The Secret Public,Before and After Bowie: How the LGBTQ+ Aesthetic Shaped Pop Culture 1955-1979

Homosexuality has been a part of post-war popular music since its very inception. Until the early ’70s, however, it wasn’t talked about openly in that world: it was coded, hidden, secret.This of course mirrored society – during the ’50s and ’60s, the gay community felt like outcasts: harassed by the police, demonised by the media and politicians, imprisoned simply for being who they were.This compilation spans the time before and after Bowie, reflecting both the coded nature about the topic in the ’50s and ’60s and the greater openness that occurred in the early ’70s.It begins in late 1955, with the extraordinary success of Little Richard; continues through early-’60s pop and pop art; Tamla and Soul,Glam Rock, the early 70’s funk and disco that was played in the underground New York clubs, and then moves on to the omnipresence of Disco, in the late seventies.This compilation is about freedom – and freedom for all.