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The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream
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About This Book
The legendary author of England's Dreaming presents a monumental history of the queer influence on popular culture, from the rise of Little Richard to the collapse of disco in 1979. In his kaleidoscopic new book, Jon Savage, the legendary author of England's Dreaming, shows how music has been the key medium through which homosexuality was expressed for the last century. Depicting nothing less than the birth of rock and roll, the narrative begins in the mid-1950s with Little Richard, whose music possessed secret codes of the gay underworld and whose magnetism attracted millions of white teenagers. As Savage engagingly proceeds through the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with evocations of, among others, Elvis Presley, James Dean, Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Donna Summer, Sylvester, and the disco-era Bee Gees, he demonstrates that it was mostly music—with supporting roles from cinema, literature, and fashion—that broke the dam that led to the widespread acceptance of LGBTQ culture today. The Secret Public, with its "pancake and pompadour" descriptions of a generation in revolt, provides an electrifying look at the key moments in music and entertainment that changed pop culture forever.
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Reviews
"We can only hope this book might herald a sequel in which Savage can turn his rigorous depth and tenderness to what did happen next."
"The chapter on Bowie is thrilling, demonstrating this book's ability to cast an entirely new light on subjects that may previously have seemed overfamiliar ..."
"Savage has decades of first-hand knowledge and has supported it with an enormous amount of research."
"A keenly intelligent, comprehensive survey of some of the bravest artists in history."
"His intention in The Secret Public is to show how gay musicians and audiences affected the mainstream, but too often the connections are left implied ..."
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