Queer anthems, America, and taking it one day at a time
Unless you’re one of three to five percent of the world’s population who have a condition called “musical anhedonia,” making music an unenjoyable mix of boring and distracting – feelings that the Atlantic say reflect in your brain activity – you probably spent at least a bit of your summer listening to music.
I know I did, so I’ve taken the liberty of picking my relevant, catchy faves. Without further ado, here’s my take on the three songs I’m labelling the “songs of the summer.”
#1 Roan, Chappell. “Good Luck, Babe!” Good Luck, Babe! – Single. 2024.
“You can kiss a hundred boys in bars // Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling // You can say it’s just the way you are // Make a new excuse, another stupid reason // Good luck, babe (well, good luck)…. //You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling”
Why it’s the #1 song of the summer:
A pile of stunningly lusty queer songs hit the billboard top 100 while we were cruising to the beach, sunbathing on our decks and lounging on the porch trying (and failing) to get course readings done a little bit early. Billie Eilish’s “Lunch,” Chappell Roan’s “Casual,” and “Good Luck, Babe!” are just a few of them.
If I had a nickel for every time a sapphic song about cunnilingus catapulted into popularity over the summer months in recent memory, I’d have two nickels. It’s not a lot, and while the saying goes “It’s weird that it happened twice,” the boom is actually unsurprising, especially considering the rich history of queer music that backs it.
It’s no secret that we’re hearing a resurgence in queer pop anthems as artists’ synthesis of pride, queer identities, and music regain mainstream, widespread attention. For one, Roan’s ‘80s pop style reminds us of the role that the queer anthems and artists of the ‘80s had in paving the way for artists today.
Even before the boom of queer pop and queer influence on pop culture that took place in the 1980s was modern queer music’s early beginnings in New Orleans in the 1890s. The 1890s were a decade that the GLBTQ Archive says brought new policies on prostitution and with them “a vibrant same-sex social world [that] flourished.” By the 1920s, highly celebrated blues performers like Ma Rainey were openly making and performing sapphic music.
Rainey sang many songs about men, still, Angela Davis says that Rainey’s song “‘Prove It on Me’ [was] a cultural precursor to the lesbian cultural movement of the 1970s, which began to crystallize around the performance and recording of lesbian-affirming songs.”
“Good Luck Babe!” is a song of the summer because of how Roan so skillfully speaks about different aspects of queer love, gender roles (including conformity/nonconformity to those roles), and longing. Roan also writes about comphet (compulsory heterosexuality), or the obligation that some people feel to live as a heterosexual.
This is as critical to the song as Roan’s longing is – it’s a reminder that ignoring your queerness is unhealthy, harmful, and at the end of the day, not completely possible. In a province governed by a party dead-set on making life increasingly difficult and dangerous for queer and trans folks, “Good Luck, Babe!” is a well-timed reminder that we can’t erase away our queerness.
“Good Luck, Babe!” is also a song of the summer in the wake of Queen City Pride’s largest ever turnout, proving that Davis’ hypothesis isn’t wrong: queer cultural movements and music tend to crystallize around each other.
When we think of the hypothesis Davis made all those years ago, are we standing face to face with “I told you so?” I think so.
#2 Bryan, Zach. “American Nights.” The Great American Bar Scene. 2024.
Why it’s a song of the summer:
“American Nights” comes as attitudes sour further towards the American Dream, and as a nail-biting election looms over the American masses (and the rest of us) again.
In a piece for the Guardian, Stephen Reicher claims that Trump asks people to see him as their saviour, and to buck “the establishment.” Reicher also says that Trump and his family “are portrayed as rough and ready ‘ordinary guys’ whose success exemplifies the American dream. And… he uses his wealth to make himself ‘one of us.’”
What Reicher suggests Trump is doing is exploiting the collapse of the American Dream. Trump is promising to make the dream a possibility again. Trump is claiming he’s the product of that dream – and he’s doing it to woo voters.
For many, the American Dream is collapsing, and for others its always been obvious that the American Dream was a lie built on the backs of those oppressed by slavery and by a settler-colonial nation state that stole land and committed genocide against Indigenous populations.
“American Nights” subtly marks the demise of the illusion that has been the American Dream. Bryan speaks about the army, and the trauma of it.
“American boys,” Bryan says, are “a friend of [his].” In many ways, “American Nights” is a song about the summer, the coast, and friendship.
In another way, Bryan talks about changing attitudes towards war and the nationalistic patriotism that America (and their jaw-droppingly high military budget) are known for because “twenty’s too young to nearly die,” and the violence and lasting trauma of the army ought to encourage us to think about what patriotism and the American Dream means, and who pays (and has paid) for it.
#3. Doug and the Slugs. “Day By Day.” Popaganda. 1984.
“I speak up when I feel it’s right // I jump up when I know that I got to fight // Until then I just take it // Day by day by day by day”
Why it’s a song of the summer:
“Day By Day” and Popaganda turn 40 this year, and it deserves a birthday celebration. Here at the Carillon, we’re dedicated to speaking up when nobody else is, and we have a rich history of covering everything from LSD to gnarly URSU schemes.
A University of Regina Alumni, who attended the university while the Carillon was in its early days told me that the paper was for reading “things that we had no business reading.” This summer, we’ve been taking things here day by day, but we sure missed you. We hope you missed us too.
Honourable mentions:
76th Street. “Girl.” WILD – EP. 2024
Summer 2024’s femme anthem celebrates queerness and recognizes the role music has in connecting people – the song talks about dancing to MUNA and falling in love to Brandi Carlile’s “You and Me on The Rock.”
ARXX. “Good Boy.” Good Boy – Single. 2024.
“My golden retriever masc anthem,” – Holly Funk, icon. Enough said.
*NSYNC. “Bye Bye Bye” No Strings Attached. 2000
The perfect song for pretending you can dance as smoooooooth as Ryan Reynolds’ dance double did while desecrating Wolvie’s corpse. Key word: pretending.
Into hearing (live) music that’s more put-together than this mishmash of songs? Check postings for shows in the city on saskmusic.org.
