...Oh, really? Given how Bowie moved in his later years, I took him as - Bi, I guess, obviously Angie - who, in his later years, moved towards hetero-Ness/a full on relationship with (the model ' I forget her name) he married and had kids with. Maybe I tend to be a little literal - taking people how they present themselves/not super great at picking up (non-verbal) hidden messages!
...Will Rogers never met George McGovern, I'll have you know...........(Gorge - to be literal about my joke here, I am humorously recalling a tacky bumper sticker of yore, not politically commenting.........)
Not saying this is a universal, perfect rule, but I do think it's more socially accepted for women to be bi than men...
No - you believe that was the issue. Elton took off 2 years after "Blue Moves" and came back with a mediocre album. He'd already put out erratic albums after "GBYR" and eventually was gonna fade from the charts. If Elton's 2nd half of the 70s material lived up to what he did in the 1st half, I'd be more inclined to agree that his bisexuality strongly hurt him, but since he made spotty albums after 1973, I'm way less willing to blame that...
Yeah, I don't think suburban housewives of the past had the best gaydars! Like I mentioned, my Mom loved Johnny Mathis and had no clue he was gay. My friend's very conservative mother loved Village People and never caught onto their gayness! Or her son's, for that matter!
I wonder if that factor, or knowledge thereof, about Elton and Mr. Mathis, was why Thom Bell, when he worked with each, had them sing in a lower register than was normal for them. Johnny's explanation to Oprah reminded me of what was claimed about Elvis Svengali Col. Tom Parker after some books about The King published after his death said Parker was an illegal alien from Holland, and his answer was the "because they never asked" excuse. I know the details and specifics were different, but . . .
I'm too lazy to look it up again, but yesterday I found a Bowie quote from the 2000s where he says the bi thing wasn't true - he was always straight, though he dabbled, as did a lot of people in his situation back then. But he says he was always really straight at heart! It's funny that Bowie's shocking "coming out" was to admit he was truly heterosexual!
...As far as Mathis outing himself, I think he did so at the end of the 70s in some interview, when the 70s openness to that was still on and 80s reaction hadn't set in. Supposedly, there was some defensive reaction/lawsuit situation that led to it? Earlier in this thread, it came up during the discussion of his hit with Nicey...apparently, they did go places that Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton never did!
GYBR was a career peak but Captain Fantastic is a classic album in its own right, and while Caribou was undoubtedly his weakest album to that date, it contains two stone classics he still performs. Only Rock Of The Westies was really a disappointment between GYBR and coming out during Blue Moves.
"CFatBDC" is a good album, but wouldn't place it at the level of his 1970-73 run. Don't get me wrong: Elton still had some good material in the post-"GBYR" period, but the albums seemed less consistent and had more filler. Eventually even the singles just weren't that good!
Some people have better gaydar than others. In the 70's, my grandmother and great aunt both knew about Johnny Mathis, Liberace and Barry Manilow, but never cared. It was pretty well-known with most people I knew, as it later became with George Michael.
Liberace was clearly the most obvious of the bunch. I can see why people bought Mathis and Manilow as straight, but Liberace?
...Regarding George Michael's image, Wham! were originally presented in a " street credibility " manner, can ya believe it - I recall early Sounds? The Face? pieces on Wham! discussing them in an " ethos of funk " manner - taking off from the " Just because I got no job/You can't tell me that I'm not " reference in " Young Guns "...We get few Brits in this line, I guess few could back me up here. Wham!'s first album was not on Columbia in the UK, and the label really shook it down for singles,,," Club Tropicana " was also a Brit single from it, with a quite elaborate video that I suppose was never shown in America (I can't post)...and they followed that with a " Megamix " medley single!
Or, maybe they figured he could cure his effemininity by getting a woman. I wasn't around in the 50s but i'm sure that's what a lot of people thought back then, akin to the "pray the gay away" mentality.
Well, Barry Manilow was my generation's lite crooner, and I didn't pick on it that he was gay. But, in the 80s, I was worried because when he stated in interviews that he was estranged with his father, people would look at all men who had problems with their fathers and decide that they were also gay. I didn't have a girlfriend in the 80s, and there are still lots of people out there that think that if you don't have a girlfriend by the time you are into your 20s that you must be gay. years ago, I had a dispute with a forum member who thinks that way.
"Victim Of Love" is a horrible album probably his absolute worst. The cover alone is horrendous. Wasn't that recorded during the worst of his drug addiction?
Interesting theory, but I doubt it. How does it explain the work he did with the Spinners with lead singers Bobby Smith and Philippe Wynne? In an ideal world, it's no one's business, and all should be accepted. Back to reality...
Unfortunately, this seems to be true. There are some people who actually believe that men can't be bisexual, and that if an otherwise straight man "experiments", he's just in denial and has been repressing his "true feelings" all along and is completely gay. But I still have yet to hear anyone say that about women who experiment.