As the title 1984: The Year Pop Went Queer suggests, the premise of Ian Wade’s first book is simple. Pop music had been covertly queer prior to 1984, but this was the year when it finally came out – thanks in no small part to the inescapable bold brilliance of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax, banned by Radio 1 for its lyrical content and boasting a decidedly not-safe-for-work video.
Wade presents potted histories of a host of iconic queer or queer-adjacent artists – the only qualifying criterion being that they released an album during 1984. This includes everyone from fame-hungry genderfluid frontmen Boy George and Pete Burns, of Culture Club and Dead Or Alive respectively, to leather-loving Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford, and covers Bronski Beat’s political militancy, Pet Shop Boys’ pop majesty, Wham!’s imperial phase, low moments for megastars David Bowie and Elton John, and the gay allyship of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Prince.
Set against a backdrop of Thatcherite policy, the miners’ strike and the escalating AIDS epidemic, 1984: The Year Pop Went Queer is stuffed with insightful commentary and juicy details to enjoy. I won’t be able to look at the cover of the Smiths’ debut album in the same way again…
1984: The Year Pop Went Queer, Ian Wade (Nine Eight)
Price: £16.99. Info: here
words BEN WOOLHEAD