Madonna, Cher and Donna Summer made the list, of course. To determine the 100 Greatest, Gayest Albums of All Time, OUT Magazine polled more than 100 actors, comedians, musicians, writers, critics, performance artists, label reps, and DJs and asked each to list the 10 most important albums of their lives.

They received responses from Boy George, Rufus Wainwright, Cyndi Lauper, the Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray, Perez Hilton, Nate Berkus, Jake Shears, John Cameron Mitchell, Wilson Cruz, Junior Vasquez, Janis Ian, and many others. They then tallied the results to determine the top-100 list.

Here are some excerpts that I found noteworthy:

Comedian Bruce Vilanch writes about album #39:

Gonna Take a Miracle
Laura Nyro and Labelle (1971)

“Nyro brought in Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash (well before ‘Lady Marmalade’), and the four voices are staggering, heartbreaking, and roof-shaking.

It’s simple music that was never written to be this complex, but these girls looked at it from another angle, which is the hallmark of the gay approach to life — and which so often results in great art.”

Number 30:

Diana
Diana Ross (1980)

One of America’s first real divas, Diana Ross has produced 18 number 1 singles, and although Diana’s “I’m Coming Out” isn’t one of them, it has earned its place in the hearts of every gay man who wants “The world to know / Got to let it show.”

Despite repeated arguments between Ross and the producers, who insisted the singer was singing flat, Diana was finished and became the best selling of the 61 albums she has released.

She’s So Unusual
Cyndi Lauper (1983)
Girl pop designed for early ’60s radio but updated for early ’80s MTV, Lauper’s 1983 solo debut remains a classic of New Wave feminism. Themes of social and sexual freedom animated hits like “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “She Bop” (still the best song ever about self-service) in ways more overt than even Donna Summer’s disco. Combining rock, pop, and R&B, this Queens-born Queen of Quirk embodied neon-bright ’80s nonconformity even as ballads like “Time After Time” became standards. Her ongoing LGBT/AIDS charity work proves her heart has remained as big as her voice.

Find the complete list of the “100 Greatest, Gayest Albums (of All Time)” here:

Albums 100 – 51:

http://www.out.com/exclusives.asp?id=26266

Albums 50 – 1:

http://www.out.com/exclusives.asp?id=26275

Enter to win the top 20 “Greatest, Gayest Albums” here:

http://www.out.com/exclusives.asp?id=26275

Comments

(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)

2 Remarks

1. December 15th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
   Mark says:

   I could quibble with the rankings and some of the selections (and isn’t that why anyone creates a list like this?), but there are so many good memories to be had reading it that it would be pointless.

   It’s like the soundtrack to my life (and I suspect that of many others).

2. December 16th, 2009 at 1:37 am
   el polacko says:

   unfortunately, too many albums on this list are just ‘albums i liked when i was young’ rather than what could properly be called ‘gay albums’.