The script and the evocative soundtrack capture perfectly the joyous optimism of young gay men coming out in record numbers. Now, almost two decades after homosexual acts were legalised, it was our turn. The Pill had triggered a sexual revolution for the heterosexual community in the 1960s. His characters party every night and the wild sex scenes are frequent and graphic. The drama, which starts in 1981, is played out through the lives of five flatmates who leave their families in suburbia to live the metropolitan dream - just as Davies did when, aged 18, he moved from Swansea to Manchester.Īndrew said Memories of that evening in Heaven came flooding back this week while watching the powerful new Channel 4 drama, It's A Sin, written by Russell T Davies Gay men made to feel like pariahs, rejected in the workplace and socially, often by their families and friends, openly discriminated against and at risk of violence, all because of their sexuality. The club features several times in the series, which charts the rapid, unforgiving spread of Aids across the capital's vibrant gay scene in the 1980s, and the fear, bigotry and hate it generated. Memories of that evening in Heaven came flooding back this week as I watched the powerful new Channel 4 drama, It's A Sin, written by Russell T Davies. 'A few months,' he replied and that was it. 'How long have you been sick, Paul?' I asked, as I clutched his bony hand.
His parents assumed their strapping 6 ft son - an only child - was a red-blooded heterosexual who would provide them with the grandchildren they craved. He worked in a department store and later moved to London to live openly as a gay man - something he couldn't do in his home town. Paul and I met after I moved to Cheltenham in 1979 to join my first newspaper.
#Best gay videos 80s skin
I'd seen enough photographs to know that Paul had the rare cancer, called Kaposi's sarcoma, which appeared as lesions on the skin and was one of the many diseases that ravaged the bodies of men dying from Aids. Princess Diana, right, met with men diagnosed with AIDS at st Mary's Hospital in PaddingtonĮven as the words came tumbling out, I could have kicked myself. From Adele’s “Hello” to ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin'” - these are the videos that continue to thrill us, delight us, disturb us, and remind us just how much you can do in three to four minutes with a song, a camera, a concept, a pose, some mood lighting, and an iconic hand gesture or two.While at the club, Andrew met a friend who was suffering from Kaposis Sarcoma, such as the black marks on this man's legs. But all of these picks are perfect examples of how pairing sound and vision created an entire artistic vocabulary, gave us a handful of miniature-movie masterpieces, and changed how we heard (and saw) music. No, “Thriller” is not.) A few pre-date the channel several have never played on MTV at all. You’ll notice some significant changes from the last time we did this. In honor of MTV’s 40th anniversary, we’ve decided to rank the top 100 music videos of all time. Four decades after the channel’s launch and long after it stopped playing them, music videos still complement songs, create mythologies, and cause chatter and controversy. The internet soon stepped in to fill the void. The format proved so durable that when MTV decided to switch things up and devote its air time to game shows, reality TV, and scripted series, thus shutting down the primary pipeline for these promos, artists still kept making them. Entire genres and subgenres - from hip-hop to grunge to boy-band pop to nu metal - became part of the mainstream. The network revolutionized the music industry, inspired a multitude of copycat programming, made many careers, and broke more than a few. Virtually everyone knew what a music video was, and they wanted their MTV. At this point, viewers might have a few questions, like: Is this like a radio station on TV? What is a “VJ”? And what the hell is a “music video”?Ī year later, no one was asking that last question.
This wasn’t a news channel it was “Music Television.” If they kept tuning in, they’d see clips and hear VJs talk about bringing you the latest in music videos. And then they’d hear a voiceover, with all the smooth patter of an FM disc jockey: “Ladies and gentlemen, rock & roll.” Cue power chords, and a flag with a network logo - something called MTV - that rapidly changed colors and patterns.
#Best gay videos 80s tv
The familiar sight of Neil Armstrong exiting his lunar module and walking on the moon would fill the TV screen. In the wee hours of August 1st, 1981, someone flipping through their channels might have come across the image of a rocket blasting into space.