Why Not Today? Music continues to become queerer than ever

I don’t exactly recall exactly when I became a fan of Linkin Park but its the one band whose albums I have consistently enjoyed over the years. Naturally, when the co-lead singer of your favorite band dies unexpectedly, it’s upsetting and it can be especially upsetting when suicide is the cause of death.

Naturally, I welcomed the news that Linkin Park now has a new co-lead singer. But what made me feel especially happy about it was that the lead singer was Emily Armstrong, who openly identifies as a queer woman.

I remember for the longest time how the music industry just felt devoid of anything that could remotely be seen as containing anything LGBTQ friendly. Sure plenty of artists engaged in gender bending behavior, wore costumes that would be at home in a drag show, or might hint at same sex attraction in some sort of ultra subtextual manner but explicit admissions of queerness were just not really there in mainstream music until recently.

I remember at one time watching Logo, you know the LGBTQ cable channel, while they aired a series of music videos in the morning. What struck me was how much even the music on a queer tv channel didn’t actually have a whole lot of well, actual queer content. One music video had a nice dance beat and was an explicit celebration of well… people who are different.

Even the albums NOW That’s What I Call Pride and NOW That’s What I call Proud, while they did include some explicitly queer anthems from Lady Gaga and Lil Nas X, tended to be mostly composed of material that I would classify as gay vague.

This isn’t meant to specifically call out any individual artists. God knows the difficulties faced by queer artists.

Fortunately things are changing. In addition to Armstrong getting to co-lead one of the biggest contemporary music acts, there are many examples of not just openly queer artists succeeding as musicians but also of music that explicitly addresses queer themes.

For example, Transgender Dysphoria Blues explored the experiences of then newly out lead singer Laura Jane Grace’s experiences as a transgender woman. Transgender Dysphoria Blues showcase Grace’s rage and pain at society’s transphobic hatred.

But pain and rage are not the only experiences that queer music artists are exploring these days.

“Black Queer Anthem” by Lazarus Lynch showcases his joy of being black and queer. “I am black, queer, and beautiful,” Lynch sings on the song.

There is also “I’m gettin bi” from the soundtrack of Crazy Ex Girlfriend, a song that should be sung at every pride event.

One queer song that I’ve been listening to a lot ever since I downloaded it to my iPhone is My Agenda by Dorian Electra and featuring Pussy Riot and The Village People.

Several songs mentioned here were found via streaming services such as Pandora and Xite, which now have channels dedicated specifically to songs with queer content or by queer artists. This is something that would have seemed impossible to me when I was growing up but it’s happening.

I won’t pretend that homophobia and transphobia are no longer issues in the music industry but it feels that it is is one that has made concrete strides to be more inclusive in recent years.

In any case, I am looking forward to downloading and listening to Linkin Park’s new album with Armstrong when it comes out. I’ll miss the vocal work of Chester Bennington of course but I do look forward to whatever direction the band takes with Armstrong.

Write to jeremy.redlien@gmail.com