Darren Hayes covers "Dress You Up" (Virgin Tour Version)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1850418940e80542/

I reckon it sounds good! I think he's the only guy that could pull it off though. Been listening to this all morning, my favourite bit is the end where he's ad libbing like she does... "Cause youre my favourite toy....yeah cause youre my pride and joy...oh yeah"

Are you sure it's not the Gay version? Gen, you must be a gay man trapped inside a woman's body!

I'm not saying I didn't like it though...

mwahahaha

Thats what hubby said all morning..."G.A.Y."

Told him to shut up and turned it up louder lol

Quote :

Are you sure it's not the Gay version? Gen, you must be a gay man trapped inside a woman's body!

I'm not saying I didn't like it though...

You're accussing a Madonna-related song of being kind of gay?

How much more oxymoronic can you get?

No, it's only gay when Darren Hayes sings it. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being gay, BUT if being gay were a dessert, the Darren Hayes would be far too sickly sweet to ever get through - he even keeps the "boy" in it! (as in "Gonna dress you up in my love, I love you boy..."). ...and he sings it SO earnestly!! LOL AND, Brad, you won't remember, (haha), but Madonna didn't come out in 1983 with a label saying: GAY ICON on her forehead, all that happened over time, and at the Dress You Up stage (1985), she was just a (fast) rising little pop star, not the icon she is today. (...and so ends Madonna History lesson 101).

She was a pop star? In the EIGHTIES, you say. In-ter-esting...

Lol. I think the gay fandom came about pretty quickly, actually. I remember reading a review of the Virgin Tour with the quote (more or less):

"Madonna shouted out 'We don't need men!!' The girls all cheered and the guys all suddenly looked nervous."

Plus, she started in dance music. Ding dong, hello.

Edit: Scary. Clicked post, and what came on the radio? "Music". She's watching me.

WhitePanda wrote:

She was a pop star? In the EIGHTIES, you say. In-ter-esting...

Lol. I think the gay fandom came about pretty quickly, actually. I remember reading a review of the Virgin Tour with the quote (more or less):

"Madonna shouted out 'We don't need men!!' The girls all cheered and the guys all suddenly looked nervous."

Plus, she started in dance music. Ding dong, hello.

Edit: Scary. Clicked post, and what came on the radio? "Music". She's watching me.

??? That proves what, exactly? She's a feminist? What's that got to do with being a gay icon? There were way more females & girls in those audiences - she initially appealed hugely to young girls. I never heard about that quote (and I was obsessed with Madonna back then). The most striking thing for me about the Virgin Tour were all those balloons that had "dreams come true" written on them that were dropped into the audience during the show... dance, R&B gay? hmmm, maybe

We can drop the subject, I think. Read this (from Wikipedia's "Madonna as gay icon" page):

On the eve of the release of Madonna's album Confessions on a Dance Floor, Steve Gdula of The Advocate wrote:

In the beginning, back in the 1980s and even the early 1990s, the release of a new Madonna video or single was akin to a national holiday, at least among her gay fans. The devotion, the urgency, and the fervor with which we rushed to buy her music, set the VCRs to record her every appearance, and raced to the newsstand to pour over the Vogue and Vanity Fair spreads became nearly ritualistic. Whether documented by Herb Ritts or Steven Meisel, we anticipated each new incarnation of our Madonna like pilgrims waiting for a vision.... Madonna’s dance tracks offered a necessary escape that was nearly transcendental during an era when our community was seeing more than its share of heartbreak and horror.... Off the dance floor, she was just as supportive, becoming an outspoken AIDS activist and promoting education and compassion over ignorance and intolerance. At a time when other artists tried to distance themselves from the very audience that helped their stars to rise, Madonna only turned the light back on her gay fans and made it burn all the brighter.

Gay men have always loved her, even from her early days when she was hanging out in clubs with Flynn. She just had an energy that they gravitated towards, she was so free-spirited, uninhibited, and so damn sexual in an innocent way.

WhitePanda wrote:

We can drop the subject, I think. Read this (from Wikipedia's "Madonna as gay icon" page):

On the eve of the release of Madonna's album Confessions on a Dance Floor, Steve Gdula of The Advocate wrote:

In the beginning, back in the 1980s and even the early 1990s, the release of a new Madonna video or single was akin to a national holiday, at least among her gay fans. The devotion, the urgency, and the fervor with which we rushed to buy her music, set the VCRs to record her every appearance, and raced to the newsstand to pour over the Vogue and Vanity Fair spreads became nearly ritualistic. Whether documented by Herb Ritts or Steven Meisel, we anticipated each new incarnation of our Madonna like pilgrims waiting for a vision.... Madonna’s dance tracks offered a necessary escape that was nearly transcendental during an era when our community was seeing more than its share of heartbreak and horror.... Off the dance floor, she was just as supportive, becoming an outspoken AIDS activist and promoting education and compassion over ignorance and intolerance. At a time when other artists tried to distance themselves from the very audience that helped their stars to rise, Madonna only turned the light back on her gay fans and made it burn all the brighter.

Wikipedia is not exactly the most reliable source to cite! This is one person's opinion. I do know that no-one referred to Madonna as a gay icon until, probably, at the earliest, 1986. I'll bet that this guy, like you, wasn't around in the early days of her career. (This guy mentions "early days" and "Vogue" in the same breath - "Vogue" was released in 1990.) It just seems silly to me to suggest that anyone would instantly become a gay icon....Gen is right about before she was famous, but that's not the same thing. Madonna did the smartest thing she could and went for mass appeal at the beginning. In fact (since I recorded most interviews, and reports about her), I could show you that gay men actually DIDN'T LIKE HER back then, at least one that was asked about her, the ones that did were the young women dressing as her and the young girls.

Read this book: Sirens By Judith Ann Peraino

In this fresh and innovative study, Judith A. Peraino investigates how music has been used throughout history to call into question norms of gender and sexuality. Beginning with a close examination of the mythology surrounding...

Buy this book
University of California Pr - Publisher

While Madonna has appropriated aspects of Black culture, but was not accepted by the majority of the Black community, she has done the same with gay male culture and was accepted wholeheartedly as a gay icon. Gay culture is a culture that is for the most part invisible in popular culture, but Madonna has consistently, from the late eighties on, given it exposure through her songs (such as "What For" and "Vogue"), her openly gay male dancers, and interviews, one of which she said that sometimes she felt bisexual. (Mailer) However, what is frequently overlooked is her portrayal of and flirtations with lesbianism.

"This guy mentions "early days" and "Vogue" in the same breath - "Vogue" was released in 1990"?

Err, he was referring to the Vogue magazine: "... raced to the newsstand to pour over the Vogue and Vanity Fair spreads ..."

Well in fairness to me, Wikipedia was quoting an Advocate magazine, and the guy uses the words "we rushed", "we anticipated", "our community". I'm not saying that guy is the authoritarian on Madonna in relation to the gay community, I'm just putting his opinion on the table and saying that I agree with it. Besides - you discount his opinion, saying its only one man's view, and then tell me to read a book by a Miss Judith Ann Peraino? How is she more validating than, say, a gay man, on this topic?

*healthy debate, not an attack*

You're right, but, unfortunately it's a moot point. I'm not sure when Madonna first made the cover of Vanity Fair (probably late 80s), but I have her first cover of Vogue. It was British Vogue...in 1989... I know, I decided it doesn't matter if you don't believe me, since you weren't even there. But you probably know that alot of academics started to write about Madonna from the late 80s (most notably, Camille Paglia). I guess they realised she was fast becoming a gay icon, and through their writing, these people really solidifed and re-inforced it. Camille Paglia is really interesting to read, and she links Madonna to the ancient power of the Goddess, which has mostly been supressed throughout time. (Although "Vamps & Tramps" is her most entertaining book).

I dunno, I can't be bothered debating it anymore. Madonna turned into a gay icon because of a whole lot of reasons and there's no one answer to the question of why. End of story.

WhitePanda wrote:

I dunno, I can't be bothered debating it anymore. Madonna turned into a gay icon because of a whole lot of reasons and there's no one answer to the question of why. End of story.

(...so long as I get the last word)....

Main reasons: she borrowed heavily from black and gay culture, and/or spotted upcoming trends and made them mainstream. eg. voguing.

I can concede that alot of those early club (promotional) dates, esp. ones played around NY, were at gay clubs, and would've started to soldify her initial fan base (gay). But probably only in NY. But is more an extension of who she was hanging out with at the time and the sorts of clubs she liked to go to. But, of course, it would have been the kiss of death for Warner's to have openly marketed her as a "gay icon" back in 1982,3 (4). They didn't really even know what they had; they had almost no faith in her.

Quote :

(...so long as I get the last word)....

Heehee.