Gay metal musicians?
 

I was thinking, there's a lot of gay musicians out there, but little is mentioned when it comes to metal music, and a lot of people are under the impression that metal music is (among other things) homophobic.

Anyone know of any metal bands with gay members? Or metal bands that have supported gay rights causes/gay pride events/anything like this?

Rob Halford is probably the best known that directly comes to mind.

He's likely the only one that a lot of people can name. Can't be the only one though.

I`m sure there are numerous others (suspected:)) but as I`ve had a long day I really can`t think of any others at the moment.

Lars Ulrich.

Gaahl from Gorgoroth is gay.

Is that fact or suspicion?:laughing:

Dave Mustaine

well, he ought to be, cos he's such a pretty boy

Ian Stuart Donaldson

Rob Halford and Gaahl are all I can think of off the top of my head.

:laughing:

Apparently Roddy Bottum (huh huh huh), the keyboardist from Faith No More is gay.

It's a fact, he's openly gay.

Well, he is kinda hot.:D

They're correct; most of the people who play it are homophobic (heteronormative?), and most of the people who listen to it are as well. We could argue about whether it's as strongly homophobic as, say, country western or rap - but homophobic it is.

But I suppose you're coming at this from a "homophobia is bad" angle, eh?

Ermm.... who gives a shit? It makes no difference to what music they make does it?

I don't think that Rob Halford is homophobic! :laughing:

(But his music is:confused:)

Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution.

Anyone else find it hilarious that Gaahl the anti-religious somewhat satanic black metaller is also gay? He's the ultimate outcast.

I'm actually asking this thread for personal reasons. I'm a metal fan and musician, and also I have strong homosexual feelings. People can't seem to see how someone who is like me can also be involved with a music genre which has a reputation for being homophobic.

I'm trying to demonstrate that some people who are at the top of their respective metal sub-genres are also openly gay, and have been accepted for who they are by the metal scene generally.

You're right, it doesn't. And I'm not saying that it does. But the fact is that behind the music is a real person and generally, people don't just listen to the songs, they look towards the person also. And given metal's reputation for homophobia, it makes my case if I can prove that the metal community has accepted an openly gay musician, to the point where they can reach the top of their respective sub-genre, it helps my case that metal is actually quite accepting, possibly more so than what people are making out.

Judas Priest are awesome. I kinda stopped listening to them until this thread reminded me.

I don`t necessarily think of metal as being homophobic or even racist in any real context (talking about modern day) it just happens to exclude a gay or a black following in general, in that a large amount of gay people and even black music followers are not going to identify with metal for either historic or cultural reasons. I`d say if they identified themselves as metal lovers, they probably get more flak from their own social and cultural circles than they ever would from metal followers. Also, the concept of metal being homophobic, even racist and sexist is largely an old concept anyway and fairly outdated. Metal since the 1990s has grown immensely in terms of genres, there is something like 20-30 genres out there depending on how the styles are classified, point here being that it continues to grow creatively and incorporating greater musical diversity all the time, thus in turn attracting a more varied crowd of people. Rob Halford is the perfect example of being both gay and a metal god, I doubt metal lovers ever really debate about the fact that he`s gay.

Rob Halford wasn't the only gay member of Judas Priest.
So was the drummer they had in the 80s that they want you to forget ever existed.

Dave Holland

shhhhh

...and due out in 2012.

I really, really have a hard time believing metal has gotten less conservative in the last 20 years or so. Since the 1990s, sure, there are more genres (although 20-30 is waaaay high)..... but since this time period metal has been actively used by extreme right wing groups as a method of spreading propaganda & generating revenue, and they've succeeded quite well.

Consider, how many openly racist metal bands were there before 1990? How many are there now? As an ideology it's so widespread even the mainstream metal press - and I mean magazines you can buy at the grocery store - cover these bands and review their albums.

Yeah, there's Gaahl, Rob Halford, and that tranny in Cretin. There's also Faust (of Emperor, who killed a queer), Nodtveidt (of Dissection, who killed a queer), etc.

Are you familiar with the term Fetish Skin? Some Queers were attracted the skin "scene", even though it was obviously homophobic - some for reasons overtly sexual, some claiming other reasons (which I find hard to believe). The same thing could occur with metal, especially the more extreme variants, as popular knowledge of the genre increases.

there are PLENTY of music genres which have been hijacked by the far-right, including even pop music and metal. It just seems metal gets more flak for being less mainstream as a whole (some genres are radio and chart friendly, many are not) and so subject to more suspicion and criticism.


I've heard the term and you could possibly be right.


This is actually a very good point.

http://www.badrecordcovers.com/wp-co...04/manowar.jpg

this band is like a magnet for gays

i know i'm aroused

Hahaha this thread wouldn`t be complete without that album cover.

http://www.topfloormusic.com/keyword..._Shamaya_5.jpg

Do lesbians count?

She's damn hot...:D

Yeah but those are black metal bands. That kinda music has always been associated with the right wing and isn't representative of any other metal genre. I'd say all the other ones are about as leftist as you get, without being punk.

Alright, I don't want to jump on the bandwagon calling you a racist and prejudiced and what not, but stop throwing out "queer". It just sounds like a slur the way you use it.

Thank you for making a good point.

Exactly. The word 'queer' really annoys me.

I really don't know of any other genre of music that's had explicitly racist bands so widely accepted by the genres fans. I mean Varg Vikernes has been put on the cover of magazines; and not just underground rags, either.

Anyways, explicitly racist bands aside, how many bands are there that play with fascist symbolism and lyrics? How much controversy has surrounded Slayer for "Angel of Death"? Or what about Malevolent Creation, who've proclaimed themselves to be anti-racist, yet ended an album with "**** you ******s!"

This leads us to the question of what can be called "coded language". Is there any point at which anti-christian lyrics and imagery become anti-semitic? What about when a band speaks of smashing the race of christ? Or when a band, even a multi-ethnic one such as Vital Remains, paints Christianity as both foreign & harmful? Then there's the case of bands who celebrate their particular (almost always white) heritage - such as Absu, or Amon Amarth....

I guess my general point is: we can argue about whether metal, in particular underground metal, is generally racist. However, I've very, very little doubt that the popular media would've no problems labeling the vast majority of these bands racist. I mean, if Don Imus gets fired for calling some girls "nappy-headed hos", how in the hell would they react to "Panzer Division Marduk"?

Metal is, has, and always been about diversity. To say the genre is homophobic is not fair, the genre is definitely typically more insensitive to gays but it's pretty much the entire purpose of metal to be insensitive. There's also pro-tolerance metal as well. Bands like Anthrax preach endlessly about issues of racial harmony, and such (albeit, ironically Stormtroopers of Death does the opposite, and in Methods of Destruction which is essentially the same band utilizes the phrase '**** your ****** charity'. Proving that a lot of racism in metal is very clearly tongue-in-cheek).

Metal is about excepting any viewpoint really, and cannot hold any real cultural ground as it's just rock with heavier distortion. Especially, being based on a black form of music, there's no way it could be distinctly 'raaa!!! WITE PAWURRR!!!" but excepts the message in many forms, and many gradients of seriousness.

But, you are a ridiculous troll who is presumably proporting Nazi garbage to a forum of people who largely don't care as a gimmick, so I'm sure this concept is completely dull to you.

Furthermore, your 'evidence' is really weak.

Metal as a genre only has a few mainstream figures due to their freak instances. I mean, Charles Manson wrote a record, appeared on tons of magazine covers, and nobody considers him a dominating force in folk. Such figures as mentioned are completely insignificant, and musically unimportant. There is some good that came from Norwegian Black metal, but it's a massively bloated over-rated genre in hole. Mainly due to freak instances that garner media attention, and not due to musical inventiveness or importance.

In no way does it signify homosexuality in metal as improper, as you seem to be hinting at.

People like Varg Vikernes appear on magazine covers because they`re controversial and a guarantee of magazine sales and that is all, sure he can be seen as being representative of black metal, but he`s certainly not representative of metal the metal genre in any way.

The fascist symbolism & lyrics are no different to the symbolism & lyrics associated with satanism and topics of extreme violence etc that a number of metal bands can sing about, its just an image and subject area to base their material around and again nothing more. I`d say the % of bands that actually practiced what they sang about would be a very small number anyway. The Slayer example is actually quite a poor one when you quickly dissect it. Sure they sing about extreme subject areas of which Nazism is one such subject area, but just look at the members of Slayer and you`ll see that 50% of them are of latino heritage, that in itself is nothing startling, but it takes on greater significance in a country like the USA where they are based, as they form part of an ethnic minority that white extremists wouldn`t see as part of their ideal society, for this reason alone Slayer can hardly be seen as rascist.

The underground metal that you speak of again as being anti gay or racist, largely centers itself again around black metal once again, hell these *******s even participate in the burning down of churches, proof that besides hating diversity in society, that they also hate the established traditions of society.

To summarize, I`d say it was fairly safe to say that metal wasn`t anti any of the things that have been discussed here in general and out of the 20-30 genres that make up the genre, only sub-genres like black metal and some other bands from other sub-genres would fall into the category of being rascist and homophobic.

I read Slayer's lyrics, ya know, they're more "documentary" rather than extolling any beliefs of the members

i mean Tom Araya's a Catholic, for f*ck's sake

Exactly and the documentary label fits perfectly here.

Again, black metal.

Shock value.

Stretch much?

**** the media.

*sigh* Yeah. Black metal.


You know, any post that large that only required that much of a response to demolish it, wasn't really worth my time was it?

It's an old thread to resurrect, I know, but I was just scrolling through topics...Otep Shamaya (Otep) and Carver (Eclipse Eternal) are both gay to my knowledge, Doug Pinnick (King's X...okay, I guess they're not really metal, but lots of metalheads seem to like them)...and of course Rob Halford and Gaahl.