The mid-eighties were horrible. I was used to getting groped by boys at school, and not the nice ones. Nice boys wouldn’t have objectified me anyway. It felt like images of naked/ semi-clad women were everywhere, from Duran Duran and heavy metal videos to Page 3, to every other comedy show on TV (Benny Hill and Monty Python have a lot to answer for) to advertising, and it was so boring and annoying. It just reinforced sexism. Where were all the attractive men?They weren’t visible,and certainly not as sexualised. I’m sure that’s why little girls develop crushes on pop idols- it’s a safe space to explore our first hormonal stirrings.
But things were shifting in pop culture. Long before ‘Magic Mike ‘, there was this breakout Hi -NRG hit single from electro pioneers Man 2 Man, teaming up with legendary producer Man Parrish. The tune is “a bop” as young people say nowadays, and the message wasn’t coy. It was gay with a capital GAY, replete with leather bar imagery.:Tom of Finland, but prettier.
Sure, we’d had Frankie Goes To Hollywood and ‘Relax’ in 1984, but they still featured women in the video. As for their record sleeve, props for using both a man and woman on the front cover (even though we all knew it was a queer anthem)- it’s a beautiful image.
This new single and video was like a REAL peep into gay club culture, though, before I’d ever actually experienced it firsthand. The lyrics were an account of a hardworking male stripper. He purred: “Ladies’ night Adonis/Working after hours/ Ripples on my chest, never got a night’s resr” as a robot voice chimed in, “I was a male stripper in a go-go bar”. It was both cheesy and sleazy, made for strutting to.
Me and my thirteen year old pals were thrilled by how overt it was. We blushed to our bloomers. The beautiful young man on the front cover was exquisitely sculpted, too – an Adonis, indeed. It made such a refreshing change from Samantha Fox, et al.
Recently, I reviewed the reunited Soft Cell at the 02 Academy (who still sounded amazing). ‘The DJ put this on ahead of Marc and Dave taking to the stage, and the place went off. It still sounds great, after all this time – total banger.
Hit The North 