Internet Reviews II
July 2001
Quote
'Feel The Pulse'
Contents
Make sure you have Windows Media Player version 7.0 from Microsoft.com (available for Mac or Windows). You have a choice of 'deliciously different, definitely dynamic, and delectably divine' Divas, Gaydar Energy – 'the heart of gay life' which gives you camp classics, chart music, and interviews, much as Primetime does, seemingly a mix of interviews and 'music that says it all'. You could 'chill cool calm loosen and undo' to Oasis, and try out the 'succulent, spicy, and moist' Juice. There's a 'fabulous cocktail of great music and fun' on The Mix, or you can 'enter the Boyzone': music by bands with boys in, apparently. Sunday is erogenous Love Zone day, where you can make a dedication (you need to call 09063 626265 at sixty pence a minute), and lastly, Inferno – puzzlingly, the trailer says 'If you can't stand the heart, get off the web'. You can also register (free) to access Interactive Personals from all over the world.
Upside
Good quality sound, if a little tinny (Windows Media Player doesn't have any bass or treble options, or an equaliser). A quick download of a small 60k .wma or .asx file and you're off! If the programme isn't actually on, you'll get a trailer but click on it at the right time, and there you are: gay web radio!
Downside
Once in a while the sound will cut out while the connection is 'buffering' but anyone who uses streaming audio or video will be used to that.
Put gay + pop into a search engine and you get the strangest results: anything from 'davina: pop, gay houseplant oil' and 'Luke Skywalker is gay? Pop culture experts...' to Gay Walker pop-up books, via 'gay pop with a wet pup' and "A gay black man beaten to death endured devastating, bone-breaking blows: the damage to his liver was so severe it caused internal haemorrhaging that filled his abdomen with 310 cm3 of blood, equivalent to a 12-ounce pop can'. Most sites allude to gay popsters of the past, and there are any number of shopping sites who offer CDs of or books about 'gay pop music', but here are a few I cruised.
Contents
'Fierce drag queens shine the spotlight on new house music & techno while honouring pop culture and fashion icons from the past' from 1986 to 2001. You need RealAudio to listen to any of the vast number of tracks (too many to even begin listing here), and there's some fabulous art for eye candy. Loved the little dancin' man too.
Rating 4.0
Contents
Not strictly 'pop' but this site covers gay-related music from A (AC/DC to Charles Aznavour, I kid you not) to Z (Frank Zappa to Zrazy, an Irish indie queer band) with some links. Visually threadbare, it also helps if you know Danish, because the comments are all in, um Danish.
Rating 2.5
Contents The whole site is hung on the cyber peg of being 'Best In Gay Music'. Mark and Dean are 'openly gay men are not only musicians, singers and songwriters, but also a couple who share in a deeply committed and loving relationship' and who are 'redefining the meaning of gay pop'. Songs (Underwear Queen, Purple Pillows and Walking To Freedom among them) are available as MP3 files... except none of the links worked.
Rating 2.0
Contents
Both sites are - at the time of writing - unfortunately down for redesign work, so there are broken links and links you can't click all over the place, but worth a mention for future surfing. Disco Dollies only tells us this is the new place for 'all the news and reviews that we currently bring you plus a lot lot more', while Popbitch is primarily a gossip site, governed by a free email list and message boards. The quality of the gossip always depends on its source, so don't expect major relevations, just some agreeably sharp and tart fun.
Rating N/a
Contents
You can't really omit the G-A-Y site in a review of gay pop music. This big and bold Flash enhanced site requires you to register ('It only takes two minutes') to gain access to 'an Aladdin's cave of facilities': future acts pencilled in to appear at G-A-Y, links to Spectrum 558MW radio show and G-A-Y CDs, gossip (message board and chat room, plus the chance to post a plea to that anonymous Adonis you saw but couldn't approach), downloads of RealPlayer files of acts on stage, and member profiles. Not a huge amount to look at, but how much do you really need? The site is succinct, practical, and bright. If I have one reservation it's that your mobile phone number can be posted up for the world to see: you do have an option for it to remain private, but lord knows what kind of a pickle you could get into if you don't.
Rating 3.0
Sept 2001
Quote
Many... they refresh continually.
Contents
Free registration, worth it because lots of sections are no go areas otherwise, plus free website space and a free profile that you can edit to give info on your location, interests, your online status and even add a little pic of your gorgeous features. Huge drop down list of sections, including a huge set of message boards. They cover anything from Dr Who in the 80's and 'Lines to dump your boyf with' to How to make the perfect pie crust? and that old online chestnut, 'People who say they want friendship but never reply after being sent a picture' to feedback, ideas, technical help, stories, parenting, fetish, support, Section 28, religion, classifies, word association, a veritable stadium of sporting activities, music, shopping, soaps, poetry... my god, you name it: it's here!
There's a social diary too, listing a plethora of events across the country which you can add to; and polls - questions are posed by Out members - weight issues and testicular cancer, to attitudes to HIV+ status and 'Do you choose Pepsi or Coke?' There's also 'OUTSIDER: Tales of SnoBoardr' is a pop-up cartoon strip exclusive to OUT, created entirely Hysteric, Out's Funky Illustrations Specialist (sorry but I didn't find it that funny). There's a Message Centre where other Out members can contact you, and a handy little desktop pop up which is updated every 2 minutes, so you don't have to keep the site up.
Upside
Fantastic if you want to contribute to wide-ranging discussions or find a local, national or even international chap to chat to, contact, meet, and debate with. And it's a profit-free site claiming 'zero exploitation of gay men'. There are also five handy one-click buttons to help navigate much more easily.
Downside
Two bar sections, kept hitting the wrong scroll... and leaves the last thing you did up on screen... Hmmm, it doesn't exploit gay men but it advertises them...
Rating 4.0
© Megan Radclyffe 2001
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