while i can mainly only speak for sapphic playlists, ive noticed in general that the lgbt playlists were making are really white, cover heavy and… straight?
so heres a (very unabridged) list of lgbt musicians that deserve to be on your playlists way more than that cover of lego house. in alphabetical order:
Against Me! if youre trans & alternative and dont know abt against me – lead by trans frontwoman and punk rock mum laura jane grace – then idk what youre doing. ik theyre p well known, but i still never see them in playlists.
Angel Haze / Raen Roes black & native american two-spirit rapper with the brilliant freestyle rewrite of ‘same love’
Bloc Party indie rock band from east london led by kele okereke, coolest man on earth, ended oasis w his snark (seriously)
Chris Garneau french-american indie singer reminiscent of spektor’s anti folk, often discusses trauma with very sad, floaty music. very androgynous voice
Coeur de Pirate french-canadian singer with a more folky vibe reminiscent of of monsters and men. oh, and shes dating laura jane grace. put them both in the same playlist. please.
Daskinsey4(warning for nsfw imagery in the link) fuzzpedal britpop from bristol with a fun, bouncy tone
Doria Roberts 90s american folk singer/songwriter. political and confident. put ‘honey jar’ in your playlist please just do it.
Ezra Furman gay american alternative rock singer similar to neutral milk hotel
Ferras indie pop singer with a strong bowie influence vocally
Frank Ocean yes, you know who he is. have you listened to him? have you? i dont care if you only listen to harsh noise folk backwards – listen to frank ocean.
Gerard Way we all know gerard fuzzpedal emo king friends with ljg way and still i see more artic monkeys in these gaylists (gay playlists)
Grace Petrie folk singer from the midlands, england whose bbfsies w billy brag. has two modes: angry gay, sad gay. what more do you need?
Hayley Kiyoko ok ok ik we all know her shes the token woc in your playlist im putting her on the list anyway because im in love with her
Honeywater has a dubious place on the list due to the other fella but.. this is amandla stenbergs band. amandla. they make music. remember that.
the Hoosiers the british indie band behind ‘goodbye mister a’
Indigo Girls this is fucking lesbian heritage right here. Old Skool lesbian country singers right here.
the Internet classique gay triphop led by my dream girlfriend, syd the kyd
Jasmine Kennedy soft sad indie folk from the north of england. her sweet, quiet music ranges from melancholic to happy ending bliss. shes stage buddies w grace petrie too. put ‘cardigan sweater’ in your playlist. do it.
JD Samson & MEN nonbinary dance music officianado JD Samson and her new band after le tigre. loud and fun and gay
Jussie Smollet he plays jamal in empire. admittedly, he hasnt brought out his own stuff yet, but his music for empire is beautiful soulful R&B
Kaytranada a gay music producer whose worked with all the big names, including collaborating with the internet. gay squared.
Neon Hitch bisexual rroma indie pop singer from the uk
Rachael Yamagata melancholic, blues inspired folk-pop with a smooth, deep voice
Shamir nonbinary synthpop singer known for his androgynous voice and catchy, light hearted tunes such as ‘on the regular’ and ‘make a scene’
Sia bisexual pop-ballad queen who sings often abt trauma, mental illness, and abuse
Soko kristen stewarts girlfriend. indie singer with a high, airy voice whose music ranges in topic from trauma to homophobia to the surreal. put ‘who wears the pants’ on your playlist.
Spoonboy genderqueer punk singer from washington dc. try ‘sexy dreams’
Tegan & Sara look, ok, i know everyone knows abt tegan and sara. the lesbian band. so why are they never on sapphic/lesbian playlists? why?
Thao & Mirah folk/country lesbian mirah teams up w thao, who afaik is also sga, for an album of soft, sweet folk music
Tracy Chapman seriously ok this is History. this is the woman behind ‘fast car.’ very political american folk singer from the 90s. i love her. shes amazing.
Tunde Olaniran R&B / hiphop singer from michigan with a loud, take-no-shit style
Willow Smith yes, the willow smith. she wrote two love songs dedicated to marceline from adventure time. thats all you need to know. shes perfect.
also, yknow what, spoken word poetrys getting quite popular now. heres a few lgbt spoken word poets to put in the start or end of your playlist to shake it up:
I literally had a friend say this the other day while having dinner with him and his husband.
“Listen.” He said. “I served in the military. 10 years in the army, and had to keep my mouth shut and pretend. I had to pretend to everyone, until I just got sick of it and decided fuck you all. I haven’t been nice in years. Everyone saying I should shut up can kiss my ass.”
If people wanted nice gay people they should have been nicer to them.
IF PEOPLE WANTED NICE GAY PEOPLE THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN NICER TO THEM
Oh wow I forgot about this. I need to tell Ron he’s Tumblr famous now.
Ron says to tell all the pissed off cockroach motherfuckers that he and his husband Ryl are now your Angry Gay Dads.
I saw a sad facebook post from the gay bookstore back in Ann Arbor where I used to live about how they hadn’t sold any books that day so I went on their online store and bought a couple, and while you don’t get #deals like elsewhere online, I’d love it if y’all would consider buying your next gay book from them instead of like, Amazon.
Common Language is a great bookstore and while I’ve only been there once, I follow it on Instagram and really want to see it succeed!
This post is only a few days old, so let’s keep the ball rolling!
Cosigning about the greatness of this store.
They’ve announced they are closing on Dec 31, 2018. Please do go buy out their stock and send them off with a bang.
The final day of the store will be December 31st. We hope to sell as much of the inventory as possible. Effective immediately nearly all inventory is 20% off. In mid-November prices will be 30% off. For the final two weeks of the year everything in the store will be 50% off. Please continue to follow us on Facebook. An online presence may remain. While we are happy to continue to take special orders and online orders, the sale doesn’t apply to those orders.
Tumblr Exodus 