It’s often said that, throughout history, queer people have been at the forefront of shaping the cultures that often come to be appreciated by the heteronormative mainstream. Indeed, anywhere from the Black queer trailblazers who helped create genres like country and blues music as we know them today, to the disco movement of the 1970s, queer people have always sought out the spaces that will most accept them, long before they are cool. In the case of popular music, the queer influence cannot be understated — while we often think of openly queer pop stars as a phenomenon of the last decade or so, music, and especially pop music, has always been queer. You just have to listen between the lines to hear it.
While there are many other areas of culture that have benefited from queer influence, music is one where there are so many hidden histories just waiting for an eager reader to discover. In that spirit, I’ve assembled this list of essential reads about queer music. Anywhere from the queer forefathers of yore to the more modern likes of Chappell Roan, Orville Peck, or Lil Nas X queering music genres historically seen as heteronormative, there is sure to be an eye-opening moment for everyone from one of these fascinating books.
Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969–2000 by Barry Walters
A good place to start is a newer book just published this year about the very queer influence we’re talking about. Described as the “definitive history of LGBTQ music from Stonewall to RuPaul,” Barry Walters’ Mighty Real delves into a personal selection of artists and musicians from the 20th century who were either openly or privately queer, or whose music helped to shape the existing queer cultures of the time. As artists like Lou Reed, the Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, and George Michael (to name only a few) helped redefine tradition and challenge rigid sexual and gender norms through their music, the author places their careers and influence in historical context, asking the reader to ponder just how influential they were and how far we’ve come since then, and/or how far we have left to go. Whether they’re making dance-pop, glam rock, or folk music, Walters centers in on how all of these artists are still doing the same thing with their art, fighting oppression, and just how revolutionary they were in their own individual ways, whether loud or quiet.
Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache: How Music Came Out by Martin Aston
Similar to Mighty Real, Martin Aston’s Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache examines just how many artists of the 20th century were playing with gender and sexuality through their art, recalling a time before it was socially acceptable or even legal to be openly queer. Through a British perspective, the author examines the work of closeted artists of years past who started making music before coming to terms with their sexuality, as well as music by classically straight musicians whose work queer listeners could find themselves represented in. With a multilayered lens, Aston braids these narratives together to argue that not only did society and culture come to be seen as more accepting of queer identities, but that cultural properties like pop music also experienced a “coming out” of sorts. Contextualizing his analysis through comparisons of previous decades to the oppressive regimes still targeting queer people today, Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache proves once and for all that us queers have always been here and are not going anywhere.
Queer Ear: Remaking Music Theory edited by Gavin S.K. Lee
In this fresh take on music theory, editor Gavin S.K. Lee assembles a list of diverse opinions on the notion that not only do queer people experience the world differently than their straight counterparts, but it also raises the notion of a “queer ear” when it comes to music. By arguing that queerness is fundamental to the practice of music theory, the authors included in this anthology examine a range of different approaches investigating the “queer ear” theory that in turn explores queering the musical space, encouraging everyone of any gender or sexual identity to listen with an open mind when it comes to music. Queer Ear is ultimately a fascinating look at the ways in which queer people approach the world differently, and just how diverse existing cultural practices become when people approach them from different angles.
Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music by Nadine Hubbs
In North America, country music has come to be seen as more appreciated by those who live in rural areas and may or may not be of a more conservative political leaning. But country music has a long, hidden history of not being only created by and for white people. Delving into this rich history of clashing sexualities, genders, and class politics, author Nadine Hubbs applies a critical and historical view to the country music genre and how it has always been made for both queers and rednecks, for lack of a better term. With an incisive analysis of the often-heard phrase “I’ll listen to anything but country,” Hubbs examines how country music came to be associated with lower-class white people in low-income areas, a phenomenon that has, since the 1970s, come to also be associated with homophobia and bigotry. With country music being linked to such so-called “redneck” ideologies, it erases its diverse and inclusive history. Hubbs seeks to amend that in Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music, looking at class privilege and politics through a sociological lens while touching on cultural critique to make her case that such middle-class discourse has prevented some modern country music from accepting queer identities.
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism by Angela Y. Davis
While blues music has always had a strong association with Black artists, there is still very little written about the Black queer women who helped shape blues music as we know it. In Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, scholar Angela Y. Davis dives deep into the lives and careers of Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and Gertrude “Ma” Rainey to illustrate that Black perspectives in music have always been at odds with mainstream American culture. Largely misunderstood or ignored by music critics, Smith, Holiday, and Rainey forged ahead with their musical careers, cementing their Black female perspectives on queerness for all of their listeners, whether or not they could actually hear it. As each of these women and artists came of age in a time where simply not being white was seen as rejecting middle-class respectability, each of them got to exist, for a time, outside of the constraints often placed on mainstream artists of the era, especially if you were a woman. Although some of them would face repeated persecution by law enforcement, Smith, Holiday, and Rainey were showing that being queer has always been a protest.
Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture by Alice Echols
Despite its beckoning to dance and bring everyone together, disco music has always been divisive, as Alice Echols demonstrates in Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. Although dance music such as disco has always been seen as shallow and unworthy of cultural appraisal, Echols argues how the subgenre that grew out of underground gay and R&B clubs led to the emergence of a Black middle class, the rise of the “gay macho” image, and freedom for female sexuality. Harassed and bullied in every other area of life, gay men could escape to the dancefloor. Black women got to fully embrace their sexualities on stage for the first time and became mainstream stars. Disco became so prevalent in 1970s society and culture that it led to the opening of the infamous Studio 54 and the widespread success of the film Saturday Night Fever. But not everyone was down with what disco had to say, or the supposed lifestyles it normalized. In this rich history of the disco era, Echols takes a hard-hitting look at its role in shaping queer culture of the late 20th century, and how even as people hated us, even they couldn’t resist the urge to boogie oogie oogie.
What are some of your favorite queer books about music?