Categories: Punk | Fanzines | LGBT musicians | LGBT media | Queercore

Queercore

Queercore is a cultural and social movement which arose in the mid 1980's. It is distinguished by discontent with society in general and a disavowal of the mainstream gay and lesbian community in particular, expressing itself through zines, music, art and film.

Contents

1980s

J.D.s , created by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce, is widely acknowledged as being the zine which launched the movement. At first the editors of J.D.s had chosen the appellation "homocore" to describe the movement but replaced the word homo with queer to better reflect the diversity of the scene as well as to position themselves firmly outside of gay and lesbian orthodoxy. The first issue was released in 1985, with a manifesto entitled "Don't Be Gay" published in the fanzine Maximum RocknRoll following soon after; inspiring, among many other zines, Holy Titclamps, edited by Larrybob , Homocore by Deke Nihilson and Tom Jennings, Donna Dresch 's Chainsaw, and Outpunk by Matt Wobensmith , these last two later functioning as music labels. These zines, and the movement, are characterized by sexual and gender diversity; dissatisfaction with a consumerist culture, proposing a DIY ethos in its place; and opposition to religious and political repression.

1990s

In 1990, the J.D.s editors released the first queercore compilation, J.D.s Top Ten Homocore Hit Parade Tape, a cassette which included bands from Canada, such as Fifth Column; Nikki Parasite and Bomb from the U.S.; from England, The Apostles and No Brain Cells and, from New Zealand, Gorse. During this early period of queercore, during the late 1980s to the 1990s, many of the punk bands involved were not necessarily queer but their political ideals included support for this cause. Other bands, like Los Crudos , had one gay member. Noteworthy exceptions were bands like Anti-Scrunti Faction, who appeared in J.D.s and Comrades In Arms , Homocore editor Deke Nihilson's band. Shortly after the release of the tape J.D.s ceased publication and a new crop of zines arose, such as Jane and Frankie by Klaus and Jena von Brucker , Shrimp by Vaginal Creme Davis and Fucktooth by Jen Angel. It was in the early '90s that Matt Wobensmith's zine became Outpunk Records, and began to release it's own queercore compilations, as many new bands began forming.

Among the better known bands from the 1990s are Fifth Column, God Is My Co-Pilot, Pansy Division, Team Dresch, Homomilitia, Tribe 8, Sister George and Mukilteo Fairies. During this time, there were dozens of zines being produced as awareness of the movement grew worldwide; The Burning Times from Australia, Speed Demon from Italy, and Brazilian e-zine Queercore, to offer just a few examples.

In Chicago, Mark Freitas and Joanna Brown organized a monthly "Homocore" night that featured queercore bands performing live, offering a stable venue for the scene to proliferate; most of the bands mentioned played at Homocore Chicago.

As a musical genre, it may be distinguished by lyrics exploring themes of prejudice and dealing with issues such as sexual identity, gender identity and gay rights; more generally bands offer a critique of society endemic to their position within it, sometimes in a light-hearted way, sometimes seriously. Musically, queercore bands originated in the punk scene but encompass many genres such as hardcore punk indie rock, power pop, no wave, noise, experimental and others.

Influences

Influences vary for each musician and zine editor involved, but it is doubtful queercore could have come into existance without the atmosphere surrounding the early punk years. Performers in those years either conspicuously played with ideas about gender, such as Wayne County & the Electric Chairs and Phranc of the aptly named Nervous Gender or, like Darby Crash of The Germs, Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks, members of The Screamers, The Leather Nun and other bands were not interested in hiding their sexuality. In 1979, members of Nervous Gender told Slash magazine, ..." people think we're weird 'cause we're queer." The early punk scene, with its connections to artists, had an inherent diversity of sexuality, and much of the early punk style incorporated fetish wear and Tom of Finland imagery common to the gay world. While employed to shock, it also signified acceptance to those in the know. Many artists who came to be called 'industrial', such as Throbbing Gristle and Coil had gay members. Later, when the hardcore scene arose, The Dicks' Gary Floyd was writing gay-themed songs, as were many hardcore bands, except that he, along with Randy Turner of Big Boys, was also quite open about being gay. Politically motivated hardcore bands such as MDC included anti-homophobia messages in their songs. However, it was the shock tactics and confrontational attitude of early punk and industrial bands that Queercore employed, rather than activism or politics, since those engaged in the scene were not seeking acceptance from society but rather to condemn it.

As with punk, the queercore culture existed outside the mainstream, so zines were crucial to its development. Hundreds of zines formed an intercontinental network that enabled queercore to spread and for those in smaller, more repressive communities, to participate. The DIY attitude of punk was integral to queercore as well.

Filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, early John Waters and Andy Warhol were also influential, with their depictions of queer subcultures. After the demise of J.D.s, Bruce LaBruce released No Skin Off My Ass and G.B. Jones released The Troublemakers and The Yo-Yo Gang , films that impacted the queercore scene and broadening its scope to include movies. Documentary films about queercore include She's Real, Worse Than Queer by Lucy Thane and by Scott Treleaven.

All these developments enabled queercore to become a self-sustaining and self-determined subculture expressing itself through a wide variety of mediums.

2000s

In the 2000s, Queercore club nights and events began to take place throughout Europe and North America, such as the festival held each summer in Olympia, Washington called Homo-a-go-go, which features queer films, zines, performance and musical groups during the week-long event. Queeruption, which takes place in a different city each year, has been hosted by Berlin, Rome and London in the past. In 2004 and 2005, a group of queercore bands toured throughout the U.S.; the tour was called Queercore Blitz and was yet another way to connect the like-minded.

Independent record labels such as Alternative Tentacles, Lookout! Records, Kill Rock Stars and K Records supported and released material by queercore artists but early in the 2000s many small labels sprung up soley devoted to queercore. Chainsaw Records, for instance, which had begun the mid 90's, now began to release many recordings of newer bands, such as The Need, The Third Sex and Excuse 17 .

Representing a more contemporary breed of hardcore punk are the straight edge band Limp Wrist from the United States. From Germany come Low End Models , an all-women band. Beyond Pink are from Sweden and Kids Like Us out of Norway. Three Dollar Bill from Chicago are more eclectic, ranging from metal punk to indie rock. Kids On TV , from Toronto, with an industrial background, offer a new, more electronic direction for queercore as do Lesbians On Ecstasy , from Montreal. The Hidden Cameras are a neo- folk band from Toronto. With each new band the range of musical genres expands the definition of Queercore.

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Categories: Punk | Fanzines | LGBT musicians | LGBT media | Queercore