One of my favorite songs is KoRn’s “Faget”, which is about how singer Jonathan Davis was taunted with homophobic taunts like “faggot” when he was a teenager, and how he suffered from self-loathing and alienation as a result. Anyway, it got me to thinking about other songs that have anti-homophobia themes, or reference homophobia in any way. I can’t really think of any others, so I ask you, dear Dopers, to help me out. Any genre, any artist, any style.
Frank Zappa has a bunch. He’s So Gay and Bobby Brown are two examples, but they’re comedies.
Chumbawamba ‘Homophobia’ - hurt angry lyrics with a very catchy tune.
“Small Town Boy” from Bronski Beat.
From the album “The Age of Consent”.
Rod Stewart’s “The Killing Of Georgie” from A Night On The Town, but it’s probably more accurate to say it memorializes a victim from the worst-case result of homophobia.
Charlie Daniels Band Uneasy Rider 1988
How about “CB Savage”? A police officer affects a stereotypical gay personality on the CB radio in order to sneak up on and ticket truckers. This only works because of the homophobia of the targetted drivers…
“Masculine Women, Feminine Men” (1926)
Masculine women, feminine men,
which is the rooster, which is the hen?
It’s hard to tell 'em apart today, and, say—
Sister is busy learning to shave,
Brother just loves his permanent wave,
It’s hard to tell 'em apart today, hey! hey!
Girls were girls and boys were boys when I was a tot,
Now we don’t know who is who or even what’s what!
Knickers and trousers baggy and wide,
Nobody knows who’s walking inside
Those masculine women and feminine men!
Jewel’s Pieces of You.
Joe Jackson’s “Real Men”
Don’t call me a faggot
Unless you are a friend.
Oh, and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing”. This verse was purged from the radio version:
That little faggot with the ear ring and the makeup –
yeah, buddy, that his own hair.
That little faggot got his own jet airplane.
That little faggot, he’s a millionaire.
In case there’s anyone out there who has somehow managed not to hear the 2nd most overplayed song in the history of rock music, the speaker of song’s lyrics is a deliverer/installer for an appliance company, talking with his buddies about music videos playing on the TV sets on display.
I’ve heard it reported that Mark Knopfler actually overheard the line “money for nothing and chicks for free” along with the remaining lyrics’ basic sentiments in that setting, but haven’t heard/read Knopfler himself saying that.
That’s more of a “song where the singer is a homophobe.”
No, not the singer. He calls one of the rednecks a “communist pinko fag” but only in an effort to disorient them long enough so he can get the hell out of the bar before being beaten up for his long hair and the peace signs on his car.
No, that’s the original Uneasy Rider. In Uneasy Rider 1988 the singer is really a bit homophobic.
Elton John’s American Triangle from the album Songs From The West Coast is about the murder of Matthew Shepard.
Well, then whoever wrote that particular song about going into the gay bar. I know the song you’re talking about and it’s an old one.
Charlie Daniels might have been more liberal back in the day, but he’s a big 'ol redneck now. You might look into his more recent lyrics to see what I mean.
Oh, sorry – I didn’t pay attention to the date notation. Didn’t even know there’d been a remake.
oh-kaaaay… just dug up the lyrics to “Uneasy Rider 88”. Wow.
No it wasn’t, at least not on any radio station where I heard the song.
Romanovsky and Philips are a gay singing duo with several songs that reference homophobia, including one called “Homophobia.”
Yeah. It’s a shame how CD went from outlaw, nonconformist rebel to reactionary redneck.