David bowie made me gay
Home / gay topics / David bowie made me gay
But before their music—and the messages behind it—gained understanding and a place in the mainstream, how did the queer musicians of yesteryear fight to build foundations for those who would follow them? On another note, because this is a history of queer people and queer culture, any and all traumas that the community has faced appear, ranging from slurs and homophobic statements to gay bashings and the AIDS crisis.
One that deserves to be taught." — New York Journal of Books
Described as ‘a veritable Bard of the bent, broken and Baroque’ by Andy Partridge (XTC), Darryl W. Bullock is a writer, publisher and editor, specialising in music and the arts. How did Stonewall and AIDS change things? Bullock chronicles these struggles through new interviews and archival reports, dating from the birth of jazz in the red-light district of New Orleans, through the rock ‘n’ roll years, Swinging Sixties, and disco days of the ‘70s, right up to modern pop, electronica, and reggae.
Darryl is the author of seven books including The World’s Worst Records (Volumes 1 and 2), Florence Foster Jenkins: the Life of the World’s Worst Opera Singer (Duckworth-Overlook, 2016), singled out as ‘delightfully cheering' by bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith in the New York Times, David Bowie Made Me Gay, the highly-regarded history of a century of LGBT pop music, The Infamous Cherry Sisters: The Worst Act in Vaudeville, and the internationally-acclaimed The Velvet Mafia: The Gay Men Who Ran the Swinging Sixties, winner of the Penderyn Music Book Prize 2022.
There is also a chapter that prominently features TERF musicians and TERF-friendly feminist spaces, but which also makes it quietly clear they’re harmful and not okay.
6.5/10
David Bowie Made Me Gay
David Bowie Made Me Gay isthe most “sweeping” and “comprehensive” (Kirkus Reviews, A Best Nonfiction Book Selection) history of LGBT music ever compiled, encompassing a century of music by and for the LGBT community.
From Sia to Elton John, from Billie Holiday to David Bowie, LGBT musicians have changed the course of modern music.
His latest book, Pride, Pop and Politics, is published by Omnibus Press in June 2022, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the UK's first Pride march.
- Imprint: Abrams Press
- Trim Size: 6 x 9
- ISBN: 9781468316919
- Page Count: 368
- Rights: World, excluding UK
Darryl W.
Bullock’s books include The World’s Worst Records, The Velvet Mafia, and Florence Foster Jenkins: The Life of the World’s Worst Opera Singer.
© 2025 ABRAMS
I learned a lot and think it’s an important window into queer history that I’m kind of boggled has only been written now. Plus there’s discussion of lesbians and feminist folk festivals, of glam rock pairing gay flamboyance, of forgotten independent albums that have been rediscovered because of the internet, of the ups and downs in one’s ability to be out over time, of hooking up with people in bars.
And I appreciate that even though Bullock is very anglophone-focused, he’s made at least some effort to mention musicians and music from outside the English-speaking world and outside Europe.
lang (but not MIKA, now that I think of it), and a lot of musicians I’d never heard of or never knew were queer also feature. As I said, there’s a lot to be inspired by, a lot of people being queer in their music and out despite the repercussions, and a definite sense that yes, queer people have always been here and better, they helped found whole genres.
He’s also up front about how some genres or countries are so homophobic that you can’t get a sense of the queer music history there because everyone is still closeted.
So, content-wise, apart from the infodump problem, I enjoyed this. When did drag start and why? Why did disco become a gay thing? Similarly, he uses “transsexual”, seems to believe that people who’ve undergone surgery are more trans than those who haven’t, and defines “asexual” as genderless and sexually harmless.
There’s some pretty good music out there.
I also liked that he tells enough history of the wider queer community, the music industry, and the wider culture in general that you get context for how music and the world was changing.
An entertaining treasure trove of untold history for all music lovers, David Bowie Made Me Gay is an inspiring, nostalgic, and provocative story of the right to be heard and the need to keep the fight for equality in the spotlight.
David Bowie Made Me Gay is the first book to cover the breadth of history of recorded music by and for the LGBT community.
He has written for publications including The Guardian, Pitchfork, the Quietus, Songwriting Magazine, The Bath Chronicle, Venue, Folio, The Spark, B24-7, 3Sixty, The Bath Magazine, the Bristol Evening Post and The Western Daily Press.
He also lists songwriters and music executives and the whole gamut of genres, from jazz to rock to folk to country to rap to musicals, and also mentions songs with queer content that weren’t by queer artists.