What barriers did Adam face?
1. Many US Radio stations would not play music by out gay artists from the late 1970's until 2009 -- WWFM.
There was a brief moment in the 1970's when Sylvester and the Village People got US Top 40 airplay but that ended in 1978.2. Without Idol, Adam would never have gotten a label deal -- the first out gay artist signed to a major label was Jobrath (signed by Electra in 1972), the second was Adam Lambert (signed by RCA in 2009). Labels would not sign gay artists because they "knew" they would not get airplay.
3. He was walking down a path no one had done before -- how to be gay and achieve mainstream success and still be Adam. He stumbled a couple of times but he mostly did just fine. Even Aaron Hichlin agrees with me that Adam was the first -- it was the point of his open letter. "You are the first, don't blow it."
4. He released music that was actually gay. Even on FYE, Fever has the proper pronouns for a gay male singer. This was really something no one had done before. Usually, they came up with cover storys -- "Killer Queen" is about a high-class call girl.
Gay content has been relegated to clubs and concerts for decades. For example, in the 1990's there was a movement by some major alt rock artists to bring attention and support Queencore artists by giving them opening slots. It didn't help much because rock audiences were hostile and rock radio stations would not play the often gay-themed music. It remained an underground movement. I was surprised to find a Wiki page on it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queercore 5. He was the first out gay solo artist at the start of his career to have a Top 10 hit. (With all due respect to Sam Smith, MOMM and SWM were hits before he came out. When promoting these songs he showed up at events with female dates, did those hotel room photos, etc.)
6. He performed in countries where being gay is illegal and in Russia with a bomb threat.
For all the bashing I have done of RCA, I give them credit for their support of Adam and his music in 2009-2010. This only happened because Adam has a label who supported him. HOWEVER, I think that RCA/19 did try to make Adam seem bi-ish with all that Ke$ha stuff and the Details mag cover was probably not the best idea for Adam to do strategically. It is all water under
***
In 2011, Backlot published a list of the Top 50 Gay Musicians. They had to go really deep to get to #50. Adam was #10 on the list.
www.thebacklot.com/aftereltoncoms-top-50-gay-male-musicians/02/2011/9/It was published 2 years after Adam's RS cover article when he discussed being gay quite frankly.
The 9 people "above" Adam....Ricky Martin was not out in 2009. So, only 3 were out solo artists in 2009, all British, all came out well after they were successful. No one above Adam came out at the beginning of their career.
1. Elton John - married to two different women; divorced his second wife in 1988. Said he was bi-sexual in 1976, then he pulled back, said he was gay in 1988. His first hit was in 1971.
2. Freddie Mercury - the closest to out you can be without being out.
3. Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) - came out in 2001.
4. The Village People (Alexander Briley, Randy Jones, Felipe Rose) - it is easy to laugh about them but give them credit for breaking down barriers. How many millions of times have people sung YMCA at weddings and barmitzahs?
5. Boy George - did not come out until 2006.6. George Michael - did not come out until 2007.7. Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys).
8. The Men of The B-52s (Ricky Wilson, Fred Schneider & Keith Strickland)
9. Ricky Martin - came out in 201010. Adam LambertThe solo gay musicians who were out before they released music, are lower down on the list -- and none got any measurable mainstream radio airplay in the US from 1979-2009 after they came out. For example, Rob Halford left Judas Priest in 1991, came out in 1998.
It was a whole lot different being an American and coming out in 2009 vs. 2003 when it was illegal in many states. But I remember believing this would all be over soon once before -- in 1976 and yet, it have taken 40 years.
On June 26, 2003, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that intimate consensual sexual conduct is part of the liberty protected by substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The majority opinion, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, explicitly overruled Bowers v. Hardwick (1986). Despite this ruling,
some states have not repealed their sodomy laws and local law enforcement officers have used these statutes to harass or arrest gay people.For me this is all about much more than Adam. It is about the applicant who does not get a job because he is gay and the singer in a club who is "too gay" to get a shot and the lesbian girl in Mississippi who just wanted to got to her prom.
It is about living in a richer world filled with more diversity and more beautiful voices that can sing freely.