Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Punk and hardcore can be a little homoerotic. Shirtless, sweaty dudes, touching
late into the night. But punk and hardcore can also be a little homophobic - and that is
why we need Black ***.
In the '70s, Punk demolished arena rock's excess and exclusivity by aggressively demystifying
the creation process and bringing rock and roll back to its three-chord origins.
The barriers that had kept women and gay folks sidelined were, if not totally obliterated,
at least severely damaged. But as that first wave of new bands crested, hardcore emerged as a more
conservative mutation, and it wore away at punk's original art-y, gay-y edge.
The close-minded suburban rage that fueled the early years of hardcore is what led Bruce LaBruce
and GB Jones to craft the queercore manifesto in the mid-80s, and that in turn paved the way for bands like
Limp Wrist and Pansy Division.
But queercore didn't solve everything. Even though most hardcore today - at least in
a city like Toronto, where I am standing and speaking to you right now - is inclusive and progressive,
there are still pockets of homophobes in every scene. But nothing says, "Go *** yourselves, bigots!"
like a bunch of gay dudes lisping their way through the Black Flag catalogue.
Black *** are a delightful mess of references - their stage names and outfits combine the names of Black
Flag members with gay icons, like Greg Streisand, who dresses as Dorothy. They've toured the
world and released maybe the best version of My War ever. They donate 10% of their income
to charities inside of the gay community. And they made up a very, very good dance to "Rise Above."
Outside of changing a few gender pronouns, Black ***'s gay tribute twist is pretty much limited to
excessive lisping and dance moves. If you want to go one step further, you're looking for Gayrilla Biscuits.
Spoofing the Gorilla Biscuits name, classic hardcore album covers and straight edge anthems
like Project X's "Straight Edge Revenge," Gayrilla Biscuits naturally paved the way,
for a tribute to Youth of Today, Youth of Togay.
Not everyone loves Youth of Togay. When they released the "Tough Gays" video, no one knew
if they were actually gay, or just making fun of gay people.
And when they put up their parody of the Have Heart's "The Machinist" on MySpace, the band's label actually demanded it be taken down because, quote,
"No one actually thought it was funny."
Youth of Togay do have gay members - but some of them are straight. Black *** also
counts a couple of heteros amongst their ranks - and this, naturally, raises questions about how
appropriate it is to be lisping around on stage while you cover "TV Party."
What do you think? Do gay tribute bands help expose and address homophobia with humour,
or do they encourage straight audiences to laugh at gay stereotypes?
Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe for more This Exists every week -- because
we did not even get to the gay Hawkwind tribute band, Cockwind.