My Favorite Pride Month Song Is "Sinful"

A scene from the rather dark song and video which is actually
my favorite Pride Month anthem.

It's Pride Month, and it's a big tadoo for the LGBTQ community, of which I'm a part.

Everything in life seems to have a soundtrack and this is no different. Lots of songs and anthems and hits fit.  Click on the hyperlinks to all these examples to enjoy the music videos. It's worth it.

There's many dozens of diverse examples of great Pride anthems in all kinds of genres. Awesome ones include the sad, haunting "Smalltown Boy," the 1984 hit by the Bronski Beat. There's the joyous, boisterous 2011 anthem "Born This Way," by Lady Gaga.

"Follow Your Arrow," the country hit by the amazing songwriter Kasey Musgraves doesn't get too explicit about gay pride, but the message is crystal clear in this terrific song. "When the straight and narrow gets a little too straight."

You of course CAN NOT  skip Madonna's "Vogue" or Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors."  And just because it's Cher, you can pick something like "Believe."

You'd think this gay weather geek blogger's favorite Pride Month anthem would be the goofy, fun and exhilarating "It's Raining Men," by The Weather Girls. Close, but not quite.

I have to agree with the Joe.My.God blog guy that the best Pride anthem, at least in my opinion is "It's A Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys. It's a lot darker than a lot of songs I've listed, but I like the dark side of music.

Now, I'm not bashing the Catholic religion, but I was raised in that church and guilt is a big part of it. And also my impression was you could not necessarily be who you are and still adhere to the conservative church.

The protagonist in "It's A Sin" goes over everything he supposed to be ashamed about himself over, but the song makes it clear that he has nothing to be ashamed about, but perhaps others do. I also love the imagery in the music video.

Here's the "It's A Sin" video. Enjoy it and Pride Month:

Old Video By The Association Has Dated Hillariously Poorly

Two members of The Association in this old video. Perhaps not
the most dapper look?

I stumbled on an old video of the 1960s group The Association performing their hit "Never My Love" and the video is kitschy comedic gold.  

I know I shouldn't pick on them. The Association were big 1960s hit makers with their usually mellow pop. Styles have changed since the 1960s, so we shouldn't abuse them too much.

But abuse The Association, I will.

First of all, those suits! All them are ill-fitting sacks, basically and are a lovely shade of green I associate with an algae bloom in a cow pond.

I'm particularly taken by the lead singer in the video. His double breasted suit fits about as well as a burlap sack. He's also got the world's most,  um,  amazing sideburns.

As he's singing, he has this blank, blissful  look on his face, as if he's entered some sweet, strange wonderland. At the same time, he looks vaguely ill and ill at ease, like he might simulaneously barf and get attacked by the audience.

Which actually to me seems like a real possibility. Actually, the whole group looks pretty spaced out. I wonder what they took before coming onstage?

And why are they set up like that. The keyboardist and drummer start off in the foreground, but you n see as the video they are really shunted way off to the side. Like we really shouldn't notice them.

Maybe we shouldn't. In the closeups of the keyboardist, he looks like he's yawning instead of coming in with those signature mellow harmonies.  The song isn't that boring, is it?

It's all a mystery. So here's you kitch for today. The Association performs "Never My Love."