1984: The Year Pop Went Queer

by Wade, Ian | c 1970 to c 1980
Published 18/07/2024 by Bonnier Books Ltd in the United Kingdom
Hardback | 320 pages
223 x 146 x 30mm | 440g

'A riveting read about a pop revolution hiding in plain sight' PETE PAPHIDES'Highly energetic, well-informed, opinionated in all the right places and always exciting' DAVID QUANTICK'Very funny and very moving' JUDE ROGERSIn 1984, pop came out of the closet - even if not all of the artists felt that they could - and, in the process, charted the course of the rest of the decade.

In 1984: The Year Pop Went Queer, writer and musician Ian Wade charts where these artists, including Queen, George Michael, David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Madonna - who all enjoyed chart success in 1984 - were during that epoch-making year. It studies the impact these groundbreaking musicians had before, during and after on the gay community and popular culture, and it demonstrates how they were able to break down barriers, raise consciousness and set in motion the first nascent ripples in a pond that are still being felt today.

As a backdrop, it explores the strides made in the name of the cause and how the wider surrounding culture reacted with equal parts glee, bafflement and disgust.