The general perception of PSB before Neil came out?

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Janet Street-Porter · Fri 09 Jun 2006, 7:49 am

Docoboy wrote:I always thought there was an interesting irony in the idea of a cellibate pop star - because it's so different from the cliched stereotype.

"Never had no one ever"

VinnyM27 · #32 Post by **VinnyM27** » Fri 09 Jun 2006, 4:30 pm

Jareth wrote:My sisters boyfriend recently said I'm With Stupid is "too gay" I have to say this is one of the most annoying criticism's of the Pet Shop Boys, especially when other gay people who listen to female artists that are 1000 times more camp say it.

I wonder, was this criticism used against them before Neil came out of the closet and they released a bloody Village People cover? I'm just curious to know if they were perceived as gay in the same way back then, even before Neil said anything? Was it just assumed? Do you think it was easier for insecure straight people to admit to being fans then?

Can an older fan shed some light on this...

It's possible that she is right. I mean, if you didn't know Neil was gay before, recent songs and single make it pretty clear even if not specfically talking about guys. If she is saying it's gay because it sounds like a relationship between too men, that's kind of true. I doesn't sound like he is addressing a woman (nor is he, of course).

psb-freak · #33 Post by **psb-freak** » Fri 09 Jun 2006, 6:58 pm

Why do we discuss about this anyway?

alig · #34 Post by **alig** » Fri 09 Jun 2006, 10:32 pm

thank god they're gay! otherwise they'd be ageing, married family men putting out shitty, listless albums. and i find it just ludicrous how rock music is always considered so much cooler than pop music. i think people frown upon the psb because they're pop and rock. how would people react if you told them your fav band are the sugababes? i mean everybody likes them but being a fan of theirs is another level. i do like rock music but i hate all this c*** rock from the likes of jet or towers of london. it's so cliché and hackneyed. thank god the psb are gay and don't rely on this macho shtick. they created their own little world and everything they did was always with so much style and elegance. sure, they're not as hip as the strokes but i'm glad they're a bit off the wall and not everybody's darlings. and music journalists and people with some kind of musical taste have always loved the psb. there are so many magazines that voted "fundamental" album of the month. the psb are like no other band and that's something very few bands can say about themselves.

Frequency · #35 Post by **Frequency** » Fri 09 Jun 2006, 10:49 pm

Hmm... a straight PSB, now what would that sound like ? Probably would be something as inoffensively offensive as Savage Garden. So, you're right alig, we should count our blessings that they're gay because the alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

Lleonard Pler · #36 Post by **Lleonard Pler** » Fri 09 Jun 2006, 11:10 pm

Frequency wrote:Hmm... a straight PSB, now what would that sound like ? Probably would be something as inoffensively offensive as Savage Garden. So, you're right alig, we should count our blessings that they're gay because the alternative doesn't bear thinking about.

That's not a very good comparison, is it? It's not like Savage Garden are heterosexual or something.

If PSB were to be a non-gay group, they most probably wouldn't exist. Their songs, their lyrics, their compositions, their collaborations, their looks, their thoughts... even their meeting and laboral relationship... They are as they are, and we love them because of this.

Janet Street-Porter · Fri 09 Jun 2006, 11:30 pm

The straight PSB are unveiled.

Frequency · #38 Post by **Frequency** » Fri 09 Jun 2006, 11:56 pm

They'll have to do (whoever they are) because it doesn't like Ant and Dec are resurrecting their pop career anytime soon.

Pani · #39 Post by **Pani** » Sat 10 Jun 2006, 12:48 am

ceejay wrote:
Boy Strange wrote:
ceejay wrote:It was the same for me, I was 12 and I used to get the living mick taken out of me for liking them. All the boys in my class used to say they were gay and laugh, and I used to get 'What do you like them for?!' this was way before Neil came out.. In those days everyone liked Wham, Frankie etc but those bands just didn't appeal to me whatsoever.
They took the piss out of the 'gay' PSB and listened to WHAM and FGTH instead?
Yep, everyone idolised Wham. You were classed as mad if you didn't like them! Even though George Michael, Holly Johnson and the big guy (can't think of his name)...

Paul Rutherford?

Propertius · #40 Post by **Propertius** » Sat 10 Jun 2006, 2:14 am

The thing is, the '80s were much more ambiguous and in some ways less concerned about who was gay or straight. Culture Club weren't especially a "gay" act, though now they would be. (Not that anyone thought Boy George was straight, but the music itself wasn't stereotyped to the extent it is today.) I do remember that there was quite a bit of difference between how PSB were perceived -- as a mainstream act that people thought was probably gay -- and how Erasure, with an openly gay singer, was perceived. Sexuality was an issue that interviewers brought up with Andy Bell. With the Boys, it was politely dropped. That was the don't ask, don't tell era of pop.

Whereas now things are more open but also more ghettoized. PSB are wrongly thoguht of (in many circles) as strictly a gay act, something that no straight person coulld or should take too much interest in.

Dipso · #41 Post by **Dipso** » Sat 10 Jun 2006, 2:35 am

dannii wrote:
psb-freak wrote:Chris IS gay for the 100th time...
then why does he keep hiding it in public if he HAS declared himself as gay
and he's commenting girls a lot in various interviews
he was blabbing something about Paris Hilton in T4 interview...
and acts quite macho without showing any gestures as Neil does
how do you explain that all?

Chris said Paris Hilton "understood celebrity" (or words to that effect) on T4. How a comment such as that can be taken as being an indication of someone's sexuality I have no idea...

psb-freak · #42 Post by **psb-freak** » Sat 10 Jun 2006, 4:55 pm

Dipso wrote:
dannii wrote:
psb-freak wrote:Chris IS gay for the 100th time...
then why does he keep hiding it in public if he HAS declared himself as gay
and he's commenting girls a lot in various interviews
he was blabbing something about Paris Hilton in T4 interview...
and acts quite macho without showing any gestures as Neil does
how do you explain that all?
Chris said Paris Hilton "understood celebrity" (or words to that effect) on T4. How a comment such as that can be taken as being an indication of someone's sexuality I have no idea...

It was on Popworld, btw, when Chris said that. I´ve watched that programm with Paris Hilton a couple of times. She´s ok, actually.

ceejay · #43 Post by **ceejay** » Sat 10 Jun 2006, 5:45 pm

Pani wrote:
ceejay wrote:
Boy Strange wrote: They took the piss out of the 'gay' PSB and listened to WHAM and FGTH instead?
Yep, everyone idolised Wham. You were classed as mad if you didn't like them! Even though George Michael, Holly Johnson and the big guy (can't think of his name)...
Paul Rutherford?

Yeah, that's the one, I remember now thanks Pani

alig · #44 Post by **alig** » Sat 10 Jun 2006, 6:30 pm

Propertius wrote:The thing is, the '80s were much more ambiguous and in some ways less concerned about who was gay or straight. Culture Club weren't especially a "gay" act, though now they would be. (Not that anyone thought Boy George was straight, but the music itself wasn't stereotyped to the extent it is today.) I do remember that there was quite a bit of difference between how PSB were perceived -- as a mainstream act that people thought was probably gay -- and how Erasure, with an openly gay singer, was perceived. Sexuality was an issue that interviewers brought up with Andy Bell. With the Boys, it was politely dropped. That was the don't ask, don't tell era of pop.

Whereas now things are more open but also more ghettoized. PSB are wrongly thoguht of (in many circles) as strictly a gay act, something that no straight person coulld or should take too much interest in.

yeah, you have a point. i think nowadays boy george wouldn't get away with his outfit. on the one handside people seem more open about gays but then again there seems to be a stigmatization of gay celebs. i don't know the reason but look at all the lad magazines such as loaded or fhm. maybe it's the lad culture that has gotten out of hand.

Danimal · #45 Post by **Danimal** » Sun 11 Jun 2006, 7:04 am

At least in my part of the USA, most people didn't think about a musical artists sexuality until about 1990. In Michigan in the 80s, nobody seemed to pick up on: the fact that Freddy Mercury was gay, the singer from Judas Priest was gay, PSB were gay. f***, they didn't even seem to get that Boy George was gay (they just thought it was all a "gimic"). Of course, America didn't realize that the Village People were gay until about 1980. Unfortunately, right around 1990, everybody seemed to develop "gaydar." Many of the younger people didn't really mind, but didn't rush out to buy these artists records, they just tolerated their "gayness."
PSB defintely did better in the US through the Introspective period (although Introspective was only top 40 while Please was top 10 and Actually I believe was top 30 (although they had 3 top 5 singles off it)). I'm not sure whether this was due to the strength of their material and how it coinicided with the "pop" sound going on in the US at the time or the perception of their sexuality...

The general perception of PSB before Neil came out?

Re: The general perception of PSB before Neil came out?