultra Naté (pronounced Na-Tay), I didn’t arrive at the BBQ til 1998. I was 15 years old and my teenage icon Filipinx Freestyle/Dance Diva Jocelyn Enriquez was sprinkled with Disco fairy dust along with dance divas Amber…