Adam Lambert - Whataya Want From Me

[saga]

Jan 20, 2010 20:10:37 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Hell yeah!!! Go Adam!!!

He's officially got the highest charting single by an openly gay artist since 1996 right now.

Ferras was #62 or #63 on the Hot 100 and WWFM was #65 last week, so this week he finally broke the record. Now if only he can get better than #22 on the Hot 100, he'll beat Melissa Etheridge's 1996 record.

:)

What about Candle in the Wind with Elton John? I think it was released 1997?

[guava]

Jan 20, 2010 20:13:00 GMT -5 foxxden said:

Jan 20, 2010 19:52:51 GMT -5 poptartz said:

#55 on the new Billboard Hot 100 (+10 from last week).

Awesome...correct me if I'm wrong but this is his highest charting single, out peaking "FYE" right?

"Mad World" went to 19 on the Hot 100 the week after the finale (from finale week sales).

[brb]

Jan 21, 2010 7:40:32 GMT -5 guava said:

Jan 20, 2010 20:13:00 GMT -5 foxxden said:

Awesome...correct me if I'm wrong but this is his highest charting single, out peaking "FYE" right?

"Mad World" went to 19 on the Hot 100 the week after the finale (from finale week sales).

I would love to see WWFM passing "Mad World" then..

Good update today and I think it will be #29 tomorrow.

[rellybois]

Jan 21, 2010 6:03:56 GMT -5 Rumors said:

Jan 20, 2010 20:10:37 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

He's officially got the highest charting single by an openly gay artist since 1996 right now.

:)

Why the continuing need to point out he is gay? Can't he just be an artist?

I agree, but it's also important to recognize the significance of this. And I think its remarkable that his sexuality hasn't been the entire focus of his career so far... even with all the flashiness and raunchiness most interviews have focused mainly on his music, his rise to fame, his family-- either barely touching on or ignoring his sexual orientation. That's progress if he can be a major openly gay artist and not be known solely for his gayness.

[Maximillian]

I wonder, out of curiosity, and nobody needs to answer this.... but I wonder how many of the people in this WWFM board are gay? I'm gay, which is part of the reason i love Adam, because he is breaking new boundaries and i want to support him.

Just a curious thought..

[StarSprinkles]

Jan 21, 2010 10:42:55 GMT -5 Maximillian said:

I wonder, out of curiosity, and nobody needs to answer this.... but I wonder how many of the people in this WWFM board are gay? I'm gay, which is part of the reason i love Adam, because he is breaking new boundaries and i want to support him.

Just a curious thought..

I'm bi. Does that count?

[Deleted]

I'm gay! Woot! And I could care less if Adam was gay or straight, he's really hit or miss with me, regardless if he likes the penis or not.

But I can't see too many "straight"(and I don't mean David Archuleta straight)men enjoy his music. Not just because he's gay though!

Regardless I hope this smashes! It's hot!

[rellybois]

Jan 21, 2010 10:42:55 GMT -5 Maximillian said:

I wonder, out of curiosity, and nobody needs to answer this.... but I wonder how many of the people in this WWFM board are gay? I'm gay, which is part of the reason i love Adam, because he is breaking new boundaries and i want to support him.

Just a curious thought..

Asking "How many posters in this thread on Pulse are gay?" is kind of like asking "How many people in the mens bathroom of a gay club are gay?"

[DimWitty]

Jan 21, 2010 10:57:20 GMT -5 @rellybois said:

Asking "How many posters in this thread on Pulse are gay?" is kind of like asking "How many people in the mens bathroom of a gay club are gay?"

Not.

And my very straight husband loves Adam because he has the good sense to be able to recognize extreme talent when he hears it.
Not every straight man in America is insecure and afraid to embrace the gay community.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2010 10:59:55 GMT -5 DimWitty said:

Jan 21, 2010 10:57:20 GMT -5 @rellybois said:

Asking "How many posters in this thread on Pulse are gay?" is kind of like asking "How many people in the mens bathroom of a gay club are gay?"

Not.

And my very straight husband loves Adam because he has the good sense to be able to recognize extreme talent when he hears it.
Not every straight man in America is insecure and afraid to embrace the gay community.

That's fair enough. I don't think men don't like Adam's music because he's gay, but because most straight men don't really listen to poppy/dancy stuff(or at least in my neck of the woods anyways) :S

But all the power to your husband and every other straight men!

[Stephen]

Jan 21, 2010 11:06:21 GMT -5 @jback said:

Jan 21, 2010 10:59:55 GMT -5 DimWitty said:

Not.

And my very straight husband loves Adam because he has the good sense to be able to recognize extreme talent when he hears it.
Not every straight man in America is insecure and afraid to embrace the gay community.

That's fair enough. I don't think men don't like Adam's music because he's gay, but because most straight men don't really listen to poppy/dancy stuff(or at least in my neck of the woods anyways) :S

But all the power to your husband and every other straight men!

I actually agree with this. I can't get into dance/pop Adam. WWFM, Sleepwalker, and other pop/rock cuts work well. I'm just not used to a guy singing dance-pop yet. The closest thing we have to that is GaGa.

[DimWitty]

Dance/pop is not the first choice for either of us, but we are both behind Adam for the long haul, so will buy whatever it is he is selling but prefer the rockier cuts as well.

[rellybois]

Jan 21, 2010 10:59:55 GMT -5 DimWitty said:

Jan 21, 2010 10:57:20 GMT -5 @rellybois said:

Asking "How many posters in this thread on Pulse are gay?" is kind of like asking "How many people in the mens bathroom of a gay club are gay?"

Not.

And my very straight husband loves Adam because he has the good sense to be able to recognize extreme talent when he hears it.
Not every straight man in America is insecure and afraid to embrace the gay community.

You misunderstood me.

I was saying that it was a funny question to ask how many male posters in this particular thread are gay, considering that 95+ % of male posters on Pulse in general are gay.

[DimWitty]

Well, oops then :)

[Rurry]

Jan 21, 2010 11:08:53 GMT -5 Stephen said:

I actually agree with this. I can't get into dance/pop Adam. WWFM, Sleepwalker, and other pop/rock cuts work well. I'm just not used to a guy singing dance-pop yet. The closest thing we have to that is GaGa.

at the GaGa line.

I agree with your post, though. FYE was really pretty weird for me.

[blue in moonlight]

Jan 21, 2010 11:08:53 GMT -5 Stephen said:

I can't get into dance/pop Adam. WWFM, Sleepwalker, and other pop/rock cuts work well. I'm just not used to a guy singing dance-pop yet.

I think this is another barrier he has to endure along with people not exactly embracing an out and flamboyant male pop star. It's hard to quantify how much these sort of things have effected Lambert particularly in conjunction with the AMA performance. I will say he would probably have been massive in the '80's.

[saga]

Jan 21, 2010 12:04:34 GMT -5 Rurry said:

Jan 21, 2010 11:08:53 GMT -5 Stephen said:

I actually agree with this. I can't get into dance/pop Adam. WWFM, Sleepwalker, and other pop/rock cuts work well. I'm just not used to a guy singing dance-pop yet. The closest thing we have to that is GaGa.

at the GaGa line.

I agree with your post, though. FYE was really pretty weird for me.

Hmm, I like FYE much better than WWFM. It's a great dance song. Not really feeling this that guys can't do dance/pop music (but I am European).

[poptartz]

I'm glad this is still hanging in the top 20 on iTunes today!

[rellybois]

Jan 21, 2010 12:18:00 GMT -5 blue in moonlight said:

Jan 21, 2010 11:08:53 GMT -5 Stephen said:

I can't get into dance/pop Adam. WWFM, Sleepwalker, and other pop/rock cuts work well. I'm just not used to a guy singing dance-pop yet.

I think this is another barrier he has to endure along with people not exactly embracing an out and flamboyant male pop star. It's hard to quantify how much these sort of things have affect Lambert particularly in conjunction with the AMA performance. I will say he would probably have been massive in the '80's.

True... the '80s music industry was so much more accepting of flamboyant, glam gay men doing dance music -- and they actually had mainstream success!

If you look back to the 70s and 80s, tons of gay or obviously gay artists had major chart-topping or top 10 hits (Culture Club, Elton John, hello?). But it kind of ended with the end of the disco and synth trends. It looks like radio just got really anti-gay starting in the early 90s, lol.

[DimWitty]

Jan 21, 2010 13:03:03 GMT -5 @rellybois said:

If you look back to the 70s and 80s, tons of gay or obviously gay artists had major chart-topping or top 10 hits (Culture Club, Elton John, hello?). But it kind of ended with the end of the disco and synth trends. It looks like radio just got really anti-gay starting in the early 90s, lol.

Beating the horse still, but most of the artists you are thinking of found success long before coming out. I can't think of one who announced the gay before releasing their first record.

[rellybois]

^ Boy George?!?

[StarSprinkles]

Boy George I don't think had much mainstream success in the US. He was massive in the UK though. Elton, Geroge Michael, et al, were all huge BEFORE they came out.

[saga]

Jan 21, 2010 13:54:06 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Boy George I don't think had much mainstream success in the US. He was massive in the UK though. Elton, Geroge Michael, et al, were all huge BEFORE they came out.

And he was playing cat and mouse with questions about his sexual orientation.

[P!nkch TheO™]

up to #19 on itunes

[DimWitty]

Heh- we didn't know whether Boy George was a man or a woman, never mind sexual orientation!

[rellybois]

Jan 21, 2010 13:54:06 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Boy George I don't think had much mainstream success in the US. He was massive in the UK though. Elton, Geroge Michael, et al, were all huge BEFORE they came out.

Karma Chameleon hit #1. Culture Club also had other top 10s.

If we're going to talk about Adam setting any "gay" records we really need to be talking strictly post-1995

[StarSprinkles]

When did Boy George come out?

[Maximillian]

im working on my own adam lambert FYE remix.

[kamikazeheart]

226 201 ADAM LAMBERT Want 8 6 2 0.031

Hah!

(I wonder what the hell would have happened if that actually turned to be a hit.)

[soundUPsceneDOWN]

Jan 21, 2010 13:54:06 GMT -5 StarSprinkles said:

Boy George I don't think had much mainstream success in the US. He was massive in the UK though. Elton, Geroge Michael, et al, were all huge BEFORE they came out.

Eh? Boy George was like a pop culture icon in the 80s in the US. I was a wee child and I knew him very, very well.

And no, technically he didn't scream "I'm gay!!" but it's one of those things where people knew... I mean, come on.

IMO, if being gay hurts one's career, it's the stereotype of being gay that does, not the actuality of being gay. Even if Boy George wasn't gay, he was still extremely feminine, danced like a woman, looked like a woman, and had female mannerisms. If something was going to hurt his career as a male singer, that would be it, not the fact that he liked kissing boys (because loads of gay men are not feminine, even if that's the stereotype).

Really, if Adam wasn't gay and Rolling Stone didn't make such a huge deal after Idol of this fact, do you really think he would have half the hype that he does? Summer 2009, the majority of his press was about his sexuality, not what kind of music he would make. That round of press fueled the subsequent hype, which fueled more hype, etc. But without that initial "zomg look a gay guy on American Idol who is, like, flamboyant and stuff," Adam wouldn't be seeing the interest by the media that he has now, primarily because what Adam presents isn't innovative in the grand scheme of things. He made a pop record; not even the best pop record in the world--just a pop record with some decent tracks. He danced around in gothic makeup--Tokio Hotel and The Darkness have done that. So the big deal about his ZOMG GAYNESS after Idol started it all. It has helped Adam, and I don't understand the thought that it has somehow hurt him. Because, if anything is going to hurt Adam it's the fact that not everybody will like gothic S&M-style overt sexuality on stage--but straight artists have pulled that stuff before too.

Being gay is part of who Adam is; but being overtly sexual and wearing all-white attire to a party, or caking on makeup, is what might turn people off... not the fact that he likes kissing boys.

(And note: no artist will be loved by everybody, so the argument that some right-wing Christians will boycott his music doesn't mean much to me; they weren't his target music audience anyway)