US radio has never supported a gay artist? Tell that to Elton John. To Melissa Etheridge. To Michael Stipe of R.E.M.

I’d add the new judge on the biggest audience of all age groups show on TV. I don’t think Ellen’s viewership has any complaints about her openly gay lifestyle and I doubt AI’s viewership will go down due to her being the new judge either

And Melissa had some kick ass songs that she didn’t need to simulate sex on stage to sell. As a gay woman she could have gone that route in her youth and men would have been tripping over themselves to see it. But she didn’t

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First off, NONE of those artisists were openly and flamboyantly gay/lesbian when they ENTERED the music/entertainment industry mainstream. If they had been, their big-time music/entertainment careers would have probably been cut off at the knees! Also, many people’s options are based on what they’re “working with”. Adam has not ONLY his talent working for him, but mainstream/conventional attractiveness and sexiness that appeals to BOTH men and women (and gay and straight), his youth, and an uncanny resemblance to the original “white lightening” rock-n-roller, Elvis Presly! And we all know what impact his looks and gyrating pelvis had on groins and popular (and social) culture in his day.

When I look at Elton John or Michael Stipe, I’d rather just listen to the music instead and feast my eyes on something else. And had Melissa Ethridge looked more like “Baywatch” Pamela Anderson than say…oh…um…Melissa Ethridge!, then “she COULD have gone that route in her youth and men would have been tripping over themselves to see it”. But I suspect that “she didn’t”, because that really wasn’t a viable option for her. As for Ellen, when Ellen DeGeneres had her TV show “Ellen”, she was riding the high wave of her popularity, her talent and her looks. However, as SOON as she “came out” (via her TV character)…HER SHOW WAS CANCELLED!!! Popularity, talent and looks didn’t matter one bit. She was GAY and it was decided that THE GAY HAD TO GO!!! Fortunately for Adam, culture has changed and sensibilites have been sensitized and he gets to reap the rewards of all the hard work of previous gays/lesbians in the entertainment industry. Good for him (and ultimately us all)! I hope it works out for him the way he and his most ardent supporters imagined it would…and then some!

BTW, I have the Adam’s “FYE” album and I LOVE IT! I’m glad he’s going with the song Pink wrote for him for his 2nd single. It adds depth to his persona. He can’t be all glitter and glam! Would LOOOVE to see a visual (performance, video, etc.) of “Broken Pieces”! It’s SOOO cosmically ethereal! I LOVE IT!!!

elton john was years and years into a successful career before he publicly came out; michael stipe there were rumors about but not really public until well after REM had achieved success’ ¦i’ll give you melissa etheridge

And Melissa had some kick ass songs that she didn’t need to simulate sex on stage to sell. As a gay woman she could have gone that route in her youth and men would have been tripping over themselves to see it. But she didn’t.

Look, I know that sex sells. But there are different kinds sexiness. From the outset Adam has said that he didn’t want to “be political”, that he just wanted to “make people dance” and “feel sexy”. He said that he just wanted to be himself. And people, mainly women, ate that up. We find him sexy without all the lewd and crude acts so why put it in there other than for shock value? He said “numbers shmumbers” as if this whole production wasn’t about selling songs and albums, as if getting the closing number on the AMAs wasn’t a huge honor, as if he doesn’t need fans to buy his album so he can pay his his bills.

Adam spoke about having an identity crisis while making the album. And I can certainly see why. There was no joy on that stage. Only agression. The opposite of dancing and feeling sexy. I compare Crawl Through Fire at the Zodiac Show and his AMA production and you can see the difference in his attitude. There was joy in the Zodiac show–you could feel his anticipation for the next move and next step. And it was overt and sexual and yet campy and fun. The AMA show was not campy and fun at all. Many people liked that he pushed the envelope but not because it made them feel sexy but for every political statement that it made.

At the Zodiac audience loved and craved the OTT as a matter of course. It’s who they were, it’s what they did. There were no political ramifications. Only fun and dancing. The AMAs is/was not like that. It turned into a brouhaha of if women can do that why can’t a gay man? It turned into professional jealousy and rivalry (from certain former idols via their tweets), it turned into numbers shmumbers and flipping off the audience.

How is any of that “joyful or sexy”? The very things that made Adam popular to begin with?

I know I was more genuinely a-taken-a-back by how upset and vicious people were than by anything I saw in the performance’ ¦

Me too. In fact I thought the performance was great (aside from the sound issues & a few vocal missteps). I was completely entertained for the first time all night. I thought he stole the show!

Then I went on-line and couldn’t believe my eyes. Someone earlier said he/she had to take 2 ambiens. Well I should have because I hardly slept all night. Things are looking much brighter today.

I do think Adam miscalculated. From many things he’s said he apparently has felt restricted in his performances from the beginning of his career. He could never do everything he wanted and let it all fly. So I do think he got a bit carried away. For me it was awesome. For many others, apparently not. lol

Maybe a stupid question’ ¦what is a remix?

Not stupid at all — just shows you don’t frequent many dance clubs!

When somebody, often a dj-type, takes a song’s vocal and puts a different backing track and beats behind it, that’s a remix. Most of them these days turn a song into a dance track, but any time you take one or more tracks of a song and mix them with some different tracks that weren’t part of the original version, it’s a remix.

http://www.mr-l.org/adam-lambert-on-elvis-duran-radio-show-112409-audio/

So what is going to happen to the video? It’s no doubt a lot raunchier than what last night was. Are they going to sell it to some x-rated channel? If FYE isn’t going to be added or promoted to radio, whatever was the point of making it?

Big stations in Canada seem to be playing FYE — or they’ve added it at least. And I suspect that it’ll go over better in other countries. They can keep the video mostly on ice until they go for more international rollouts. I suspect Japan would like the video, and so on. …. They can put it up on the Internet to become a viral phenomenon. …. Etc. …. Lots of things you can do with a video that may get you extra pr these days.

US radio has never supported a gay artist? Tell that to Elton John. To Melissa Etheridge. To Michael Stipe of R.E.M.

I’d add the new judge on the biggest audience of all age groups show on TV. I don’t think Ellen’s viewership has any complaints about her openly gay lifestyle and I doubt AI’s viewership will go down due to her being the new judge either.

US radio has never supported a gay artist? Tell that to Elton John. To Melissa Etheridge. To Michael Stipe of R.E.M.

elton john was years and years into a successful career before he publicly came out; michael stipe there were rumors about but not really public until well after REM had achieved success…i’ll give you melissa etheridge

Q3
11/23/2009 at 10:47 pm
Officially RCA has said it is because Adam is a visual artist and they want to use visual media to promote him. IMO Probalby it is because Adam is openly gay they did not want to depend on US radio which has never supported a gay artist and is very tightly controlled.

US radio has never supported a gay artist? Tell that to Elton John. To Melissa Etheridge. To Michael Stipe of R.E.M.

I wouldn’t be surprised if remixes start showing up on iTunes any day.

Maybe a stupid question…what is a remix?