Am I the only one who thinks Billy Squier’s ‘gay’ video wasn’t so bad?

[Spongie]

I was 13 at the time and don’t remember thinking anything was wrong with it. Only within maybe the last 15-20 years did I become aware that it was a career killer.

Still love the song. Still don’t give shit about the video. Billy rules.

https://youtu.be/fR0j7sModCI

[VinnieVincentsVag]

Yes

[Zabooka]

Is it bad enough to be a career killer? Depends what year you are asking in?

In 1984, being gay, or even appearing gay was not much better than being a criminal. So no straight man would want to be caught dead listening to any song or video considered gay.

Now if this video came out in 2023, and you said anything bad about it, you’re career would be killed.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Same. I was 16. Yeah it was a little fruity/cringey, but let's also remember this was MTVs biggest star at the time:



So on a relative scale it wasn't all that shocking... a fuckup/misstep? Sure, but it also became a convenient revisionist excuse for the decline and fall of a fading star. He was getting murdered on tour by Def Leppard a year before this was in the concept stage, and RATT wiped the floor with him on this tour as well. 1981-82 was his peak, changing the Cock Me Tonite video concept to 10 hot girls ripping his pink tank top off instead wasn't going to slow his decline any, only better songs would but he was tapped out. Once the hit died down that album got flushed fast.

[Ozzy Stradlin]

Yes

This.

[pieceofme]

Saw it for the first time just a few years ago. Didn't seem particularly more cheesy than a lot of the stuff that was released in the 80s.

So no, you're not the only one.

It has become the cliché go to answer.

Kind of similar to when people list "We Built This City" as the worst song of all time. It's not even the worst Starship song of all time!

[sirthx2]

Saw it for the first time just a few years ago. Didn't seem particularly more cheesy than a lot of the stuff that was released in the 80s.

So no, you're not the only one.

It has become the cliché go to answer.

Kind of similar to when people list "We Built This City" as the worst song of all time. It's not even the worst Starship song of all time!

People into metal in the 80s dug Billy Squier because he had a cool rock-vibe. The solo "dancing" and pink satin sheets kinda ruined that to teens at the time. (he's a shitty dancer which may be the problem here. If he could move 'smooth & sexy', may not have been an issue)

The Starship song is ripped not because it's a shitty song, but because Jefferson Airplane/Starship's entire vibe in the 60s was counter-culture. They stood against everything that was corporate rock. Then they release this, which is the epitome of corporate, sellout, commercial rock. Would be cool if it was with an ironic wink, but it wasn't.

[Darrien]

How you going to compare Boy George to Billy Squier? lol. Culture Club was never trying to be anything else.
Billy was cool as fuck when The Stroke came out and buried his whole career in one 5 min video because it is that gay.
Even now, it's worse than anything that can be written off as of its time.

[HueyRamone]

The general concensus is that it's a cool song, bad video.

But I think the song sucks! It's bland, goes nowhere, and has a bad chorus. Compared to the stuff on Emotions in Motion it is boring, and most think the album before that is the best.

[whiteowl yesterday]

i like the song and video.

[EzyRider]

I think Billy has some Central Park gig that he's had for a while now, helping maintain the park somehow??

[Don't Damn Me]

I remember seeing it for the first time with a buddy of mine after school. It was a laugh riot. Something about those moves really stood out, and not in a good way. And it sucks if you ever heard Billy talk about it he just did what the director asked of him. And he basically said it ruined his career. It's a great f****** song though

[Indy_Rob]

”Gayer than 8 guys blowing 9 guys.”

- Some Sludger in the ‘2000s.

[Cindy Buzzedimisa]

I never thought much about it. To me it was just another video where they're doing some dumb dance because just watching them stand there would be boring. Pat Benatar in Love Is A Battlefield and ZZTop in Velcro Fly did that too and it didn't end their careers. Elton John's I'm Still Standing video was full on in your face gay and that was on MTV every few hours. Billy had a good album but his shtick was just becoming dated. He tried to fit in with the 80's but it just didn't work.

[Bono Nettencourt]

I think Billy has some Central Park gig that he's had for a while now, helping maintain the park somehow??

For someone who was nothing more a footnote in rock history 10 short years after Cock Me, ol'Billy's set up pretty well. He's got an apt off Central Park and a spread in Bridgehampton. He wrote all his own stuff and got to keep his publishing, so I guess he doesn't want for money.

[Indy_Rob]

I think Billy has some Central Park gig that he's had for a while now, helping maintain the park somehow??

For someone who was nothing more a footnote in rock history 10 short years after Cock Me, ol'Billy's set up pretty well. He's got an apt off Central Park and a spread in Bridgehampton. He wrote all his own stuff and got to keep his publishing, so I guess he doesn't want for money.

Not sure of the accuracy but he’s supposedly the most sampled artist on rap songs. So he would get royalties for that too.

[Bono Nettencourt]

I think Billy has some Central Park gig that he's had for a while now, helping maintain the park somehow??

For someone who was nothing more a footnote in rock history 10 short years after Cock Me, ol'Billy's set up pretty well. He's got an apt off Central Park and a spread in Bridgehampton. He wrote all his own stuff and got to keep his publishing, so I guess he doesn't want for money.

Not sure of the accuracy but he’s supposedly the most sampled artist on rap songs. So he would get royalties for that too.

Right, apparently there's a loop from The Big Beat that got put on a bunch of rap songs, tho like you said I think it makes for a bigger story that it does a paycheck. It ain't like Hammer and Rick James or anything.

[Nobodyspecial]

His career was already in decline and the video certainly didn't help.

[daveg]

It was definitely not cool at the time, but 2 years later nobody would have given it a second thought, although he might have got called out for trend chasing the "hair" bands. Time and place I guess.

As for the samples, I don't think he made much, if anything on them. Was basically just the drum beat. A few years later the Beastie Boys used hundreds of samples and didn't pay much at all.

[Darrien]

It was definitely not cool at the time, but 2 years later nobody would have given it a second thought, although he might have got called out for trend chasing the "hair" bands. Time and place I guess.

As for the samples, I don't think he made much, if anything on them. Was basically just the drum beat. A few years later the Beastie Boys used hundreds of samples and didn't pay much at all.

Eminem sampled The Stroke on Bezerk in 2013 which was well after all the sample laws were put into place.

[daveg]

It was definitely not cool at the time, but 2 years later nobody would have given it a second thought, although he might have got called out for trend chasing the "hair" bands. Time and place I guess.

As for the samples, I don't think he made much, if anything on them. Was basically just the drum beat. A few years later the Beastie Boys used hundreds of samples and didn't pay much at all.

Eminem sampled The Stroke on Bezerk in 2013 which was well after all the sample laws were put into place.

I was referring to The Big Beat. But yeah, that one probably made him a boatload of cash.

[Bono Nettencourt]

He's got a few other stealth moneymakers too - that Xmas song he wrote still gets a few spins, and every time Fast Times gets played on TV he gets a lil'sumpin.

[GreatWhiteSnake]

Homophobia run amok...and it's only getting worse...

[Mikky_Five]

Yes

or NO.

I had no idea the video was 'gay' or 'shit' at the time. Love the song, still. That whole album is pretty damn good. Not so damn good it should be against the law, tho, Florida.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

Yes

or NO.

I had no idea the video was 'gay' or 'shit' at the time. Love the song, still. That whole album is pretty damn good. Not so damn good it should be against the law, tho, Florida.

Great song and album.
You didn’t see a guy in a Richard Simmons pink workout shirt, flailing on the bed and skipping around as a little fruity?

[Bono Nettencourt]

I think hes saying what I said, which is that if Boy George was a 6 on the Kinsey scale, this was about a 2 or a 3. It got blown out of proportion as a fatal mistake to explain his decline, which arguably started when Def Leppard was blowing him off the stage a year earlier.

[AlexVonHaig]

Yes

+1

[uwec95]

It was cringe worthy, but not enough to do the damage that it did to his career. His next album, although being good, wasn't good enough for him to recover. I love his 1989 album, Here & Now. If that would have been is follow up release after his prancing video, he maybe could have recovered.

[EuroJR]

I never thought much about it. To me it was just another video where they're doing some dumb dance because just watching them stand there would be boring. Pat Benatar in Love Is A Battlefield and ZZTop in Velcro Fly did that too and it didn't end their careers. Elton John's I'm Still Standing video was full on in your face gay and that was on MTV every few hours. Billy had a good album but his shtick was just becoming dated. He tried to fit in with the 80's but it just didn't work.

THIS

[LeeRatbag]

It's a terrible vid, but it's significantly less gay than Priest's "Hot Rocking" vid, and Halford wasn't even out then.