When folks in the gay community are sometimes asked, "At what age did you know you were gay?", the answer is generally a pretty young one. Ask a straight person the same thing and I figure you'll pretty much see the same sort of trend. At least I can speak for myself when I say I knew I was straight pretty damned early on thanks to a trio of lovely pop ladies whom I became aware of during the peaks of their careers.
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| Donna's ultimately responsible. |
Firstly, there was Donna Summer. Once again, my older brother had a huge influence on me with his music collection in the '70s. So when he brought home Donna's
Bad Girls LP home and I heard "Hot Stuff" for the first time, that was rather earth-shattering. What was also earth-shattering was how Donna Summer looked on the cover of that album. Now, I was only around six when that came out, so I had had no prior knowledge that this chick had done the scandalous "Love to Love You, Baby," and had I heard that song at that time, I wouldn't have understood it, anyway, and probably would have found it silly to listen to (which it still is). But the iconic photo clicked in my little noggin and "Hot Stuff" kept my toes a-tappin' and I was a happy lad.
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| Then there was sweet, sweet Debbie. |
Shortly thereafter Blondie started making it huge with the
Parallel Lines album. I distinctly remember the first time I heard "Heart of Glass." My dad or brother had taped it off the radio onto some cheap-ass cassette and again, the sound of that song like "Hot Stuff" just connected with me instantly. And then my little eyes got to see Debbie Harry and the video for the song for the first time and
that, my friends, really made an impression. I don't care how damn old you were at the time or if you were straight, gay, or sideways, Debbie Harry was larger than life and everyone loved looking at her. She was definitely the It girl of the late '70s, and when she was on
The Muppet Show, how could it have gotten any better for me? Amazing, I tell you.
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| Belinda was a dream back then. |
Lastly, a short few years later, the Go-Go's arrived on the scene with
Beauty and the Beat. I was still in elementary school at the time and remember the high school marching band always practicing "We Got the Beat" outside all the time that year. But for me, there was nothing better than "Our Lips Are Sealed." I believe I heard the song the first time that I also saw the video, which featured Belinda Carlisle looking like this sexy, cute, pudgy sorta retro chick. I was enamored with the ribbon in her hair and couldn't take my eyes off the girl the whole time. Back then we had either Showtime or HBO and they'd play music videos between movies sometimes and that's where I first saw the clip and would always hope they'd show it again and again.
Out of these three ladies these days, I'd say Donna Summer has fared the best. Debbie's aged naturally from what it looks like, and bless her for that, but it seems as if Belinda's had some extensive work done over the years. She's still "cute," but not naturally. Not the way she was originally, anyway. Still, I'd like to thank all these gals for instilling those oddball murmurs way deep down before the adolescence kicked in and the hormones truly raged. Kids these days really don't have much that naturally comes close to these women on the pop scene. A shame.
