LGBT musicians have shaped the development of music over the last century, with a sexually progressive soundtrack in the background of the gay community's struggle for acceptance worldwide. With the advent of recording technology, LGBT messages were for the first time transferred from the cabaret stage and brought to the homes of millions. This book covers the breadth of history of recorded music by and for the LGBT community: How have those records influenced the evolution of the music we listen to today? How have they inspired whole generations of disenfranchised youth? How could we ever have the Scissor Sisters or Lady Gaga without Billie Holiday, Disco and David Bowie? Through new interviews and contemporary reports, the book uncovers the lives of the people who made these records, and offers a lively canter through the scarcely documented history of LGBT music-makers. Bullock discusses the invaluable influence gay men, lesbians and bisexuals had on the growth of Jazz and Blues; looks at the almost forgotten world of gay life in the years between the two World Wars when many LGBT performers enjoyed a fame and freedom that would not be seen again until the 1970s and '80s; explores the emergence of Disco and Glamrock that gave birth to today's most legendary out-gay pop stars: Elton John, Boy George, Freddie Mercury, George Michael; and asks where we are today.

Introduction: Once upon a time in a disco far, far away ... -- David Bowie made me gay -- Pretty baby -- Bull dyker blues -- The pansy craze -- Europe before the war -- Strange fruit -- Camp records -- Do you come here often? -- Electronic sounds -- After Stonewall -- Living with lesbians -- Lavender country -- Can't stop the music -- The 1970s: political and pink -- The aggressive style punk rock -- The 1980s: small town boys -- Hope and homophobia -- Scandal -- Out and proud in the twenty-first century.