When I was living in West Hollywood, every gay bar had its own theme song that it played over and over, several times a night.
Mugi, for Asian men and their admirers: "One Night in Bangkok."
The Faultline, for leathermen and bears: "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)"
Mickey's, the twink disco a few blocks from my apartment: "Physical" and "Xanadu" by Olivia Newton-John.
In the 1970s, Olivia Newton-John was known for easy-listening, feelings-drenched songs appealed mostly to girls. "If Not for You" (1971) and "I Honestly Love You" (1974) didn't specify pronouns, and "Have You Never Been Mellow?" (1974) wasn't about romance at all, but I still wasn't a fan.
"Physical" (1981), has about the same theme as "You're The One that I Want" from Grease, and for that matter, "Show Me" from My Fair Lady (1964): We've done the dinner and movie thing, and now it's time for the next step.
The other song on Micky's never-ending playlist was "Xanadu" (1980). The movie Xanadu (1980) was terrible about the Greek goddess of. . .um, roller disco. . .helping a nebbish (Michael Beck, left) open a nightclub. The music video was all about hetero-romance.
But the song itself is about leaving the straight world behind, running away to the freedom of the gay world.
A place where nobody dared to go
The love that we came to know
They call it Xanadu
But after the success of Grease (1977), Olivia's music became as sexually liberated as her character. Her next big hits included: "Totally Hot" (1979), "Physical" (1981), "Make a Move on Me" (1981), and "Heart Attack" (1982).
"Physical" (1981), has about the same theme as "You're The One that I Want" from Grease, and for that matter, "Show Me" from My Fair Lady (1964): We've done the dinner and movie thing, and now it's time for the next step.
I'm sayin' all the things that I know you'll like
Makin' good conversation
I gotta handle you just right
You know what I mean
I took you to an intimate restaurant
Then to a suggestive movie
There's nothin' left to talk about
Unless it's horizontally
Of course, in West Hollywood one typically started out horizontal, then started dating if the bedroom activities were satisfactory.
The music video, which played incessantly on MTV in the early 1980s, responds directly to gay fans. Olivia plays a personal trainer whipping men into shape, leering at various disembodied, muscular pecs and arms, and semi-n*de men in jockstraps.
More after the break
She gives extra attention to an out-of-shape specimen, until he gets stronger, younger, and more handsome. But to her consternation, he goes off with a man, one of the first explicit evocations of gay men in popular music.
Kenny (Noah Galvin), the gay son on The Real O'Neals, recreated the iconic song in a 2017 episode.
Kenny (Noah Galvin), the gay son on The Real O'Neals, recreated the iconic song in a 2017 episode.
The other song on Micky's never-ending playlist was "Xanadu" (1980). The movie Xanadu (1980) was terrible about the Greek goddess of. . .um, roller disco. . .helping a nebbish (Michael Beck, left) open a nightclub. The music video was all about hetero-romance.
But the song itself is about leaving the straight world behind, running away to the freedom of the gay world.
A place where nobody dared to go
The love that we came to know
They call it Xanadu
Of course, it's also about how bodybuilding was a gay thing first. Most AMG models were secretly escorts. Some of them had wives and kids, I've met the grandson of one AMG model, but were still escorts.
ReplyDeleteThen Joe Weider degayed bodybuilding and soon you had man-mountains in the 80s. Weider was a weird fellow all around tho.
My generation had it even worse, by the way: Animation and comics often abandoned anatomical principles in their man mountains in the 90s, producing a generation with body dysmorphic disorder. (Liefeld's a homophobe too...)
So, the ending of Physical makes sense with the history of bodybuilding in mind.
How was Weider a "weird fellow"? His magazine did make body building more mainstream and it had a great appeal to teen boys ; )
ReplyDeleteJoe Weider is not mentioned in the post, but I worked for "Muscle and Fitness" for a few years part time. He was weird. And homophobic.
DeleteThe "Physical" video must have been directed by a gay man- or at least a gay casting director. Bi-sexual Peter Allen wrote many of Newton-John's hits. Newton-John must have been aware of her large gay following so perhaps she started making music aimed at them.
ReplyDelete