# Hard-rocking, womanizing (allegedly) musicians... who are gay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608 "2009-03-24T17:48:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/21 "2009-03-24T19:43:43Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Well paint me blue and call me a Smurf. I never in a million years would have guessed it. I have NO fucking gaydar. NONE. …if you are referring to JJ’s preferences as news to you, then no, no you don’t ;)😃 ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/22 "2009-03-24T20:07:23Z")
Hmm, this got me thinking, is a disproportionate number of female musicians lesbian/bi? In my CD collection it might be something like 1/3 Tracy Chapman Janis Joplin Joan Jett Dusty Springfield Skin Sinead O’Conner ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/23 "2009-03-24T20:29:13Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Could someone PLEASE provide some actual substantial proof of Paul Stanley being gay? This is in no way “substantial proof” - but it is pretty funny. YouTube clip entitled "[Paul Stanley is NOT Gay!"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tktFxkSVs_I) Oh, and echoing back to the other Dreaded Piano Ballad thread that got this started? Well, this features a truly horrible DPB… ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/24 "2009-03-24T20:47:39Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > He frequently shows up in public wearing lots of make-up? > > Really, who gives a shit? You seem to _really_ need to know. I love this reasoning: “Person X is gay!” “Do you have any basis for saying that?” “Really, who gives a shit? You seem to _really_ need to know.” We _really_ needs to know because it’s an interesting factoid if true and just more bullshit if false. Some of us would be interested to know which. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/25 "2009-03-24T20:53:10Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Could someone PLEASE provide some actual substantial proof of Paul Stanley being gay? If he doesn’t want that info out (and that seems to be the case), short of a video, there isn’t going to be. I think I’ve been careful enough to call them rumors here…so I’m not making that contention directly. But where there’s smoke there’s fire, as they say, and there’s quite a bit of smoke on this out there…don’t have any idea how much fire. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/26 "2009-03-24T21:19:21Z")
My brother knows someone who works on movie sets…he considers this person a very reliable source. According to this source, Will Smith is gay/bi. I did a Yahoo search. And surprisingly, I got 9.7M hits. Granted, some say he isn’t and some say he is (and some are extraneous hits, I’m sure) but it seems to establish that the rumor is out there in some force. [http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-wave&p="Will%20Smith"%20gay&type=](http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-wave&p=%22Will%20Smith%22%20gay&type=) Tangentially, back around 1985 (?) I was in college and ran into a high school friend. He said he knew a guy who was in live theater productions here and there. “He had gay sex with Robert Reed!” I replied, “Mike Brady? Nah, I don’t believe it!” Of course Robert Reed went on to die as a result of AIDS. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/27 "2009-03-24T21:22:51Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Hmm, this got me thinking, is a disproportionate number of female musicians lesbian/bi? > > In my CD collection it might be something like 1/3 > > Tracy Chapman > Janis Joplin > Joan Jett > Dusty Springfield > Skin > Sinead O’Conner Dusty _Springfield?_ What the fuck! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/28 "2009-03-24T21:24:42Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Dusty _Springfield?_ What the fuck! :smack: please tell me you’re kidding, my gaydar-less friend! :D:D ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/29 "2009-03-24T21:34:29Z")
Kalhoun, you might want to sit down. I have something important to tell you about the Indigo Girls. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/30 "2009-03-24T21:40:07Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > Kalhoun, you might want to sit down. I have something important to tell you about the Indigo Girls. _snort!_ I am SO glad I wasn’t drinking coffee just then… ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/31 "2009-03-24T23:08:17Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > Kalhoun, you might want to sit down. I have something important to tell you about the Indigo Girls. Well done, sir… Thank you for the best snicker/snort I have had for days!!! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/32 "2009-03-24T23:17:27Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Dusty _Springfield?_ What the fuck! Boy, that really puts the lyrics to “Son of a Preacher Man” into perspective, doesn’t it? Oh, god, the Indigo Girls…I was living in Atlanta when they were a fairly popular local act, but had not yet broken nationally. I had heard a song of theirs on one of the radio stations’ “local Band” moments and liked them. The DJ said they’d be playing at the Little Five Points Pub (I believe that’s the place), so I went. The second I walked into that place, I noticed that the audience was ALL women. About .0000001 seconds later, I noticed that none of these women would ever have the slightest interest in me, nor I in them. The spiky hair and wallet chains were a dead giveaway…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/33 "2009-03-25T00:32:20Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > This is in no way “substantial proof” - but it is pretty funny. > > YouTube clip entitled "[Paul Stanley is NOT Gay!"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tktFxkSVs_I) > > Oh, and echoing back to the other Dreaded Piano Ballad thread that got this started? Well, this features a truly horrible DPB… I thought “Dude looks like a lady” would have been a more appropriate soundtrack… ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/34 "2009-03-25T01:05:52Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > David Bowie and Pete Townshend have both admitted to being bisexual. No on the second one. Townshend has made some ambiguous remarks in the past, but when pressed on the issue he says he had some kind of limited sexual experiences with other men in the '60s but outright denied being bisexual. This [2002 Rolling Stone interview](http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/petetownshend/articles/story/5939827/pete_townshend_the_rs_interview) covers the subject in some detail, but here are the most relevant snippets: > [@](#): > > **Did or do you consider yourself fundamentally bisexual?** > > No, I don’t. [goes on to talk about how he feels he has a strong feminine side and that talking about this has caused confusion about his sexuality] > > … > > **So, to clarify, in your life when you had sexual encounters with men, did that have anything at all to do with expressing that feminine side?** > > No. I think what it had to do with – and to be honest [laughs], I can’t remember much about any of it – was to do with the fact that I was actually completely smashed out of my head. I’m fifty-seven, I’ve got a young girlfriend, I’m not gay. I’m not interested in men. I don’t think I ever really have been. I’ve had a high sex drive all my life, which has actually been difficult sometimes to reconcile with some of my spiritual aspirations, which are just like, you know, a monk, I suppose. But, no, I think it would have been because I was completely off my face with something. Now, depending on how broadly one defines “bisexual” then one might consider Townshend to be bisexual, but he says he isn’t. Although unquestionably hard-rocking, Townshend was never much of a womanizer by rock and roll standards either. He’s said himself that he didn’t have as much opportunity as one might think, not being considered one of the sexier rock stars or even one of the sexier members of his own band. He says that in the old days female Who fans and groupies would usually just push past him to get to Roger Daltrey or Keith Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/35 "2009-03-25T01:15:00Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > _snort!_ I am SO glad I wasn’t drinking coffee just then… I **was** drinking hot chocolate, though. _cough_ ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/36 "2009-03-25T01:51:32Z")
I used to be a Kiss fan, and I’d have a hard time believing Paul Stanley is gay without some conclusive evidence. Now, his character in Kiss was always somewhat androgynous, but you could say that about any of them (except Gene). Gene Simmons even mentioned it in his book, but said Paul always picked the hottest groupies while he went for the uglies. Elaborate cover up scheme or ploy to score more tail? I don’t know, but in the absence of proof, I’d say straight but somewhat feminine. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/37 "2009-03-25T03:21:31Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Townshend was never much of a womanizer by rock and roll standards either. Well, Pete really tried to be a family man (he was married to [Karen Astley](http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/3140839.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=34F6DC9BDA297B9E3F528223188559A2A55A1E4F32AD3138) for 26 years), but rock stardom demanded too much of his time. Townshed has made vague hints about his sexuality, but he’s been infatuated with many beautiful women over the years. The song “Athena” was inspired by his encounter with [Thersa Russell](http://www.nndb.com/people/510/000025435/theresa-russell.jpg). He’s been with Rachel Fuller since 1996, and [he seems to be a very happy man](http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/01Cp8XOaxyeSD/340x.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/38 "2009-03-25T03:43:04Z")
According to google, Joplin seems to have been bi. And Sinead O’Connor seems to keep changing her mind: “I’m gay-er, no I’m not. Wait-yes I am. Or no, no I’m NOT gay!!!” She’s…different. (At one point she actually admitted being gay for attention. Not such a hot idea, imho) ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/39 "2009-03-25T07:09:35Z")
the obligatory [KISS Shreds](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw5oJoUYTb8) video ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608/40 "2009-03-25T12:07:39Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Well, Pete really tried to be a family man (he was married to [Karen Astley](http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/3140839.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=34F6DC9BDA297B9E3F528223188559A2A55A1E4F32AD3138) for 26 years), but rock stardom demanded too much of his time. > > Townshed has made vague hints about his sexuality, but he’s been infatuated with many beautiful women over the years. The song “Athena” was inspired by his encounter with [Thersa Russell](http://www.nndb.com/people/510/000025435/theresa-russell.jpg). > > He’s been with Rachel Fuller since 1996, and [he seems to be a very happy man](http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/01Cp8XOaxyeSD/340x.jpg). Huh. Separated at birth? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-rocking-womanizing-allegedly-musicians-who-are-gay/490608.md?page=3)