What do you think?
Rate this book
The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream
The legendary author of England’s Dreaming presents a monumental history of the queer influence on popular culture, from the rise of Little Richard to the collapse of disco in 1979.
In his kaleidoscopic new book, Jon Savage, the legendary author of England’s Dreaming, shows how music has been the key medium through which homosexuality was expressed for the last century. Depicting nothing less than the birth of rock and roll, the narrative begins in the mid-1950s with Little Richard, whose music possessed secret codes of the gay underworld and whose magnetism attracted millions of white teenagers. As Savage engagingly proceeds through the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with evocations of, among others, Elvis Presley, James Dean, Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Donna Summer, Sylvester, and the disco-era Bee Gees, he demonstrates that it was mostly music—with supporting roles from cinema, literature, and fashion—that broke the dam that led to the widespread acceptance of LGBTQ culture today. The Secret Public, with its “pancake and pompadour” descriptions of a generation in revolt, provides an electrifying look at the key moments in music and entertainment that changed pop culture forever.
In his kaleidoscopic new book, Jon Savage, the legendary author of England’s Dreaming, shows how music has been the key medium through which homosexuality was expressed for the last century. Depicting nothing less than the birth of rock and roll, the narrative begins in the mid-1950s with Little Richard, whose music possessed secret codes of the gay underworld and whose magnetism attracted millions of white teenagers. As Savage engagingly proceeds through the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with evocations of, among others, Elvis Presley, James Dean, Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Janis Joplin, Donna Summer, Sylvester, and the disco-era Bee Gees, he demonstrates that it was mostly music—with supporting roles from cinema, literature, and fashion—that broke the dam that led to the widespread acceptance of LGBTQ culture today. The Secret Public, with its “pancake and pompadour” descriptions of a generation in revolt, provides an electrifying look at the key moments in music and entertainment that changed pop culture forever.
784 pages, Hardcover
First published June 4, 2024
62 people are currently reading
3449 people want to read
About the author
Jon Savage
63 books115 followersJon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage) is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his definitive history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, England's Dreaming (1991).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 16, 2024
This is much more than a book about pop stars who happened to be LGBTQ. It’s a history of pop as a soft power: a performative space of possibilities, alternative realities, and freedoms. Pop made the marginalised and hidden visible, gave strength to young queer people, and offered liberation from restricting socially imposed gender roles to everyone.
Savage shows how pop, from Little Richard and Elvis onwards, undermined gender norms and was crucially informed by queer people, styles, images, and sensibilities. Running alongside the pop history is a history of gay life in Britain and America which reveals the complex but close relationship between the pop, politics, and lifestyle. The gap between the utopian visions of pop and the reality of life for gay people is sometimes sobering: sixties rock stars growing their hair long, and adopting increasingly flamboyant clothing and androgynous personas, while gay men in the real world kept their hair short and dressed conventionally in order to avoid exposure, social ostracism or imprisonment.
I thought some of this territory might be over-familiar (Warhol/Bowie/New York Dolls/Disco) but Savage’s research has thrown up a wealth of information and stories that were new to me. It’s a book full of insight and surprises: a wide-ranging, impressively detailed work of cultural history, and also a great read.
Savage shows how pop, from Little Richard and Elvis onwards, undermined gender norms and was crucially informed by queer people, styles, images, and sensibilities. Running alongside the pop history is a history of gay life in Britain and America which reveals the complex but close relationship between the pop, politics, and lifestyle. The gap between the utopian visions of pop and the reality of life for gay people is sometimes sobering: sixties rock stars growing their hair long, and adopting increasingly flamboyant clothing and androgynous personas, while gay men in the real world kept their hair short and dressed conventionally in order to avoid exposure, social ostracism or imprisonment.
I thought some of this territory might be over-familiar (Warhol/Bowie/New York Dolls/Disco) but Savage’s research has thrown up a wealth of information and stories that were new to me. It’s a book full of insight and surprises: a wide-ranging, impressively detailed work of cultural history, and also a great read.
August 8, 2024
This is a magnificent, lengthy, immersive history. In order to tell the story of queer performers, Savage also has to cover the broad points of both musical history and queer history in the 25 years covered here. He integrates these elements to turn this diversity into a strength, with chapters changing pace and giving us the evolution through the years. When the book ends, with the dying but triumphant days of disco and a surgent queer rights movement based in out and proud communities, it feels a world away from the studio that wanted Little Richard's queer, Black energy without the risque lyrics that kicks off the rock n' roll era.
For all that there is 1000 pages, there is plenty of holes here. Some of this is just his choice of focus, which can seem idiosyncratic. Elton John is mentioned only a couple of times in passing, Freddie Mercury not at all (although he didn't come out until the 1980s, so there is that), and no Barry Manilow (who came out even later, although I suspect he just wasn't rock enough). David Bowie, Brian Epstein and Andy Warhol, in contrast, get detailed coverage over multiple chapters. Of these, I found Epstein most frustrating, as there really isn't much left in that story that hasn't been told, and I'm not sure Savage made a strong case for Epstein's work as illustrative of queer culture's impact on the music industry in the way he did with others. Warhol's cultural impact is undeniable, even if music wasn't its key focus.
There are bigger omissions, however. Savage writes mostly about white, male queer cultures. He effectively blames sexism for a paucity of female, and hence lesbian, performers to cover. I did wonder, as the book wound on, whether the truth was more subtle than this. Particular in the early decades, Savage tells us a story in which male eroticism fuels music sales and chart successes, with most records selling to girls and women. There is something, I think, in the dynamics of male sexualisation, a much less accepted phenomenon than the sexualisation of women, and how queer male performers and producers may have been able to bring that sensibility to sell sex appeal. And certainly, performers like Elvis and James Dean were concious of appealing to both female and male audiences with the same moves. Savage does cover Dusty Springfield, Janis Joplin and the impact of Joan Baez's discussion of her lesbian affair, with some length to illustrate the ways in which lesbian cultures intersected with music.
Race is a more frustrating omission. I had picked the book in part because I wanted to learn more about Little Richard, who disappears from the narrative in the first couple of chapters and with him, most discussion of Black-centric queer music cultures. I suspect this is, at least in part, because of the split focus between the UK and the USA, which pulled focus in different directions and lessened the capacity to delve into African-American music. But it is impossible to really tell the story of Rock-Pop-Disco without it. Their history is largely the history of innovations from Black music being co-opted into the mainstream. Around disco, for example, Savage covers how Fire Island and wealthy NYC venues moved to eliminate the gap between records, and to bring in the PhillySound Black female vocal tracks with their strong bass beat and smooth sound to keep the tempo up for hours, but doesn't cover the long history of Black dance venues or the Balls, which is where the music and cultures came from. He frequently tells us that it is working class Black and Latinx communities which drive the clubs, but gives most ink to Studio 55, including its racist exclusion (which also functioned on Fire Island). It is frustrating because the intersection of these communities is fascinating, but we only get glimpses.
To be clear, Savage discusses racism frankly and frequently, it is Black culture that barely appears. But if that is what is missing, what is here is pretty great. The depth of research at each turn means the details tell a multiplicity of stories. He excels at showing how queer culture impacted on style leaders like the Velvet Underground, and how they in turn impacted the superstars. He also covers the various
Particularly fabulous is the coverage of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when genderfluidity and rebellion and sexuality all come together to deliver this euphoria of freedom and sensation that the best music delivers. It is intriguing to think of how different the queer scene at this point - brimming with embrace of gender and sexual diversity - was from the 1990s and 2000s ideas about sexuality which tended to emphasise a sharp divide between hetero and homo sexualities. It feels more in tune with the emerging queer sensibilities of Gen Zs, with their plethora of identities and embrace of difference. It feels to me like the creation of newly creative, hopeful, world.
Savage ends his book in 1979, a date almost inevitable given the joy he wants to focus on. The decision to do so also enables him to cover more of the debates of the late 1970s, including the critics of the drugs, sex and dancing culture that dominates in San Francisco and New York, as embodied in the clone. The difference between the right to party and the right to live is something he hints towards, and ending then means he can do so without it being dragged into the horrific blame game that was used to justify inaction as gay men died by the thousands. This makes it one of the most fascinating books on queer history of the period I've read in a while, one which explores the worlds where Sylvester and Andy Warhol co-habit different universes, creating different possibilities. It has a strong dose of what if, which cycles back around inevitably to making the reader think "what next"?
For all that there is 1000 pages, there is plenty of holes here. Some of this is just his choice of focus, which can seem idiosyncratic. Elton John is mentioned only a couple of times in passing, Freddie Mercury not at all (although he didn't come out until the 1980s, so there is that), and no Barry Manilow (who came out even later, although I suspect he just wasn't rock enough). David Bowie, Brian Epstein and Andy Warhol, in contrast, get detailed coverage over multiple chapters. Of these, I found Epstein most frustrating, as there really isn't much left in that story that hasn't been told, and I'm not sure Savage made a strong case for Epstein's work as illustrative of queer culture's impact on the music industry in the way he did with others. Warhol's cultural impact is undeniable, even if music wasn't its key focus.
There are bigger omissions, however. Savage writes mostly about white, male queer cultures. He effectively blames sexism for a paucity of female, and hence lesbian, performers to cover. I did wonder, as the book wound on, whether the truth was more subtle than this. Particular in the early decades, Savage tells us a story in which male eroticism fuels music sales and chart successes, with most records selling to girls and women. There is something, I think, in the dynamics of male sexualisation, a much less accepted phenomenon than the sexualisation of women, and how queer male performers and producers may have been able to bring that sensibility to sell sex appeal. And certainly, performers like Elvis and James Dean were concious of appealing to both female and male audiences with the same moves. Savage does cover Dusty Springfield, Janis Joplin and the impact of Joan Baez's discussion of her lesbian affair, with some length to illustrate the ways in which lesbian cultures intersected with music.
Race is a more frustrating omission. I had picked the book in part because I wanted to learn more about Little Richard, who disappears from the narrative in the first couple of chapters and with him, most discussion of Black-centric queer music cultures. I suspect this is, at least in part, because of the split focus between the UK and the USA, which pulled focus in different directions and lessened the capacity to delve into African-American music. But it is impossible to really tell the story of Rock-Pop-Disco without it. Their history is largely the history of innovations from Black music being co-opted into the mainstream. Around disco, for example, Savage covers how Fire Island and wealthy NYC venues moved to eliminate the gap between records, and to bring in the PhillySound Black female vocal tracks with their strong bass beat and smooth sound to keep the tempo up for hours, but doesn't cover the long history of Black dance venues or the Balls, which is where the music and cultures came from. He frequently tells us that it is working class Black and Latinx communities which drive the clubs, but gives most ink to Studio 55, including its racist exclusion (which also functioned on Fire Island). It is frustrating because the intersection of these communities is fascinating, but we only get glimpses.
To be clear, Savage discusses racism frankly and frequently, it is Black culture that barely appears. But if that is what is missing, what is here is pretty great. The depth of research at each turn means the details tell a multiplicity of stories. He excels at showing how queer culture impacted on style leaders like the Velvet Underground, and how they in turn impacted the superstars. He also covers the various
Particularly fabulous is the coverage of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when genderfluidity and rebellion and sexuality all come together to deliver this euphoria of freedom and sensation that the best music delivers. It is intriguing to think of how different the queer scene at this point - brimming with embrace of gender and sexual diversity - was from the 1990s and 2000s ideas about sexuality which tended to emphasise a sharp divide between hetero and homo sexualities. It feels more in tune with the emerging queer sensibilities of Gen Zs, with their plethora of identities and embrace of difference. It feels to me like the creation of newly creative, hopeful, world.
Savage ends his book in 1979, a date almost inevitable given the joy he wants to focus on. The decision to do so also enables him to cover more of the debates of the late 1970s, including the critics of the drugs, sex and dancing culture that dominates in San Francisco and New York, as embodied in the clone. The difference between the right to party and the right to live is something he hints towards, and ending then means he can do so without it being dragged into the horrific blame game that was used to justify inaction as gay men died by the thousands. This makes it one of the most fascinating books on queer history of the period I've read in a while, one which explores the worlds where Sylvester and Andy Warhol co-habit different universes, creating different possibilities. It has a strong dose of what if, which cycles back around inevitably to making the reader think "what next"?
April 26, 2025
There are really good parts, and some parts that are not that interesting. The book is huge in theme and pages. The subject matter is fascinating but it’s not all about the LGBTQ music scene. It goes there but also politics and publications. The book could have had a stronger edit, but overall it’s a good book.
abandoned
September 3, 2024Being of the demographic for whom England's Dreaming was pretty much required reading, I was looking forward to this, but after a few chapters – and flicking forward from the fifties to the seventies to see if the situation would improve – I've regretfully concluded it's not for me. Not that I've looked at England's Dreaming in years, of course, and maybe I'd have similar problems with it now; when I read it I was young, had only an ambient understanding of punk, which was at an earlier stage of its canonisation – so almost anything I read was new information, or at least new depth, with the bonus that Savage was not just a thorough writer, but an eyewitness. Whereas this time out, I know about Little Richard's pioneering role, I know the odd little side-story of Johnnie Ray, and Savage's potted biographies didn't seem to add much. Nor were the chapters on 1950s tabloid treatment of homosexuality, or on disco's emergence from the gay clubs into the mass market, anything I'd not seen in a dozen documentaries. Reading about Rock Hudson, in particular, I wondered if part of the problem might be that I'd not long since finished Sleeping With Strangers, which covered similar territory, but it's not just that; even when that book covered stories I knew, David Thomson always had some new thoughts or insights to offer, and if half of them were misguided or outright bonkers, well, that still leaves the reader ahead. Hell, already today I read a bit of Erotic Vagrancy that went over Giant again, but there too Roger Lewis had another angle, different constructions, so that was fine. Or for a more specifically pop comparison, consider Bob Stanley, who likewise works in mammoth histories made up of fairly short chapters on individuals, moments and movements, but always with a little extra spark all his own. Compared to which Savage here feels more like he's writing a set text in the less exciting sense, a useful reference volume but not something I'd read through for pleasure. In particular, the somewhat apologetic foreword and occasionally creaky efforts to update stories of the past to use currently favoured terminology made me wonder if it might be intended for the baby queers of Gen Z as a guide to their prehistory – though if so, I'm not convinced that this is the way to persuade them 800-page hardbacks can be more rewarding than TikTok.
September 30, 2024
168 There was a new mood of militancy. It was the early 1960s, yet many laws and attitudes concerning homosexuality dated from the nineteenth century. Art and culture were way ahead of lawyers and politicians and most journalists; the films and the adverts and the literature and the fine art and the pop music of the day were operating as a Trojan Horse, broadcasting more liberal ideas, sounds and images that projected forward into how life could be for gay people and, just as importantly, for men and women in general.
360 The glam arms race had begun. Throughout 1972, acts like Slade, Roxy Music and the Sweet began to pile on the glitter and the ambiguity, vying with each other in outrageously hammy Top of the Pops appearances. Whether consciously or not – and much of this was simply a new pop style – these stars were, in their different ways, playing around with the ideas and possibilities of masculinity: what it was to be a man; how to be a different kind of man.
361 ‘David’s present image is to come on like a swishy queen, a gorgeously effeminate boy. He’s as camp as a row of tents, with his limp hand and trolling vocabulary. “I’m gay,” he says, “and always have been, even when I was David Jones.”’ – quote from an article on David Bowie in Melody Maker January 1972
Jon Savage describes how LGBTQ artists have contributed to popular culture. Starting in 1955 with Little Richard's Tutti Frutti and ending in 1979 with Sylvester's You make me feel (mighty real). 1979 was also more or less the end of the disco era. A music style that emerged from the gay clubs in the US (just as garage and house music later emerged from gay clubs).
The focus is on the US and UK. Which means that for me, born in The Netherlands in 1960, there were quite a few artists I had never heard of. That sometimes made it less recognizable. And 667 pages is a lot. I often thought about what a customer in London once said to me when I was doing a product presentation in her store: Get on with it!
An interesting moment is November 1972 when Lou Reed released the album Transformer. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. The influence of Andy Warhol is present. With songs like Walk on the wild side ('shaved her legs and then he was a she') and Make up ('Now, we're coming out / Out of our closets / Out on the streets / Yeah, we're coming out.'). It wouldn't be until 1978 when the Tom Robinson Band sang Sing if you are glad to be gay.
The absence of Freddy Mercury in this book is striking. And there is also little mention of Elton John. Neither came out of the closet in the 1970s, but neither were most of the other artists mentioned in this book. Savage also does not mention a TV series like Are you being served with the over-the-top Mr. Humphries. A point that is only briefly touched upon…. many gays did not recognize themselves in the extravagant glam rock or travesty (or characters like Mr. Humphries). They would also not be able to express themselves this way in everyday life. End of career. Or worse. What Jon Savage does well is that he explains parallel the social and political background. For example, the Sexual Offenses Act 1967 in the UK, the political career of Harvey Milk and the Stonewall riots in 1969 in the US. And the first PRIDE march a year later. Then you realize from how far we have come.
360 The glam arms race had begun. Throughout 1972, acts like Slade, Roxy Music and the Sweet began to pile on the glitter and the ambiguity, vying with each other in outrageously hammy Top of the Pops appearances. Whether consciously or not – and much of this was simply a new pop style – these stars were, in their different ways, playing around with the ideas and possibilities of masculinity: what it was to be a man; how to be a different kind of man.
361 ‘David’s present image is to come on like a swishy queen, a gorgeously effeminate boy. He’s as camp as a row of tents, with his limp hand and trolling vocabulary. “I’m gay,” he says, “and always have been, even when I was David Jones.”’ – quote from an article on David Bowie in Melody Maker January 1972
Jon Savage describes how LGBTQ artists have contributed to popular culture. Starting in 1955 with Little Richard's Tutti Frutti and ending in 1979 with Sylvester's You make me feel (mighty real). 1979 was also more or less the end of the disco era. A music style that emerged from the gay clubs in the US (just as garage and house music later emerged from gay clubs).
The focus is on the US and UK. Which means that for me, born in The Netherlands in 1960, there were quite a few artists I had never heard of. That sometimes made it less recognizable. And 667 pages is a lot. I often thought about what a customer in London once said to me when I was doing a product presentation in her store: Get on with it!
An interesting moment is November 1972 when Lou Reed released the album Transformer. Produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. The influence of Andy Warhol is present. With songs like Walk on the wild side ('shaved her legs and then he was a she') and Make up ('Now, we're coming out / Out of our closets / Out on the streets / Yeah, we're coming out.'). It wouldn't be until 1978 when the Tom Robinson Band sang Sing if you are glad to be gay.
The absence of Freddy Mercury in this book is striking. And there is also little mention of Elton John. Neither came out of the closet in the 1970s, but neither were most of the other artists mentioned in this book. Savage also does not mention a TV series like Are you being served with the over-the-top Mr. Humphries. A point that is only briefly touched upon…. many gays did not recognize themselves in the extravagant glam rock or travesty (or characters like Mr. Humphries). They would also not be able to express themselves this way in everyday life. End of career. Or worse. What Jon Savage does well is that he explains parallel the social and political background. For example, the Sexual Offenses Act 1967 in the UK, the political career of Harvey Milk and the Stonewall riots in 1969 in the US. And the first PRIDE march a year later. Then you realize from how far we have come.
June 15, 2025
Nearly 700 pages demolished! A very interesting analysis of gay culture, its influence on pop music and popular culture from the 50s to 1979. Very interesting and pretty engaging read. I appreciate the attention given to lesbians and people of color (or lack of in certain scenes) throughout but would appreciate a more in-depth exploration of those aspects. I agree with another review I saw that it needs another edit as there are a few formatting mistakes I noticed.
July 31, 2025
A fascinating read - the author picks five periods of recent history to examine the impact of LGBTQIA+ culture on pop music. With that in mind, there will inevitably be artists that the reader feels should be discussed more - for me, Little Richard, and the LGBT+ artists that influenced him.
But, still a hugely important & vital book.
But, still a hugely important & vital book.
December 15, 2024
Blimey, this was hard work. And I really wanted to like it - a history of how gay sub-cultures have informed and bled into mainstream entertainment over the decades is a story worth telling. But this isn't that story, sadly. It feels like Savage wants to be writing an academic tome for future historians to pore over, whereas I think what the subject needs - and certainly what I was hoping for - is a good summary. What we get is a mess of a structure that prevents any kind of clear narrative emerging, and a wealth of unnecessary detail. But none of it is new information and by including too much, the main point of the book - "How LGBTQ Performers Shaped Popular Culture (1955-1979)", to quote the over-reaching subtitle (it's mostly about gay men and pop music) - is fudged and obscured. I finished it eventually because of sheer bloody-mindedness but I'm not sure I should have bothered.
December 27, 2024
My thanks to NetGalley and W. W. Norton & Company for an advance copy of the history about the influence of LGBTQ people in the music industry and how their music, their presence, and their lives eased in some ways acceptance into society, work that still continues even in the 21st century.
When I was growing up my school offered classes in music, art, and how to use a library to find out information. When I ask my nephews about this, they say Google and just move on. In our progress we have taken away something from our lives, that aided us in the world, something that we lost. I learned how to draw, paint, create things with clay. I learned how to read music, if I wanted I could learn an instrument, for a price, or sing in the chorus. In the library I learned how to look things up, find information, and find out about the world. All things that certain people don't like. So the arts has been cut, libraries considered fifth column propaganda groups, and people are denied getting in touch with parts of their creativity that might help them deal with life, or even save their life. The arts has long been a sanctuary for people, a way to express what they feel, and what they believe, to find others and learn that they are not alone. Sometimes they labor in obscurity, and sometimes they can change minds. The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream by music journalist and historian Jon Savage is a history about music and how certain artists created something that changed the way America looked at itself, and how even in a new century, we can still learn much on how to make sure this fight continues.
This book is epic in size and scope but only covers a brief history in music, from the rise of rock n roll, to the end of disco. Many artists are of course covered but the book begins with Little Richard, starting with a brief look at his life, which was far harder than I knew, and I have long enjoyed his music. Savage starts at the early 50's describing what life was like for people who might not have loved in acceptable ways, being branded as communists, or even worse. Banned from government jobs, blackmailed by gossip magazines, or even driven out of the the one thing that every brought them joy. Savage looks at musicians, Richard, Johnnie Ray, looks at movies stars like Rock Hudson, gossip magazines, and articles about the gay lifestyle that seem just as misinformed and poorly presented as today. What becomes clear is that music was a control issue. Adults were losing control of the kids. Race records were moving to rhythm and blues, and even with all the white artists stealing songs, kids were becoming more interested and more accepting of different ideas. And one of those ideas was homosexuality, and alternate lifestyles.
I've read a lot of Jon Savage, but knew little about the man, and found the opening of the book discussing his own life as a gay man in music journalism interesting. Savage knew other gay men, but never discussed their lifestyle, which I found sad. That is what I felt most reading this book. Sad. That these performers who were so good at what they did, making life bearable for so many people, could have it all taken away by a gossip magazine. An old arrest for being caught in a known gay hangout. Old photos. And suddenly, their career was gone. This is a fantastic book, a shadow history of music told from a point of view that really should be discussed more. The freedom to be who one wanted to be, to be in public singing songs, dropping lyrics that people might dance to, but others knew meant so much more. This is music history the way it should be told, from all points of view, all sorts of voices. A music of rebellion, not for selling Cruise ship trips or Disney packages.
Another great look at music from an author I have always admired. The bravery it takes to be who you are is something I admire. When added with a talent for writing, a talent to find and share the stories about music that I enjoy, that makes for a great experience. A really great read, and one not to be missed.
When I was growing up my school offered classes in music, art, and how to use a library to find out information. When I ask my nephews about this, they say Google and just move on. In our progress we have taken away something from our lives, that aided us in the world, something that we lost. I learned how to draw, paint, create things with clay. I learned how to read music, if I wanted I could learn an instrument, for a price, or sing in the chorus. In the library I learned how to look things up, find information, and find out about the world. All things that certain people don't like. So the arts has been cut, libraries considered fifth column propaganda groups, and people are denied getting in touch with parts of their creativity that might help them deal with life, or even save their life. The arts has long been a sanctuary for people, a way to express what they feel, and what they believe, to find others and learn that they are not alone. Sometimes they labor in obscurity, and sometimes they can change minds. The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream by music journalist and historian Jon Savage is a history about music and how certain artists created something that changed the way America looked at itself, and how even in a new century, we can still learn much on how to make sure this fight continues.
This book is epic in size and scope but only covers a brief history in music, from the rise of rock n roll, to the end of disco. Many artists are of course covered but the book begins with Little Richard, starting with a brief look at his life, which was far harder than I knew, and I have long enjoyed his music. Savage starts at the early 50's describing what life was like for people who might not have loved in acceptable ways, being branded as communists, or even worse. Banned from government jobs, blackmailed by gossip magazines, or even driven out of the the one thing that every brought them joy. Savage looks at musicians, Richard, Johnnie Ray, looks at movies stars like Rock Hudson, gossip magazines, and articles about the gay lifestyle that seem just as misinformed and poorly presented as today. What becomes clear is that music was a control issue. Adults were losing control of the kids. Race records were moving to rhythm and blues, and even with all the white artists stealing songs, kids were becoming more interested and more accepting of different ideas. And one of those ideas was homosexuality, and alternate lifestyles.
I've read a lot of Jon Savage, but knew little about the man, and found the opening of the book discussing his own life as a gay man in music journalism interesting. Savage knew other gay men, but never discussed their lifestyle, which I found sad. That is what I felt most reading this book. Sad. That these performers who were so good at what they did, making life bearable for so many people, could have it all taken away by a gossip magazine. An old arrest for being caught in a known gay hangout. Old photos. And suddenly, their career was gone. This is a fantastic book, a shadow history of music told from a point of view that really should be discussed more. The freedom to be who one wanted to be, to be in public singing songs, dropping lyrics that people might dance to, but others knew meant so much more. This is music history the way it should be told, from all points of view, all sorts of voices. A music of rebellion, not for selling Cruise ship trips or Disney packages.
Another great look at music from an author I have always admired. The bravery it takes to be who you are is something I admire. When added with a talent for writing, a talent to find and share the stories about music that I enjoy, that makes for a great experience. A really great read, and one not to be missed.
July 26, 2025
(2.5 stars) I'd really like to give this book more stars and a more positive review, as there is a lot of interesting information in it, gleaned from much research. But this is not the book that the subtitle promises. Instead, it's the history of the modern gay liberation movement told as Jon Savage wants to tell it, in fits and starts, with music as a thread that weaves in and out. He's at his best with Little Richard and disco; in fact, his chapters on disco are quite good. Unfortunately, music is neglected for large chunks of the book. Aside from Little Richard, Savage's heroes end up being David Bowie, Lou Reed and Andy Warhol. and anything with no connection to them gets short shrift. And even there, he sometimes does a half-assed job. As important as the albums Ziggy Stardust and Transformer were to queer culture, you will have no idea what those albums sound like or are about unless you're heard them.
He spends a lot of time talking about gay music managers (the most famous of which is Brian Epstein) without ever saying why they were important to queer culture--they rarely represented gay musicians. He spends way too much space talking about gay newspapers and magazines of the 60s and 70s. The book is wildly Brit-centric, and Savage's mentions of chart positions refer to both British and American statistics with little or no differentiation. Way too often, he overlooks the fact that people like Reed and Bowie, God bless them for being crucial to the emergence of queer culture, were mostly playing PR games in their changing announcements of being in or out of the closet. He seems to think that the Village People were all actually gay, but the lead face and voice of the group, Victor Wills, was not, and in fact was accused of making homophobic remarks after leaving the band. He also ignores the erasure of gayness in the Saturday Night Fever phenomenon which, though important to the mainstream rise of disco, doesn't deserve at much space in this book as Savage gives it
Savage is adamant about covering no people or material after 1979, presumably because this allows him to ignore AIDS and the anti-gay backlash which that prompted, but again the subtitle would seem to promise much more. I like that he covers topics like the New York Dolls, the Cockettes, Sylvester and the long-forgotten Jobriath, whose entire career seemed to be a PR mistake. The only woman given much attention is Dusty Springfield who, again, as much as I love her music, was hardly a poster girl for gay visibility. If the sections on disco were published as a standalone book, I'd give it 4 stars easily. Sadly, this volume is burdened with 600 more pages which must be plowed through to find the hidden gems.
He spends a lot of time talking about gay music managers (the most famous of which is Brian Epstein) without ever saying why they were important to queer culture--they rarely represented gay musicians. He spends way too much space talking about gay newspapers and magazines of the 60s and 70s. The book is wildly Brit-centric, and Savage's mentions of chart positions refer to both British and American statistics with little or no differentiation. Way too often, he overlooks the fact that people like Reed and Bowie, God bless them for being crucial to the emergence of queer culture, were mostly playing PR games in their changing announcements of being in or out of the closet. He seems to think that the Village People were all actually gay, but the lead face and voice of the group, Victor Wills, was not, and in fact was accused of making homophobic remarks after leaving the band. He also ignores the erasure of gayness in the Saturday Night Fever phenomenon which, though important to the mainstream rise of disco, doesn't deserve at much space in this book as Savage gives it
Savage is adamant about covering no people or material after 1979, presumably because this allows him to ignore AIDS and the anti-gay backlash which that prompted, but again the subtitle would seem to promise much more. I like that he covers topics like the New York Dolls, the Cockettes, Sylvester and the long-forgotten Jobriath, whose entire career seemed to be a PR mistake. The only woman given much attention is Dusty Springfield who, again, as much as I love her music, was hardly a poster girl for gay visibility. If the sections on disco were published as a standalone book, I'd give it 4 stars easily. Sadly, this volume is burdened with 600 more pages which must be plowed through to find the hidden gems.
August 5, 2024
In its 700+ pages, Jon Savage's "The Secret Public" examines the role of LGBT+ individuals and communities in the development of popular culture from the birth of rock'n'roll in 1955 to December 1979, shortly before the start of the decade that saw so many gay and bisexual men become ill and die from AIDS, a condition no-one knew even existed until then.
Beginning with stars like Johnny Ray, Little Richard and James Dean we are taken on a roller-coaster journey that looks at the influence of pop managers like Larry Parnes (manager of Billy Fury and others), Joe Meek (John Leyton, Tornadoes, etc), Brian Epstein (Beatles, Cilla Black and others) and Robert Stigwood (Bee Gees among others); musicians such as Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Lour Reed, Tom Robinson and Sylvester (who later died with AIDS); visual artists like Andy Warhol and David Hockney; films such as "Victim" (the 1961 film starring Dirk Bogarde about the blackmail of gay men and that played a key role in the campaign for legalisation of gay sex) and Derek Jarman's 1978 queer punk "Jubilee"; writers like Maureen Duffy, Truman Capote, Edmund White and Larry Kramer - and much more.
Along the way, we learn about campaigns against criminalisation in both America and the UK (as well as the backlash from the likes of Anita Bryant and Mary Whitehouse); the early homophile movements both sides of the Atlantic; the events leading up to the so-called Stonewall riots in 1969, where LGBT people fought with the police after they raided the Stonewall Inn in New York (and providing information about earlier conflicts between queers and the police); the process of male homosexuality being decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967, as well as the limits the law set on our behaviour; the rise and fall of the Gay Liberation Front; the prosecution of Gay News for printing a poem considered blasphemous and the response from queer communities to this; the conflict between political and commercial spaces.
He also writes about the cultural and political links between queer people, black communities and feminism - as well as the differences, including referencing racism among some white gays and misogyny among some gay men.
As I'm in my 70s, I lived through the period discussed in this well-researched and beautifully written book. I am still amazed at the progress we have made in my lifetime. Savage has captured the beginning of that process through the window of popular culture and the arts.
Beginning with stars like Johnny Ray, Little Richard and James Dean we are taken on a roller-coaster journey that looks at the influence of pop managers like Larry Parnes (manager of Billy Fury and others), Joe Meek (John Leyton, Tornadoes, etc), Brian Epstein (Beatles, Cilla Black and others) and Robert Stigwood (Bee Gees among others); musicians such as Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Lour Reed, Tom Robinson and Sylvester (who later died with AIDS); visual artists like Andy Warhol and David Hockney; films such as "Victim" (the 1961 film starring Dirk Bogarde about the blackmail of gay men and that played a key role in the campaign for legalisation of gay sex) and Derek Jarman's 1978 queer punk "Jubilee"; writers like Maureen Duffy, Truman Capote, Edmund White and Larry Kramer - and much more.
Along the way, we learn about campaigns against criminalisation in both America and the UK (as well as the backlash from the likes of Anita Bryant and Mary Whitehouse); the early homophile movements both sides of the Atlantic; the events leading up to the so-called Stonewall riots in 1969, where LGBT people fought with the police after they raided the Stonewall Inn in New York (and providing information about earlier conflicts between queers and the police); the process of male homosexuality being decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967, as well as the limits the law set on our behaviour; the rise and fall of the Gay Liberation Front; the prosecution of Gay News for printing a poem considered blasphemous and the response from queer communities to this; the conflict between political and commercial spaces.
He also writes about the cultural and political links between queer people, black communities and feminism - as well as the differences, including referencing racism among some white gays and misogyny among some gay men.
As I'm in my 70s, I lived through the period discussed in this well-researched and beautifully written book. I am still amazed at the progress we have made in my lifetime. Savage has captured the beginning of that process through the window of popular culture and the arts.
October 12, 2025
Déjà entendu: “obscenity accusations…are often used [by politicians]…who are not a whit concerned with the moral issues involved but will play on…prejudices of the populace for personal gain or perhaps to cover up their own scandalous behaviour.” Not a comment on Donald Trump or the sudden renaissance of the English far right, like dry rot recurring in an old house, but Bob Mizer, 1950s advocate and - ahem - male physique photographer, whose burgeoning mail order business perhaps demonstrated more than any campaign just how many of “us” there were out there in the apparently straight-as-ruler postwar world.
It sets a tone for Savage’s history of, not so much pop music, though that’s given due space, but queer achievement and visibility over a quarter of a century, mediumised through the fickle world of pop culture, where Warhol, Halston, Victor Hugo and Holly Woodlawn are as vital as Bowie, Bolan, Dusty and the Village People.
This is a long read: there are so many possible detours into half-forgotten (or indeed never known) personages and movements that one can get easily diverted into online research aka just gawping at the pictures - this dog has so many legs it should be in a circus somewhere. Take Jobraith, Monti Rock III or John Leyton as just minor examples. Its scope may be its undoing since in being all-encompassing there’s a risk of losing the essential thesis: that in the period in question, LGBT+ culture moved from the margins to the mainstream, helped by pervasive youth fashions and tastes in the art world, and changed society forever.
It’s a capsule world, that ends chillingly in 1979, with a parade of archetypes, topped off by Sylvester (motto: be fabulous, be the party, look good). “Let’s leave them there,” says Savage, “frozen in their fabulousness, with no thought of what is to come.”
I might have preferred, in my insular way, that he’d ended with Tom Robinson, speaking on the Gay News libel case: “it’s times like this that where the gloves come off, you see the British establishment for what it is. They’re cunts, and they just brazen it out every time. Blasphemous libel hadn’t been used for 50 years, and they brought it back and succeeded.”
It sets a tone for Savage’s history of, not so much pop music, though that’s given due space, but queer achievement and visibility over a quarter of a century, mediumised through the fickle world of pop culture, where Warhol, Halston, Victor Hugo and Holly Woodlawn are as vital as Bowie, Bolan, Dusty and the Village People.
This is a long read: there are so many possible detours into half-forgotten (or indeed never known) personages and movements that one can get easily diverted into online research aka just gawping at the pictures - this dog has so many legs it should be in a circus somewhere. Take Jobraith, Monti Rock III or John Leyton as just minor examples. Its scope may be its undoing since in being all-encompassing there’s a risk of losing the essential thesis: that in the period in question, LGBT+ culture moved from the margins to the mainstream, helped by pervasive youth fashions and tastes in the art world, and changed society forever.
It’s a capsule world, that ends chillingly in 1979, with a parade of archetypes, topped off by Sylvester (motto: be fabulous, be the party, look good). “Let’s leave them there,” says Savage, “frozen in their fabulousness, with no thought of what is to come.”
I might have preferred, in my insular way, that he’d ended with Tom Robinson, speaking on the Gay News libel case: “it’s times like this that where the gloves come off, you see the British establishment for what it is. They’re cunts, and they just brazen it out every time. Blasphemous libel hadn’t been used for 50 years, and they brought it back and succeeded.”
December 25, 2025
Like the fried doves of Studio 54, pop music has always threatened to be swept away. Whether it be by the nay-saying masochistic '70s heavy rock, disco-record-destroying crowd, or the misogynistic dominant rappers of the 90s, pop remains as relevant today as it ever was, and bears its scars with pride. Tracing the roots of pop without acknowledging its queer connections is like eating trifle without the custard - it is pop's glue. Here is, in a brutal 769-page epic, the relationship between pop and the queer scene, gathered under one giant newsprint blanket. From Johnny Ray's closeted beginnings, via Bowie's queer anthem, John, I'm Only Dancing, to the disco inferno at Comiskey Park, this go-to source comes complete with nearly 100 pages of its own sources, references, and indexes. A tightly overlocked seam down the annals of recent time, linking general contemporary history, music and homosexuality. Chalk this one up as the milestone reference to pop music in general. Perhaps a treatment of the 1980s (Hello, New Romantics!) onwards one is my only quibble, although Savages last line - perhaps the most telling last line in many a non-fiction book - foretells of the period of the 80s most gay men who lived through it would rather not remember.
September 16, 2024
What a whopper! A big old history of popular culture from a queer perspective. My word, I used THAT word in a positive context despite being from a time when I would have that said to me as a term of abuse. Anyway, this is a pretty essential guide to what it says it's about, and I've learnt far more than I knew before about the post-war invention of the teenager, how rock & roll happened, and expanded my knowledge of the similarities between the gay managers of Hollywood creating new personas for their celluloid hunks and the origins of sensitive handsome rock & pop stars. Historical context is threaded throughout, such as the Wolfenden Report and the eventual decriminalisation ten years later. Then we have the birth, peak and death of Disco, with all the "isms" that the Disco Sucks movement entailed. Andy Warhol turns up a few times and is as tiresome as ever, but this is a great big book of social history that I really enjoyed.
November 19, 2024
I was blown away by the love I could feel throughout this book and the care that went into sharing these stories. I was also impressed by the inclusivity and wide range of the LGBTQ+ community and granting respect for those who may have identified differently at the time. Jon Savage's ability to link the political and cultural ties not just from the US, but really diving into the scene in the UK as well, opened up my eyes to an entirely different part of LGBTQ+ history and the coming age of new music overseas.
I would gladly read more of their books as I really thoroughly enjoyed the writing style and how simple it was to get drawn into these stories.
My only issue I will point out was the lack of attention to Freddie Mercury. I would have enjoyed following along with his journey and struggles in this time and environment as well.
I would gladly read more of their books as I really thoroughly enjoyed the writing style and how simple it was to get drawn into these stories.
My only issue I will point out was the lack of attention to Freddie Mercury. I would have enjoyed following along with his journey and struggles in this time and environment as well.
February 21, 2025
Didn’t know what to expect with this book. I’d read the author’s ‘England’s Dreaming’ a few years back, which I enjoyed and bought this book on the back of my liking for the authors style.
He didn’t let me down, a long dense book, but I enjoyed every page. TBH it’s not the sort of topic I would normally want to know in such detail, but I love music, music journalism and social history.
I was a straight teenager in the 70,s and enjoyed disco, Bowie, Velvet Underground and New York Dolls as that’s where the girls were, so a little bit of nostalgia for me.
The book is definitely worth a read by anyone interested in rock and roll, dance, glam rock and pop art, through the eyes of the Gay underworld and it accurately displays the largely hidden and often disregarded influence that LGBTQ had on popular music and culture, loved it.
He didn’t let me down, a long dense book, but I enjoyed every page. TBH it’s not the sort of topic I would normally want to know in such detail, but I love music, music journalism and social history.
I was a straight teenager in the 70,s and enjoyed disco, Bowie, Velvet Underground and New York Dolls as that’s where the girls were, so a little bit of nostalgia for me.
The book is definitely worth a read by anyone interested in rock and roll, dance, glam rock and pop art, through the eyes of the Gay underworld and it accurately displays the largely hidden and often disregarded influence that LGBTQ had on popular music and culture, loved it.
March 10, 2025
The Secret Public is an authentic look at the times, from the birth of "the teenager" in the fifties to the power and influence of disco and club life in New York at the end of the 70s.
Most of the chapters focus on an individual or a group or movie, most but not all of whom are gay.
Savage is a very good writer. the book moves very quick, especially considering its length.
I got a very strong sense of Soho and the Village in the 1960s, which I was too young understand while it was going on, and a sense of the New York disco scene of the 1970s, which I did experience at the tail end.
There is a lot about Warhol, Bowie and Lou Reed, perhaps too much.
The book peters out towards the end with a chapter on Tom Robinson, had one top five UK hit song and a chapter on Sylvester, who has a top 30 single (as in #29). Chapters about one-hit wonders rather undercut the thesis of the impact of Gays on pop culture.
But all in all, this is a solid work full or detail and insight.
Most of the chapters focus on an individual or a group or movie, most but not all of whom are gay.
Savage is a very good writer. the book moves very quick, especially considering its length.
I got a very strong sense of Soho and the Village in the 1960s, which I was too young understand while it was going on, and a sense of the New York disco scene of the 1970s, which I did experience at the tail end.
There is a lot about Warhol, Bowie and Lou Reed, perhaps too much.
The book peters out towards the end with a chapter on Tom Robinson, had one top five UK hit song and a chapter on Sylvester, who has a top 30 single (as in #29). Chapters about one-hit wonders rather undercut the thesis of the impact of Gays on pop culture.
But all in all, this is a solid work full or detail and insight.
May 4, 2025
At nearly 800 pages, reading this one would appear to be a daunting task. But it absolutely was not (at least for me). Despite its length, I was never bored. As his subtitle implies and alternating between the US & the UK, Savage traces roughly 25 years of popular music through the lens of the queer experience and how that experience has had an outsized influence on moving it all forward.
Bottom line: Without that queer influence on popular music, we'd most likely be stuck with little more than Pat Boone and Kid Rock. To quote fellow cultural critic Fran Lebowitz, "If you removed all of the homosexuals and homosexual influence from what is generally regarded as American culture, you would pretty much be left with Let's Make a Deal."
Bottom line: Without that queer influence on popular music, we'd most likely be stuck with little more than Pat Boone and Kid Rock. To quote fellow cultural critic Fran Lebowitz, "If you removed all of the homosexuals and homosexual influence from what is generally regarded as American culture, you would pretty much be left with Let's Make a Deal."
December 20, 2024
Fascinating account of cultural history of how gay men were treated between 1955 and 1979, mainly in UK with USA featured too. Savage covers music and political events and law changes. Lots of interesting stories. Great musical histories.
Long but not hard to read. Except for those moments when I found Savage's own biases got in the way. This is titled as Queer Culture or LGBTQ+ culture but the main focus is gay men. Even when artists have self identified as bisexual, Savage slips back into referring to them as gay too frequently. He probably doesn't even realise his lack of inclusiveness.
Long but not hard to read. Except for those moments when I found Savage's own biases got in the way. This is titled as Queer Culture or LGBTQ+ culture but the main focus is gay men. Even when artists have self identified as bisexual, Savage slips back into referring to them as gay too frequently. He probably doesn't even realise his lack of inclusiveness.
January 19, 2025
I would like to thank Net Galley and W.W. Norton and Company for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. This is a well researched book with a wealth of information on music and the LGBTQ performers involved. There is a lot to read and , much of it was not new , to me at least. However, it was well organized and arranged. It talks about men and women from the 50's through the 70's. It also give much historical information from both the USA and England puts everything in context. It does read like a textbook at times, and I really wanted more pictures of some of the artists named. However, I do thank the author for their hard work.
September 7, 2024
Another brilliant and throroughly researched Jon Savage book. What's not to like?
February 5, 2025
Fascinating, surprising and while a little too meandering in places, an insightful and entertaining read.
April 28, 2025
This is a very well-researched book but the writing did not grab me.
July 8, 2025
This book delivers all it promises and more. It is a very comprehensive history.
August 5, 2025
A 600+ page masterpiece on the history of pop music and how gay culture influenced the mainstream. Beautiful.
August 25, 2025
4.5 stars
November 29, 2025
Brilliant cultural and social history. Very much recommended.
November 7, 2024
I received this as digital galley from NetGalley.
This was an interesting book that focused on queer/lesbian/gay musicians (some out, some closeted) who helped to influence culture. I liked that the book chose to focus on both the US and UK because I learned about UK musicians that I had never heard of before.
Like many books related to LGBT culture I feared that this would focus just on cis gay male- but the book included female musicians and transgender musicians.
This was an interesting book that focused on queer/lesbian/gay musicians (some out, some closeted) who helped to influence culture. I liked that the book chose to focus on both the US and UK because I learned about UK musicians that I had never heard of before.
Like many books related to LGBT culture I feared that this would focus just on cis gay male- but the book included female musicians and transgender musicians.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews