Fight "Psycho Suicide"

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Fight
A Small Deadly Space
CD
(Epic, 1995)

Fight started out as a side-project for not-yet-openly-gay Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford. Unfortunately, confusion over his intentions led to internal strife in the Priest camp, and not long after he was officially no longer part of the band he helped rise to superstardom.

The first Fight album, War of Words, has never really appealed to me, and I've given it more than one chance. Their second album, however, A Small Deadly Space, is a raging monster of a release, and I've loved it since the first time I heard it. There was a hidden song following two minutes of silence after what the cover claims is the final song, and that stealth track is today's jukebox selection.

After this album, Epic dropped Fight, and they subsequently split up. Halford started a new not-metal band, Two (featured here a couple of years ago), and came out of closet. The former was met with much derision (not from me; I liked them) whereas the latter surprised few in the small-but-not-nonexistent gay metalhead community and angered his more brain dead and bigoted fans. Two were followed by his return to metal with his eponymous band Halford, and a few years after that, Rob was back in the Priest for a killer new album, Angel of Retribution. We shall pretend its followup, Nostradamus, never existed. Yes?

The Gossip "I Want It (To Write)"

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The Gossip
Flying Side Kick
Home Alive Compilation II
compilation CD
(Broken Rekids, 2001)

You know how niteclubs typically play music over the PA between sets by the bands performing that night? Well, I was at The Echo Lounge (R.I.P.) one night a number of years ago, and the soundguy had something playing that blew my mind. It was definitely punk rock, but 'twas very stripped down and had obvious blues and gospel influences. Plus, the singer could belt it out like nobody's business. I asked what it was, and was told it was the album Movement by a band I'd never heard of before, Gossip (video below for the song that snagged my ear the hardest).

Gossip originally hailed from Arkansas, but I imagine that's not the ideal place for a trio of queer punx to live and play, so they'd moved to the Pacific Northwest. They also originally had a The at the front of their name. I actually prefer it that way, but it's not my band so I don't get a say.

These days, Gossip are practically a disco band. I still enjoy their music, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer the older stuff. Today's song is from those early, raw, punk-as-a-bad-word days. It appeared on the Flying Side Kick compilation CD, which was released to raise money for Home Alive, a non-profit anti-violence organization that teaches self-defense to women and girls for free.

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Sœur Sourire (The Singing Nun) "Avec toi"

Sœur Sourire
(The Singing Nun)
Her Joy, Her Songs
LP
(Philips, 1963)

In the early 1960s, Jeannine Deckers, aka Sœur Sourire aka The Singing Nun aka Luc Dominique aka King Diamond, lived and worshipped at the Fichermont Convent in Waterloo, Belgium. Jeannine liked to write songs and play them for the other sisters on her acoustic guitar, so the convent decided to let her record an album's worth of her compositions. As unlikely as it seems, the song Dominique became a huge hit single on both sides of the Atlantic.

After her initial success, however, things went downhill. Her second album, Her Joy, Her Songs, did not match the first in terms of popularity, and, in 1965, the convent announced that her singing career was over. In 1967, however, she left Fichermont and reemerged as Luc Dominique, under which she recorded at least two albums, I Am Not a Star. and Dominican. Her final release, as far as I know, was a 1982 disco version of Dominique.

At some point, the Belgian government decided she owed an extraordinary sum in back taxes, for the money made from her early, hit records. She had given the majority of her earnings to the convent, but did not have receipts. In addition, the convent apparently did nothing to exonerate her. Perhaps because she had recorded a song in praise of birth control, La pilule d'or (The Golden Pill), or perhaps because she was living openly as a lesbian with her long-time partner Annie Pécher? I honestly do not know. Despondent over their debts, Jeannine and Annie committed suicide together in their apartment on March 19, 1985.

Once again, I've cheated a bit with this entry. That's my copy of her second LP in the photo above, but it's in lousy condition, so I pulled my favorite song from it from a wonderful, two-CD compilation I have called Best of Sœur Sourire. It has all the tracks from The Singing Nun, Her Joy, Her Songs, and I Am Not a Star., plus the disco version of Dominique and a bunch of tracks from who-knows-where. Unfortunately, the liner notes are scant (and straightwashed), with no indication of the sources for any of the songs.

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The original Dominique

Let's disco!

Floor "Twink"

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Floor
Floor
CD
(No Idea, 2002)

Floor are another band I missed out on the first time 'round. Luckily, after splitting in 1996, they reconvened in 2001 with a new drummer and a new take on their brand of extremely heavy sludge: vocalist/guitarist/leader Steve Brooks decided to experiment with singing melodically, rather than barking out the lyrics as on their earlier recordings. This annoyed some long-time fans, who took to message boards and the like to express their ire about the new, gay vocal style. The joke was on them, though, as Steve came out as gay around the same time.

Hah!

Tragically, Steve's boyfriend was killed in a horrible car accident while Floor were on tour on the other side of the country. The loss threw him into a tailspin, naturally, and the band never recovered. Steve eventually bounced back, though, with his new combo Torche, who are every bit as kick ass.

Floor got together for a short series of reunion shows a couple of years ago, and I was lucky enough to attend the second one. Since the band had gone through a few different line-ups, they played three different sets, with three different assemblages playing material contemporary to each. It was incredible. The two shows in Atlanta were filmed and recorded for a double-DVD set, Sight & Seen, released by Chunklet. If you watch closely during the version of today's song from the second night, you can see my right fist pumping away furiously in the air.

Today's jukebox selection, Twink, is my favorite from their eponymous, second-to-be-recorded-but-first-to-be-released album. For those not in the know, a twink is a young (18 to 25) gay man with smooth skin and minimal body hair.

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NOTA BENE: In conjunction with the above-mentioned reunion shows, Robotic Empire released a massive box set, Below & Beyond, containing everything Floor ever recorded. Consider it highly recommended!

The Sexual Side Effects "An Hour Ago"

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The Sexual Side Effects
High Maintenance
CD EP
(Effective Entertainment, 2012)

As I've written plenty of times before, I love bargain bins and free bins. A couple of weeks ago, I was in a local shop and spotted the debut EP by local combo The Sexual Side Effects sitting on a shelf of free stuff. I'd heard of them, but knew nothing about them other than leader Amber Taylor is a trans woman, i.e. the oft ignored and/or maligned T in LGBT. Now, in the afternoon, I often play fetch with the doggie while I hang out on the deck and listen to CDs, so that evening the two of us gave it a listen. Well, I listened and he screamed at me to throw the ball when I would pause too long after being given it (i.e., one nanosecond).

Musically, it's a bit more mainstream than my usual tastes, but after the second listen, the songs had wormed their way into my head quite successfully. In fact, it was a tough decision which song to feature, as I dig all of them.

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NOTA BENE: The top Buy MP3 button will take you to the link for the song on Bandcamp, whereas the lower one will direct you to the download on Amazon. The iTunes button will, shockingly enough, take you to the iTunes link for it.