Red Hot + Blue

33⅓ Main Series #185

by John S. Garrison

Red Hot + Blue is a meditation on music's capacity to find us, transform us, and help us make sense of our historical moment. Blending memoir and cultural history, Garrison recalls his coming out at the height of the AIDS crisis alongside the music industry's first major response to the epidemic. In 1990, a groundbreaking effort by musical artists sought to combat the silence and stigma about the disease. The resulting tribute album to legendary composer Cole Porter was evocatively titled Red Hot + Blue, capturing both the joy and melancholy that accompany love during turbulent times. It re-imagined those iconic songs - including “Don't Fence Me In,” “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” “Night and Day” - not just to celebrate the composer but also to offer a shared vision for survival. In this book, Garrison reflects on his own life story through the lens of Porter's life and music to illuminate the emotional landscape we all navigate in the search for love.

Red Hot + Blue returns us to the early 1990s to reveal how the love songs of the past can be revived to speak to new audiences in times of need. The book is the portrait of an album, a pandemic, and a young gay man's coming of age in the era of both.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2024

About the author

John S. Garrison is an American author and scholar of William Shakespeare and Renaissance literature.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does it all. Thoroughly researched, highly informative, beautifully and poignantly written, clear and concise, and so profoundly moving. One of the most educational books I’ve read about the AIDS crisis *and* an excellent piece of music writing. I’d recommend it to anyone and everyone; buy a copy—or two, and lend one out to your friends. Best non-fiction book I’ve read this year BY FAR.

[Corlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I remember feeling like each time a favorite song filled the dance floor or came on the radio, it took on a particular serendipity. Maybe all young people experience music that way, but for me the epidemic made a difference.” Red Hot + Blue #185 by John Garrison explores the transformative and transportive power of music, particularly during formative times in our lives — and for Garrison, this was coming of age and understanding during the AIDS epidemic.

Red Hot + Blue was, for me, a visceral reminder of the Early days of the AIDS epidemic - the fear, the hysteria, the confusion, the moralizing, the absolute uncertainty of where it would lead. Garrison encapsulates the intensity of the time in his reflection that “…maybe it’s because love itself thrives when it’s most precarious and when it makes us profoundly aware of our own vulnerability.”

“Just like his songbook and just like Red Hot + Blue, [Cole] Porter seems to have enjoyed encouraging people and desires, as well as styles and moods, to intermingle and overlap in a world where — for better or worse but hopefully ending up for the better — anything goes.” Red Hot + Blue deftly examines the intersection of love, music, longing, life and death, politics, and desire.

A must read and a loving tribute to Cole Porter’s music and influence.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Garrison skillfully explores his coming out against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic and the music that defines the activist movement surrounding it. READ THIS BOOK!!!!!

[Scott Hendrix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series of books borders on brilliant in its conception. Music is a vital touchstone of memory, bringing our present selves into contact with our past in ways that nothing else can. A song coming on the radio or playing at a concert can instantly transport us to an earlier time. This can often evoke joy and happiness, but as John S. Garrison shows it can also evoke more complicated emotions. Garrison’s addition to the 33 1/3 library focuses on the release of the album Red Hot + Blue in 1990. It is an album that Garrison states he feels he “should have known about . . . when it was released in 1990,” but didn’t learn about until later because at the time he was processing the complicated emotions involved with moving away from home as he started college, made even more complicated by the fact that he was “desperately hiding the fact that [he] might be gay.” As revealed through his thoughtful and emotional writing, in the years to come Garrison would both become aware of the album as well as come out, while navigating a world in which the AIDS epidemic was ravaging the gay population. Using songs from the album as emotional touch points, Garrison weaves a very personal story of loss and hope, joy and sadness, as he explores the life of Cole Porter, the AIDS epidemic that cost the lives of so many people, including friends of the author, and his own coming of age story. It is a book that is at times poignant and at others heartbreaking, both revelatory and deeply interesting. John Garrison is one of the top Shakespearean scholars writing today, and in this book, he blends intellectual insights with his personal connection to the subject to make for a book that is difficult to put down.

[Hillery · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book that captures what it was like in 1990 when this album came out. I won't reiterate all the good points made by other reviewers. However, there are a few mistakes that made it through the editing process that should have been caught. I don't know if this is on the author or on Bloomsbury, but it should be addressed for future editions.

Two examples:
--p.26, "The simple phrase trolls President Bush by parodying his false 1998 promise, 'Read My Lips:no new taxes." (Bush said this in 1988, not 1998, and was out of office as a result of the 1992 election.)
--p.63, "Remember that Red+Hot+Blue came out just two years after President Clinton announced the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy in 1988." (This timing is all off. The album came out in 1990 BEFORE Clinton even announced he was running for President. He assumed office in January 1993, after which he announced the DADT policy.)

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Not just a smart exploration of the iconic Red, Hot + Blue album and its significance as a major media response to the AIDS epidemic, but also a moving personal memoir by Garrison. It took me right back to the 90s and the fear and thrill of gay identity of those years. A unique window on an important cultural moment that still resonates in our world today. Worth reading and then going back to listen to the original album. You’ll find the music and performances more powerful than ever.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written book about how our memories of a time are very much captured by the music of that time. At intervals, the book offers a devastating reminder of how dark the AIDS crisis was when it was at its worst. But the book is also filled with joy and optimism as it powerfully captures how the fight against the disease brought people together. Whether you lived through the 80s and 90s and are still trying to make sense of it all ... or if you weren't there but would like to understand what it was like, this book illuminates the history of the HIV epidemic while also capturing the power of Cole Porter's music and the story of the composer's life as well as the author's own personal journey.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable entry in the 33 1/3 series. Garrison does a wonderful job exploring this beautiful album and he is clearly passionate about this album, the music, the topic, and the time(s). As obsessed as I am with is album, and have been since the day it was released, I feel like I can listen to again now with fresh ears, and that's a blessing itself!

[Luke Olaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great 33 1/3 that not only introduced me to new music, but also discusses its historical context in moving, exciting prose. A favorite among those I have read in the series! Recommended for anyone interested in LGBTQ studies, learning more about how artists responded to the AIDS crisis, or for anyone who wants a good example of how to blend personal and cultural history.

[Marissa Nicosia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revelatory memoir meets smart cultural criticism in Garrison's lively, short book. I suggest pausing to listen to the album and watch the music videos in between chapters (if you can make yourself put the book down long enough to do so).

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've generally run out of things to say about these little books about influential albums, but this one, being a remake of Cole Porter songs that raised money for Aids research at a time when the government wasn't doing enough to solve the crisis because they just didn't give a fuck, was a little time capsule of an era when bands made impact.

The Red Hot and Blue album sparked a bunch of similar efforts: the one I remember was Red Hot and Bothered. And just being reminded to watch the covers by Erasure and Nena Cherry were enough for me.