An Alternate History of Sexuality in Club Culture
Many people have forgotten (or simply didn’t know) that dance music has important roots in LGBT communities. This article from Resident Advisor would like to set the record straight (no pun intended, of course).
[I]f the roots of electronic music are so sexually diverse, why do today’s audiences need to be reminded of it? Have we forgotten about the queer nightlife worlds of the ’70s and ’80s? That’s the problem according to Loren Granic, AKA Goddollars, co-founder and resident of A Club Called Rhonda in Los Angeles, who doesn’t mince words:
“We’re currently experiencing a total mainstreaming of dance music in America,” he says. “Many of these newcomers are straight/white kids who are very far removed from the LGBT community, despite fist-pumping by the millions to a music that was born from gay people of color sweating their asses off at 5 AM in a Chicago warehouse. It’s easy for us to dismiss this as a corruption of the music we hold so dear by charlatans and assholes, but many of the newcomers will be drawn into the music for life, and I think it’s important that we highlight the role that the gay community played and that we educate new fans of dance music to the ideals of community, equality and diversity that were so crucial to dance music’s DNA from the beginning.”
Keep reading. This is good stuff.
