The Secret Public ★★★★
Jon Savage
FABER. £20
Substantial, revealing saga of LGBTQ cultural revolutionaries.
For too long, the author argues, the seismic impact of LGBTQ artists on post-war popular culture was “coded, hidden, secret.” Enriched by meticulous research of political shifts, media coverage and fashion (Teddy Boys, Mod and denim owe much to subterranean queer culture), Savage picks five eras on which to elaborate, starting with 1955’s ‘big bang’ of Little Richard, Johnnie Ray and James Dean, which blurred the demarcation between conventional masculinity and femininity, perfect timing for the new era of television and influencing Elvis in the process. 1961’s Brit-pop boom expanded those boundaries, mentored by music industry operators Larry Parnes, Joe Meek and Brian Epstein. Through 1967’s cusp-ofliberation embodied by Dusty, Janis, Warhol and the Velvets, to 1973’s shattered-glassceiling of Bowie and dance music’s founding fathers, and on to 1978’s punk and Saturday Night Fever phenomena, they all have in common an almost sociopathic bravery; with so much at risk, these insurgents acted like they had nothing to lose.