Alternative/Punk/Hipster Gay Bars? Do they actually exist? One thing I've noted is that all the gay bars I've seen seem to follow very similar patterns, as far as music goes: Poppity dance music, disco, Madonna, and so on...so I was wondering: Has anyone been to say, a punk/hc oriented gay bar? Or one that plays alternative music from different genres? One thing I wonder is this: If being gay is about diversity, why do the bars seem to follow more or less the same patterns? I've not been a huge gay bar goer because I feel out of place in them...not because I'm gay, but due to the atmosphere being kinda preppy/poppy/cliched feeling. Sometimes friends will drag me kicking and screaming to one, but I have to wonder: Why do so many of them seem like cheesy, modified 70s Discos?
This is something that really gets to me too, but I don't think there's much hope of it changing. I think this is what people sometimes mean when they say they're not into gay culture and don't connect with other gay people. If you're not into the music and the aesthetics that go with it then you'll feel like an outsider in places that only play it - I know I do. Personally I can get on fine with other gay people I've met in terms of chatting politely but there's usually no connection because we have completely different subcultural identities and have different reference points and interests. I've seen the phrase gay culture criticised but if you look at gay clubs and the gay press then the kind of music that's overwhelmingly dominant is mainstream pop and dance. Also I guess it's partly historical, as disco music has always been associated with the gay scene so there'll be a degree of inertia. I don't have a problem with other people liking it, and I understand that part of the problem is that the bars and clubs will inevitably cater to the majority, and seeing as most people of any orientation like mainstream stuff by definition (otherwise it wouldn't be mainstream) then being a minority in a minority is going to restrict the number of people who like what you like even further. I don't go to gay bars very often because when I go for a night out I want to enjoy all of it. The only reason for me to go to a gay club would be to pull, but I never go out with that intention - I go out because I want to go somewhere where I'm relaxed, having fun with my friends and enjoying the music. None of my friends like that music either so they'd only go if I asked them but they wouldn't enjoy it as much so I wouldn't be as happy either. I don't like going to straight clubs that play that kind of music either, I feel out of place in them too. I came across this interesting, and rather dispiriting, article not long ago on the decline of the London gay alternative scene. If London can't sustain it what hope is there for the more provincial gay scenes?: Whatever Happened to the Alternative Music Scene? | Opinion | polarimagazine.com
Ugh I HATE that I have to listen to top 40 to hang out in a gay bar! I desperately wish there was such thing as a punk gay bar.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this! I go gay bars with friends the music is so cheesy and I've even never heard of it or its things my mum used to dance around to when I was little :') But then if you go to a club playing alternate music there seems it be a lot of 'gay display' as we call it with the boys and girls there that are typically younger. So why is their not gay alternate clubs, I'd be there all the time if they did and I'm not even gay
@ SFSorrow: You put that very well! I feel pretty much the same way. It's nothing so much against it, but feeling like an outsider...a minority within a minority. And to everyone else, I'm glad I'm not alone in this.
Ooh sounds like the ideal setting for my instrumental, shoegaze (shoegays?) -inspired mathrock band's debut gig! Fourth'd(?)!
There's a café in a city near my hometown that isn't exactly a gay establishment, but a large portion of the people who eat there are LGBT, and they have monthly LGBT nights. I've never been during those nights, but the rest of the time, they tend to play indie rock, off-the-beaten-path electronica, and music like that. So there's that. I'd love to see a metal gay bar. I'd patronize the hell out of such an establishment. The one time I went to the bear bar in the nearest big city, it was a lot of throw-back music, but it was all stuff that was popular in its day, even if it's not popular now. So definitely a change of pace, but I can't say I liked it much more than the Top 40 / EDM I'd hear anywhere else.
