Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache: How Music Came Out

Product Information

In 1990, Edwin Starr released a cover of the song as a 12-inch single, included in his album Where Is the Sound. [10] The records released during those eras were all discoveries, and since I was zeroing in on the pioneers – those who were first to put their head above the parapet in their time – these artists were often undocumented at the time, and only in the internet age have diehard fans done a lot of research, which made my work that much easier.

With the 40th anniversary tour of Horses in full swing, I have interviewed Patti Smith, John Cale about producing Horses, and written a guide to all Smtih's albums for for MOJO's October 2015 issue. Unrelated to Horses, a 'How to Buy' guide to Cocteau Twins and interviews with rising Northern Irish singer-songwriter SOAK and Alice Cooper about his Hollywood Vampires project also have my name on it this month LEONARD COHEN - an apprection of the Canadian poet, novelist and enigmatic songwriter, who just died, for The Vinyl Factory In the October (no. 251) issue of MOJO, I've covered four Kate Bush songs for the Greatest 50 Songs feature, and interviewed singer-songwriter Adam Cohen on the Greek island of Hydra where his dad Leonard bought a house in 1960. The Bandwagon - Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache". 45cat. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24 . Retrieved 2022-02-23. a b William Bradley, Look Where He Brought Me From: From Darkness to Light, Trafford Publishing, 2011, p.16One satisfying aspect of the book was the reclaiming of many forgotten artists. I chose to focus on the pioneers, in their era and across the genres, who were first to declare themselves, either by force of personality or deed, despite the legal and moral restrictions of the day. Johnson was born as John A. Mathis on July 20, 1942 in Belle Glade, Florida, the son of Lillie Kate Mathis who later married Lucine Johnson. As a child, he moved to Rochester, New York, and later sang in several local groups, [1] including the Bandwagons [ sic]. Other early members of the group included Terry Lewis (born in Baltimore, Ohio), Jerry Ferguson, and Wade Davis. [2]

In the current issue of MOJO, 'The Ungrateful Dead', my feature on the reunited - for the third time! - Bauhaus, What gives? Who's willing to say? Talking of glam, I’m also very fond of the UK trio Handbag, who were the one bona fide gay glam band, who became the only bona fide gay new wave band too. Apart from Tom ‘Glad To be Gay’ Robinson, who talked about them in a 1975 interview, no one else ever mentioned them, or wrote about them, and their only album, Snatchin’, was only released in Italy. Given the spate of reissues, it's time for an Introduction to the greatest of all guitar bands, which I've written for The Vinyl Factory. It took AIDS to truly – or widely – politicise gay men, and that was mostly in the US, while Section 28 – arch-homophobe Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government ban (via the Local Government Act of 1988) on any ‘promotion’ of homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle galvanised the UK’s gay resistance, prompting the creation of the grassroots organisation Stonewall. But even then, the only politicised gay man who had prolonged chart success was Jimmy Somerville, first with Bronski Beat, then the Communards and finally as a solo act – and he only managed it because he also released a string of cover versions of disco classics.Preceding Williamson, Alix Dobkin’s Lavender Jane Loves Women was another landmark record that sold really well. Lesbians had more of a need to politicise their sexuality because it was, to coin a phrase, “a man’s, man’s, man’s world.” Breakin' Down The Walls Of Heartache: Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon", Ace Records. Retrieved August 23, 2023 Camp was preceded by a 1962 record of standards, Love Is A Drag, subtitled ‘For Adult Listeners Only, Sultry Stylings by a Most Unusual Vocalist’, a male singer taking on (orchestrated) songs (for example ‘The Man I Love’) that were usually sung by women, about men. Coincidentally, it’s being reissued for the first time in November, by a US label (Sundazed).

Johnny Johnson and His Bandwagon: Breakin’ Down The Walls Of Heartache (Ace CDKEND 307, 2008) - compilation [9] Aston quotes the “Where the Boys Are”’s singer Connie Francis as calling it “the gay national anthem.” In 2006 John Grant covered the song with his band The Czars on the single Paint the Moon (2004) and the album Sorry I Made You Cry (2005). I remember the late (gay) music critic Craig Lee’s consternation in his L.A. Weekly interviews with Little Richard and Pete Shelley (not together) when they both evaded the obvious. Since the posting of this review I found that my memory was faulty—not about Shelley (see “Pete Shelley,” L.A. Weekly, 11–17 Jun 1982, 23)—but rather, that Craig’s piece on Penniman was a book review that includes a recollection of his meeting Little Richard in 1971 at 17. Craig wrote, “But even though Richard has denounced his former music as ‘demonic,’ even though his conflict with homosexuality has him taking the old ‘It’s unnatural’ line, I can’t help but admire the man […]” (see “4/4 Play,” L.A. Weekly, 26 Oct – 01 Nov, 1984, 59). I’m inclined also to recollect here something I can’t substantiate. Sometime before leaving Boulder, I recall a friend reading to me (or me to him) an item about a theretofore unknown band. “Throw out your Rolling Stones albums,” the writer declared, having just heard an LP by Little Feat. I’m tempted to say the same about my own little pop music library after reading Martin Aston’s Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache, except that, as with music, you never can have enough. So keep your LPs (I go to my shelves often only to find I didn’t!) and your books about this-core and that-core.One example is the saga of Camp Records in the mid-1960s, which released two albums and a handful of singles, catering to the burgeoning ‘gay party’ market, for example ‘Stanley, The Manly Transvestite’ and ‘Rough Trade’. Still, to this day, no one has a clue as to who was behind Camp. I interviewed Jimmy Somerville for Attitude's July 2014 issue, on the 30th anniversary of Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy," one of the most striking, important and moving singles in all of British pop. Group member William Bradley became a community worker and minister active in the International Missionary Outreach Society of New York. He published a memoir, Look Where He Brought Me From: From Darkness to Light, in 2011. [2] Discography [ edit ] Albums [ edit ]