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Speaker 1: Where Were You in ninety two is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: It reflects the fear of the time period, the repression

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Speaker 1: of people's sexuality, the homophobia, all of that was rooted

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Speaker 1: in fear of AIDS. In that respect, the album is

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Speaker 1: one of the first full albums that really is a

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Speaker 1: reflection of the AIDS era. Welcome to Where Are You

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Speaker 1: in ninety two, a podcast in which I Your host

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Speaker 1: Jason Lamfier look back at the major hits, one hit wonders,

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Speaker 1: shocking news stories, and irresistible scandals that shaped what might

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Speaker 1: be the wildest, most eclectic, most controversial twelve months of

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Speaker 1: music ever this week. After Queen singer Freddie Murcury's death

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Speaker 1: in the fall of nineteen ninety one, musicians began confronting

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Speaker 1: the AIDS crisis head on. Madonna, Elton, John You Two

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Speaker 1: and Salton Pepper wrote songs that addressed the disease. R

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Speaker 1: and B newcomer's TLC appeared on talk shows with condoms

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Speaker 1: emblazoned on their flashy attire. Meanwhile, the compilation album Red

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Speaker 1: Pot and Dance, featuring three exclusive tracks from George Michael,

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Speaker 1: set out to raise awareness about safe sex, raise funds

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Speaker 1: for AIDS charities and change the narrative around LGBTQ rights.

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Speaker 1: But as a nineteen ninety two New York Times article declared,

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Speaker 1: tackling AIDS was a creative and ethical minefield for pop stars.

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Speaker 1: In this episode, we looked at the various ways they

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Speaker 1: navigated it. It was November nineteen ninety one. Freddie Mercury

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Speaker 1: had not performed live with Queen in five years. The

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Speaker 1: group's last show with him at Nabworth Park in England

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Speaker 1: had drawn an audience of more than one hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty thousand adoring fans, but he was too weak and

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Speaker 1: in too much pain to take the stage ever again.

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Speaker 1: Mercury had just returned from Switzerland and had been living

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Speaker 1: as a recluse at Garden Lodge in London. Speculation that

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Speaker 1: he was dying was rampant. Images of him looking pale

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Speaker 1: and gaunt had been splashed all over the tabloids and papers.

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Speaker 1: He had him revealed that he had AIDS to the

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Speaker 1: public or even to his parents, but the press and

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Speaker 1: paparassi lingered outside the wall surrounding his property. They knew

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Speaker 1: something was wrong. He would spend most of the day

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Speaker 1: in bed, sometimes drifting through his home and garden. He

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Speaker 1: was emaciated and losing his eyesight and could barely walk.

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Speaker 1: He had stopped taking the medication that had been keeping

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Speaker 1: him alive. A few select visitors were invited to see him.

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Speaker 1: Less than two weeks later, he had lost his sight

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Speaker 1: and was living off fluids. On Friday, November twenty second,

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Speaker 1: Mercury asked to see Queen's manager, Jim Beach, who came

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Speaker 1: to his home and met with him in his bedroom.

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Speaker 1: Hours later, Beach emerged saying Mercury was ready to tell

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Speaker 1: the world the truth. At midnight, his team released an

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Speaker 1: official statement on behalf of the singer, in addition to

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Speaker 1: disclosing that he had tested positive and now had aids.

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Speaker 1: The statement read quote, I hope that everyone will join

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Speaker 1: with my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight

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Speaker 1: against this terrible disease. Two days later, on Sunday, November

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Speaker 1: twenty fourth, nineteen ninety one, Mercury died. He was forty five.

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Speaker 1: A few weeks later, Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen's most beloved track,

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Speaker 1: was rereleased. It would soar to number one on the

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Speaker 1: UK singles charts. It's second time hitting number one in

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Speaker 1: the UK and stay there for five weeks. All the

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Speaker 1: proceeds from the rerelease, which totaled around one million pounds,

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Speaker 1: were donated to the Terence Higgins Trust, the UK's leading

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Speaker 1: HIV and AIDS charity. The song is the UK's third

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Speaker 1: biggest selling single of all time and the most streamed

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Speaker 1: song of the twentieth century. The remaining members of Queen

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Speaker 1: knew they had to do something. Before his death, Freddie

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Speaker 1: Mercury had faded from the public eye. The most recent

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Speaker 1: published images of him were tragic and exploitative, signaling his

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Speaker 1: impending death. The band wanted to celebrate his life, the

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Speaker 1: Freddie they knew and loved, as guitarist Brian May sat

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Speaker 1: at the time. Giving their frontman and friend a proper

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Speaker 1: send off was not only what they felt fans needed,

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Speaker 1: but also the closure they needed. Mercury became the first

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Speaker 1: high profile person to die of an AIDE related illness

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Speaker 1: in the UK, but this disease was much bigger than him.

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Speaker 1: AIDS related deaths were on the rise. By January nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two, almost four hundred and fifty thousand AIDS cases

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Speaker 1: had been reported to the Global Program on AIDS of

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Speaker 1: the World Health Organization, but the estimated number of adult

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Speaker 1: cases was one point five million, tens of thousands were dying.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety two, HIV infection became the leading cause

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Speaker 1: of death for men between the ages of twenty five

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Speaker 1: and forty four. By nineteen ninety four, it would become

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Speaker 1: the leading cause of death among all Americans between the

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Speaker 1: ages of twenty five and forty four. The Freddie Mercury

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Speaker 1: Tribute Concert took place on April twentieth, nineteen ninety two,

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Speaker 1: at London's Wembley Stadium, where Mercury had delivered his dynamic

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Speaker 1: performance at the iconic benefit event Live Aid in nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty five. As Queen's songwriter and drummer Roger Taylor said

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Speaker 1: on the eve of the concert, quote, Obviously, losing Freddy

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Speaker 1: has brought at home to us in a big way

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Speaker 1: and many other people that I know. As time goes on,

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Speaker 1: it becomes more of a threat. The threat is growing,

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Speaker 1: I think, and I don't think the awareness is growing.

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Speaker 1: So this seems like, especially for us, a good time

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Speaker 1: to do this. In addition to Queen, the show's performers

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Speaker 1: included Elton John, George Michael, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Robert

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Speaker 1: Plant of led Zeppelin, Roger Daltrey of The Who, Guns N' Roses,

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Speaker 1: Metallica Seal Deaf Leopard, Lisa Stansfield You Two Vias Satellite,

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Speaker 1: and Eliza Minelli. Actress and longtime AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor

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Speaker 1: delivered an AIDS prevention speech. Clips of Mercury interacting with

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Speaker 1: fans were played after her speech. The concerts sets ranged

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Speaker 1: from the truly wild to the truly iconic. Elton John

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Speaker 1: and Axel Rose led Queen's remaining members in an impassioned

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Speaker 1: rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, a song that was very much

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Speaker 1: back in the Zega stue to the original version's appearance

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Speaker 1: in a now legendary headbanging scene and the comedy Wayne's World.

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Speaker 1: George Michael's take on Somebody to Love is astonishing. It's

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Speaker 1: no wonder that when the cover was officially released a

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Speaker 1: year later, it bolted to the top of the UK

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Speaker 1: singles chart. And then, for God's sake, please go watch

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Speaker 1: and rewatch because you will need to. David Bowie and

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Speaker 1: Annie Lennox's performance of under Pressure, originally a Queen Bowie duet,

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Speaker 1: decked out in an enormous black hooped tool dress with

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Speaker 1: a silver necklace, lamy top, sporting the most fabulously exaggerated

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Speaker 1: raccoon eyes, her voice shattering the stratosphere. Lennox manages to

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Speaker 1: do the unthinkable and sort of outshine Bowie, though he

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Speaker 1: still absolutely slays in a mint green suit with his

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Speaker 1: token velvety groon. The pair closes the number locked in

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Speaker 1: a desperate, melodramatic embrace that truly honors the rock for

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Speaker 1: hybrid songwriting. Freddie Mercury perfected. They knew they'd nailed it,

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Speaker 1: as Lennox recalled and Matt Richards and Mark Langthorne's twenty

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Speaker 1: sixteen books Somebody to Love The Life, Death, and Legacy

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Speaker 1: of Freddie Mercury quote, the performance was electrical and totally

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Speaker 1: on point. It was one of the high points of

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Speaker 1: my life and mine. I divied my life into before

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Speaker 1: seeing Annie Lennox and David Bowie perform under pressure and

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Speaker 1: after seeing Annie Lennox and David Bowie perform under pressure

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Speaker 1: the crazy thing. Fans didn't even know who besides the

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Speaker 1: remaining members of Queen was performing when the concerts tickets

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Speaker 1: went on sale, Still, all seventy two thousand of them

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Speaker 1: were snatched up in just three hours. Remember this was

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Speaker 1: pre Internet. That was the power of Queen and Freddie Mercury.

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Speaker 1: The concerts profits, reportedly some twelve million pounds, helped launch

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Speaker 1: the AIDS Cherry organization Mercury Phoenix Trust. The concert was

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Speaker 1: also broadcast live on television and radio to seventy six

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Speaker 1: countries around the world, hitting an estimated audience of up

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Speaker 1: to one billion. After Mercury's death, many who had never

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Speaker 1: felt affected by the AIDS crisis suddenly were the remaining

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Speaker 1: members of Queen, and the group's fans came to better

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Speaker 1: understand what the disease was about. Some of the prejudice

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Speaker 1: surrounding AIDS would start to fade away. The Freddie Mercury

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Speaker 1: Tribute Concert was their glorious goodbye to a fallen hero.

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Speaker 1: It was also a reckoning. With his passing, they were

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Speaker 1: forced to confront the fact that they may have to

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Speaker 1: say goodbye to many more. Pop music is supposed to

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Speaker 1: make you feel good at its best, good and sexy,

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Speaker 1: even when it's tackling unrequited love or a romance cut short.

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Speaker 1: It's sadness connects with us, makes us feel like we're

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Speaker 1: not alone. If we two are suffering from heartache or

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Speaker 1: relationship woes. It nudges us toward healing. This suffering is universal.

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Speaker 1: But what if that sadness is deeper? What if the

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Speaker 1: end of the relationship is the most permanent kind? What

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Speaker 1: if the song is cloaked in the shadow of death.

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Speaker 1: A nineteen ninety two New York Times article titled the

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Speaker 1: Uneasy Alliance between AIDS and Pop pondered these questions, arguing

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Speaker 1: that pop music and AIDS were quote unquote strange bedfellows.

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Speaker 1: The piece read quote forced together. Pop and AIDS compromise

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Speaker 1: each other, forming a contradictory alliance between an industry that

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Speaker 1: market sex is fun and a disease that links sex

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Speaker 1: with death. How do you successfully capture the gravity of

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Speaker 1: AIDS in a three and a half minute pop song?

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Speaker 1: How do you sell it when many don't understand it

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Speaker 1: or wish to turn their backs on it, or worse,

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Speaker 1: believe those suffering from it deserve to suffer? How do

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Speaker 1: you capture something so dark, painful, and terrifying in a

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Speaker 1: song without looking glib or insincere or preachy? And yet,

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Speaker 1: how do you make people understand without conveying that this darkness, pain,

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Speaker 1: and terror are synonymous with the virus, because in nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two, AIDS was still considered fatal. The answer is

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Speaker 1: both complicated and not. Aid's awareness and activism and pop

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Speaker 1: was tough and risky territory, But for certain artists, the

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Speaker 1: reality of the crisis, its severity, and in some cases,

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Speaker 1: its proximity to their lives was undeniable. For them, the

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Speaker 1: choice was simple, do nothing or do something. AIDS demanded

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Speaker 1: their attention, and it demanded action. In nineteen ninety two,

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Speaker 1: major artists and entertainers were taking action, partly because they

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Speaker 1: felt if they didn't, who would. Politicians weren't doing enough,

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Speaker 1: nor were churches. Summer nineteen ninety two was, in a

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Speaker 1: sense the summer of safe sex, at least when it

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Speaker 1: came to the messaging. A handful of musicians were putting

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Speaker 1: out into the world hoping their fans would choose to listen.

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Speaker 1: One of those musicians was George Michael, who in nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two was in the upper echelon of pop stars.

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Speaker 1: He had performed in the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert and

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Speaker 1: devoted plenty of his time to aid's philanthropy, all while

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Speaker 1: dodging questions about his sexual orientation. Hey, I said this

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Speaker 1: ship was complicated, but he had a new idea. John

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Speaker 1: Carlin founded Red Hot, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting HIV

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Speaker 1: and AIDS through music and pop culture, with his friend

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Speaker 1: Lee Blake in nineteen eighty nine. Since then, the organization

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Speaker 1: has raised more than fifteen million dollars for charities like

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Speaker 1: AMPHAR and Act UP, and released some twenty music compilations,

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Speaker 1: starting with nineteen nineties Red Hot and Blue, an album

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Speaker 1: of reinterpretations of Cole Porter songs that featured art It's

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Speaker 1: Like You Two, David Byrne, Katie lang In, Shande O'Connor.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety two, Carlin had lost his job at

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Speaker 1: his Manhattan law firm. He had taken on Red Hot

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Speaker 1: as a pro bono client of the firm, and while

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Speaker 1: he says he was able to carry out all his responsibilities,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't happy about his work with the group. Says Carlin.

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Speaker 1: I was basically kicked on the street around that time,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't quite know what I was going to do.

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Speaker 1: And then one day, out of the blue, I got

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Speaker 1: a call from someone who worked very closely with George

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Speaker 1: Michael me Andy Stevens, and Andy said George is a

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Speaker 1: big fan of Red Hot and Blue. He'd like to

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Speaker 1: donate a song to your next album, and I'm thinking

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Speaker 1: to myself, we don't have a next album. Carlin was

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Speaker 1: at an impass it as great as Red Hot Blue

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Speaker 1: was that it cost me my job. It was exhausting.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't exactly how I imagine my life at the moment.

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Speaker 1: But in nineteen ninety two, one thing that you could

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Speaker 1: not do was turned down the gift of the George

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Speaker 1: Michael saw. George Michael essentially kicked off what became a series,

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Speaker 1: which wasn't something that we had in mind. The other

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Speaker 1: thing that's really important for people to understand about George

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Speaker 1: Michael in nineteen ninety two was he wasn't out so

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Speaker 1: about George Michael being famous and openly queer in nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two was dangerous, especially given the close association between

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Speaker 1: aids and gay men at the time. As the second

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Speaker 1: episode of this podcast made clear, virtually no well known

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Speaker 1: musicians were openly queer in nineteen eighty two. Katie Lang,

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Speaker 1: who came out that year, was one of the few

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Speaker 1: if a closeted pop superstar was willing to put his

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Speaker 1: reputation on the line and lend Carlin's project the gravitas

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Speaker 1: it needed. Carlin thought he should probably take the risk two.

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Speaker 1: After all, this was an international crisis that had showed

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Speaker 1: no signs of slowing down. George was a member of

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Speaker 1: the gay community. The gay community was being ravaged. I

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Speaker 1: think he had a boyfriend who was HIV positive at

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Speaker 1: the time. Nineteen ninety two was the worst year in

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Speaker 1: the world for gay people. Nineteen ninety two is the

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Speaker 1: year where so many people died, and because the retrovirals

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Speaker 1: hadn't come into play, so so many people living with

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Speaker 1: AIDS just crashed in nineteen ninety two. If the Coal

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Speaker 1: Porter Covers compilation Red Hot and Blue targeted an affluent,

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Speaker 1: urban queer mail audience what was initially thought of as

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Speaker 1: a chief demographic affected by HIV and AIDS, it's follow

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Speaker 1: up a turned to another audience. This something lived where

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Speaker 1: George was helpful was who's at risk now? It was

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Speaker 1: the young club kids, and it's much harder to tell

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Speaker 1: young hormonal club kids to practice safe or sex. These

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Speaker 1: are the people going out getting busy. Didn't necessarily get

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Speaker 1: the first message. Red Hot's second compilation was Red Hot

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Speaker 1: and Dance, which consisted mostly of remix dands and pop

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Speaker 1: tracks from the likes of Madonna, Seal, Crystal Waters, PM Don,

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Speaker 1: Lisa Stansfield and Slide the Family Stone featuring cover by

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Speaker 1: Keith Pairing. It was anchored by three new exclusive songs,

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Speaker 1: the George Michael donated to Red Hot, the top ten

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Speaker 1: Nuvo disco cut, Too Funky, Do You Really Want to Know,

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Speaker 1: and Happy, all of which he recorded for the follow

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Speaker 1: up to was acclaimed nineteen ninety album Listen Without Prejudice

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Speaker 1: Volume one. Too Funky was Michael's final single for his

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Speaker 1: contract with Sony Music before he took legal action to

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Speaker 1: get out of it, claiming the label's lack of support

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Speaker 1: for rud Hotten Dance was one of the reasons he

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Speaker 1: wanted to cut ties with it. Dude was not fucking around. Slick, buoyant,

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Speaker 1: and seductive, Red Hotten Dance could be considered an antidote

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Speaker 1: to the melancholy and tragedy of the AIDS crisis. It

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Speaker 1: suggested that change could come not only through research and activism,

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Speaker 1: but through unity through bodies, black, brown, white, queer, trans

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Speaker 1: straight coming together. It was about liberation, leaving the shadows

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Speaker 1: and living life out in the open, on the dance floor,

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Speaker 1: in the bedroom. But it was also about facing the

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Speaker 1: truth if in too funky. Michael sang I Gotta get

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Speaker 1: inside of You. His next track on Red Hotten Dance,

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Speaker 1: Do You Really Want to Know, included the lyrics I

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Speaker 1: used to say it, but it's no longer true because

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Speaker 1: what you don't know can really hurt you. It can

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Speaker 1: kill you, baby. And then later the world is full

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Speaker 1: of lovers after night and week after week, trusting to

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Speaker 1: luck and their pockets full of rubbers. The message was clear,

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Speaker 1: sucks was inevitable. Safety was essential To drive that message home,

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Speaker 1: Red Hot and Dance was paired with a street poster

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Speaker 1: campaign photographed by Bigwig Lensman, Stephen Mazelle, Stephen Klein, and

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Speaker 1: Bruce Webber, featuring queer and straight couples and intimate poses.

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Speaker 1: The posters boasted the slogan safe sucks as hot sex.

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Speaker 1: Red Hot also collaborated with MTV on a special that

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Speaker 1: aired around the world, directed by Mark Pellington, whose nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two video for Pearl Jams Jeremy would win four VMA's.

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Speaker 1: The documentary, also titled Red Hot and Dance, included interviews

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Speaker 1: with young people affected by HIV and AIDS, medical professionals

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Speaker 1: and celebrities like RuPaul, Cindy Lauper and Salt and Pepperkids

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Speaker 1: is sexually transmitted disease. So if you want to protect people,

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Speaker 1: you have to talk about set. How we sold the

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Speaker 1: Red Hot and Dance TV special to MTV was basically

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Speaker 1: going in and saying, with all due respect, this whole

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Speaker 1: channel is about selling sex to under h teenagers. It's like,

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Speaker 1: this is why you exist. Red Hot and Dance. The

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Speaker 1: special put condom use and Queerness front and center nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two is really like a transition near a tipping

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Speaker 1: point around using condoms. There was a lot of work

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Speaker 1: to make that part of people's behavior. The musicians involved

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Speaker 1: in the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert and Red Hot were

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Speaker 1: among a new wave of entertainers advocating for safe sex

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Speaker 1: and LGBTQ rights. It's changing behavior and changing the narrative,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's the way you have to work

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Speaker 1: at pop culture and propaganda. So there were a lot

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Speaker 1: of people in the early nineties doing both of the

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Speaker 1: those things and they had a huge impact. Those things

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Speaker 1: had to be done, and Red Hot was just a

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Speaker 1: little piece of that. It was part of a chorus

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Speaker 1: of people saying, this makes no sense. You know, we're

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Speaker 1: going to change the culture. Up next, after the break,

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Speaker 1: we look at the other major artists who confronted the

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Speaker 1: AIDS crisis in nineteen eighty two, including Salt and Pepper, Elton, John, TLC,

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Speaker 1: You Two, and Madonna. It was the summer of nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two, the summer musicians were turning their attention to

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Speaker 1: safe sex and the AIDS crisis. MTV aired Red Hot

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Speaker 1: and Dance, a special to coincide with the release of

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Speaker 1: an album of the same name, assembled by the not

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Speaker 1: for profit Red Hot Organization. The record was a collection

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Speaker 1: of George Michael songs and remixed dance tracks to raise

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Speaker 1: money for AIDS awareness and charities. Also that summer, ABC

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Speaker 1: broadcast in a New Light, a Call to Action in

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Speaker 1: the War against AIDS, a two hour AIDS awareness special

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Speaker 1: introduced by Elizabeth Taylor and featuring performances and cameos and

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Speaker 1: the likes of Anita Baker, share Clint Black, Reba McIntyre,

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Speaker 1: and Salt and Pepper set to aid's imagery. The network

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Speaker 1: donated its net advertising proceeds from the special to AIDS education,

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Speaker 1: prevention and support services. It was a significant move for

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Speaker 1: a big foreign network. When it came to HIV and

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Speaker 1: AIDS awareness. In nineteen eighty two, Salton Peppa were doing

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Speaker 1: the work. In fact, they were one of the first

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Speaker 1: high profile acts to put the cause to music. In

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Speaker 1: August nineteen ninety one, the trio had released Let's Talk

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Speaker 1: About Sex. Okay. Yeah, it was clearly intended to drop

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Speaker 1: some jaws and seals and records, but the song was

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Speaker 1: also essentially a safe sex campaign. In their minds and

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Speaker 1: in the minds of many AIDS activists, people were afraid

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Speaker 1: to discuss sex, which was a major hurdle in combating

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Speaker 1: the disease. Says rud Hot co founder John Carlin, I

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Speaker 1: have a good friend Kendall Thomas. Early AIDS activists never

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Speaker 1: a backt up, and he says something which has always

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Speaker 1: stayed with these how come when people talk about the

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Speaker 1: history of AIDS, people don't talk about sex. AIDS is

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Speaker 1: also spread through intravenous drug users sharing needles, but the

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Speaker 1: most common mode of exposure is through sex. Not placing

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Speaker 1: sex at the heart of the conversation about HIV and

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Speaker 1: AIDS was basically ignoring the real issue. Solom Pepper weren't

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Speaker 1: here for that. The hip hop trio had already pushed

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Speaker 1: the envelope with their nineteen eighty six far from subtle

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Speaker 1: single push It, But Let's talk about sex. They achieved

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Speaker 1: a rare feat. They made a song about safe sex

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Speaker 1: and gentially about HIV and AIDS. There was not only

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Speaker 1: bold and uncomfortable enough to make listeners pay attention, but

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Speaker 1: also smart, funny, at times, pretty sexy, and not overly preachy.

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Speaker 1: Check these lyrics. But anyway, ready or not, here he

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Speaker 1: comes and like a dumb son of a gun. Oops,

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Speaker 1: he forgot the condoms. Oh well, you say, what the hell?

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Speaker 1: It's chill. I won't get God, I'm on the pill

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Speaker 1: until the sores start to puff and spore. He gave

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Speaker 1: it to you, and now it's yours. Now. There is

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Speaker 1: some scary ass high school health class shit, but also facts.

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Speaker 1: So much hip hop at the time was objectifying women,

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Speaker 1: but these ladies were taken the genre by the balls

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Speaker 1: and taking real talk into your homes and cars and clubs.

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Speaker 1: They sounded tough and confident, like they had agency over

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Speaker 1: their mouths and bodies. They were the safe sex sages

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Speaker 1: all swagger and SaaS and wisdom. As Soul aka Cheryl

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Speaker 1: James told Rolling Stone in nineteen ninety four, quote, the

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Speaker 1: song was not about sex. The song was about communication

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Speaker 1: and talking about a subject that nobody wants to talk about.

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Speaker 1: So just from the gate, for me, it was brilliant,

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Speaker 1: said Peppa aka Sandra Denton. Quote. It wasn't a dirty song.

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Speaker 1: It was an enlightenment song. The tracks sticky chorus goes,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about sex, baby, Let's talk about you and me.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about all the good things and the bad

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Speaker 1: things that maybe. The video features couples kissing and embracing,

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Speaker 1: and in one version of it, as the rappers get

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Speaker 1: to the line and the bad things that may be

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Speaker 1: and the last minute of the song, the camera cuts

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Speaker 1: to a skeleton sporting a necklace that reads and big

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Speaker 1: black letters AIDS with a red circle around it. Over

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Speaker 1: the skeleton's mouth is a piece of yellow tape bearing

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Speaker 1: the word censored. The image is actually a little chilling,

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Speaker 1: like SMPS take on the nineteen eighty seven Silence equals

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Speaker 1: death slogan and poster with the pink trying which the

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Speaker 1: AIDS coalition to unleash power or act up would use

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Speaker 1: as this defining image and their activist campaign against the epidemic.

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00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:19,359
Speaker 1: ABC newscaster Peter Jennings took notice after overhearing his daughter

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Speaker 1: playing Let's Talk About Sex. He gave the lyrics a

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Speaker 1: closer listen and really dug its message. In February nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety two, he enlisted Salt and Peppa for Growing Up

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Speaker 1: in the Age of AIDS, a TV special he was hosting,

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Speaker 1: asking them to rerecord the track as Let's Talk About AIDS.

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Speaker 1: The retooled version addressed AIDS and the ignorance and stigma

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Speaker 1: surrounding it more directly than any mainstream pop or hip

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Speaker 1: hop artist had before. Sample lyrics, I got some news

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Speaker 1: for you, so listen please, It's not a black, white,

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Speaker 1: or gay disease. Then later to the unconcerned and uninformed,

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Speaker 1: you think you can't get it, well you're wrong. Don't dismiss,

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Speaker 1: disc or blacklist the topic. That ain't going to stop

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Speaker 1: it now. If you go about it right, you just

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Speaker 1: might save your life. Don't be uptight. Come join the fight.

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Speaker 1: As Peppa told Yahoo Entertainment in twenty twenty one, quote

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Speaker 1: at the time, it felt like a sense of obligation,

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Speaker 1: but when you listen to the lyrics, the awareness. We

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00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 1: were ahead of our time advocating for this message at

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Speaker 1: that time. For him to change let's talk about sex

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00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,000
Speaker 1: to let's talk about AIDS, it was a no brainer

399
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:31,240
Speaker 1: for us to how to get that message out. Salt

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Speaker 1: added quote. One of the things that I really love

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00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,520
Speaker 1: about that particular moment is that people were afraid to

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00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 1: talk about it at that time. It was a very unpopular,

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00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:44,200
Speaker 1: unspoken thing. We took it head on and we remade

404
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 1: the song, and we became advocates for AIDS and HIV awareness.

405
00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 1: I think that's a huge part of our history something

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00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: to celebrate. Salt and Peppa weren't the only hip hop

407
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 1: trio taking on save sex at that point. Another would

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00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 1: make it an integral part of their branding and esthetic.

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00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 1: The female threesome of Tan t Bos Watkins, Rozanda Chili

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00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: Thomas and Lisa left I Lopez, better known as TLC,

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Speaker 1: sprang up at the beginning of nineteen ninety two, and

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00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 1: by the middle of that year they'd blown up, becoming

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Speaker 1: one of the most successful new acts of the year

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00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:20,040
Speaker 1: and eventually one of the most successful acts of the

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00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:36,600
Speaker 1: nineties period. You could draw a line from SMP to TLC.

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00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,760
Speaker 1: SNP formed in Queens, New York in nineteen eighty five.

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00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: TLC formed in Atlanta in nineteen ninety when its members

418
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,119
Speaker 1: were in their early twenties, but they'd studied Salm Peppa

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00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 1: and had taken a page from their book, bringing a

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00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 1: similar strut in silliness to their music and visuals. They

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00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 1: had a very clear identity from the get go, coming

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00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,600
Speaker 1: off like the antithesis on the scantily clad psultry women

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00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 1: populating so many hip hop videos at the time. They

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00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,119
Speaker 1: dressed like their male counterparts, but with less self seriousness

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00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:10,199
Speaker 1: and more whimsy baggy jeans, oversized shirts, boxer shorts, and

426
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:15,560
Speaker 1: flashy colors. Their vibe was upbeat, frisky, self assured. If

427
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 1: you want to know what so much of the early

428
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,560
Speaker 1: nineties were about, at least the good times, just take

429
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,840
Speaker 1: a look at the cover of their nineteen ninety two

430
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:28,119
Speaker 1: debut album, Oh On the TLC tip Joyous. In the

431
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,119
Speaker 1: video for the LP's lead single, Ain't Too Proud to

432
00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,639
Speaker 1: beg the group channeled that whimsy, positive energy, and wild

433
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,920
Speaker 1: style into a good cause. If pinning condoms to their

434
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,600
Speaker 1: clothes for their entree into the world was pretty whack

435
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,040
Speaker 1: Lisa left eye. Lopez putting one over her left eye

436
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,720
Speaker 1: was just extra. But when your rhymes and flow are

437
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,880
Speaker 1: so thoroughly enjoyable as hers were, you can get away

438
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,640
Speaker 1: with looking like some planned parenthood pirate. Take the songs

439
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,640
Speaker 1: hook for example, Yo, if I need it in the

440
00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 1: morning or the middle of the night, I ain't too

441
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 1: proud to BEG. If the lovin is strong and he

442
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:04,320
Speaker 1: got it going on and I ain't too proud to

443
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:07,920
Speaker 1: BEG two inches or a yard rock hard, or if

444
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: it's saggin, I ain't too proud to BEG. So it

445
00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,960
Speaker 1: ain't like I'm bragging. Just joined the pattiwagon because I

446
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:17,240
Speaker 1: ain't too proud to BEG. I ain't too proud to BEG. Okay,

447
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: I know it's weird when I recite rap lyrics, but

448
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 1: as many of you have noticed, we can't play the

449
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 1: songs on this podcast anyway. You have to admit that

450
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,200
Speaker 1: is a solid hook. The same way Sir mix a

451
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: Lot was promoting body positivity with Baby Got Back while

452
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,040
Speaker 1: still making it abundantly clear that he was horny as hell.

453
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 1: These ladies were all about getting freaky, but wrapping it

454
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 1: up left. I was literally slapping a condom on her face.

455
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,000
Speaker 1: She was a walking billboard for safe sex and then

456
00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 1: rapping about erect and soft penises. Speaking of billboards, this

457
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: song hit number six on the Billboard Hot one hundred

458
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,760
Speaker 1: and number two on the Billboard Hot R and B

459
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: hip Hop Songs Chart. How did this ship make it

460
00:29:55,400 --> 00:30:00,240
Speaker 1: on the radio? It's so penisy, but thank god it did. So.

461
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 1: How did the condom culture come about? Well, here's how

462
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:07,760
Speaker 1: Chili recalled it in a twenty seventeen teen Vogue interview quote,

463
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 1: we were on our way to the studio one day

464
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,720
Speaker 1: and a condom and safety pin weround the dresser, and

465
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:14,959
Speaker 1: when left I came outside, t Bows and I were

466
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,160
Speaker 1: waiting for her in the car. She had pinned the

467
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: condom to her pants. From that day, it became part

468
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 1: of our signature style. It wasn't a joke. It was

469
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,360
Speaker 1: serious messaging, wrapped in such a way that TLC could

470
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 1: actually get young, sexually active listeners to listen, said Chili

471
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 1: in the same interview quote. Some parents thought we were

472
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,120
Speaker 1: telling their kids to have sex, but we were making

473
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,040
Speaker 1: a fashion statement to make it easier to talk about sex.

474
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 1: As left I told the Los Angeles Times, in nineteen

475
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 1: ninety two quote, by making it a fashion statement, we're

476
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,520
Speaker 1: doing something more important, making a social statement. Kids listen

477
00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 1: to performers, and we have a duty to give them

478
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 1: certain critical information. We want something eyecatching, so when kids

479
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: see the condoms, they ask why do we wear condoms?

480
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:14,760
Speaker 1: And talk about condoms? That brings up the issue of

481
00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 1: safe sex. The point is to make condoms something kids

482
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:22,960
Speaker 1: aren't afraid of or ashamed of. In that same twenty

483
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 1: seventeen teen Vogue interview, t BOS specifically addressed HIV, saying quote,

484
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 1: during that time, so many people were getting diagnosed with HIV.

485
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: People were talking about it, but not really talking about it.

486
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: As role models, we knew we needed to start the conversation.

487
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 1: TLC would pop up on talk shows to explain their

488
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,120
Speaker 1: messaging and continue wearing condoms in the videos for their

489
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: next two singles, Baby Baby Baby and What About Your Friends,

490
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 1: both of which would hit the top ten. In two

491
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:53,080
Speaker 1: For one scene to the Baby Baby Baby video, they

492
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: plastered the side of a dorm building with posters boasting

493
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 1: the slogan protection is the priority. The summer of safe

494
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:03,080
Speaker 1: sex continue. The trio would later write specifically about HIV

495
00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,040
Speaker 1: and AIDS and their massive nineteen ninety five number one

496
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: hit Waterfalls, TLC and Salt and Peppa did something inconceivable

497
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety two. They made music that stressed the

498
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 1: importance of safe sex, but their PSA pop made it

499
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:22,240
Speaker 1: seem cool and fun. Another pop artist would take a

500
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,480
Speaker 1: different approach to discussions around sex and the AIDS crisis,

501
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 1: a much bolder, in your face approach. In nineteen ninety two,

502
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 1: Madonna was already pop's reigning queen of subversion, but in

503
00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,720
Speaker 1: the fall of that year, she would embark on her

504
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 1: most provocative shocking venture yet. The day after she dropped

505
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 1: her dance driven fifth studio album, Erotica, she would bring

506
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 1: sex to the table, specifically the coffee table, releasing a glossy, racy,

507
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 1: nudity filled photobook simply titled Sex The World was Shook

508
00:32:55,640 --> 00:33:17,160
Speaker 1: it Up. Next after the Break, we look back at

509
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,320
Speaker 1: the most controversial moment in Madonna's career and what money

510
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,800
Speaker 1: consider her most important, plus the story of how an

511
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 1: artist affected by AIDS left a lasting impression on the

512
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:47,840
Speaker 1: band YouTube. It was October nineteen ninety two. Madonna was

513
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:50,320
Speaker 1: not only the biggest pop star in the world, but

514
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: also it's most controversial, having blurred the lines between sex

515
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: and religion and gender roles, and turned a spotlight on

516
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 1: interracial relationships and queer relationships. But that month she would

517
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:07,360
Speaker 1: cross the line for many, releasing her provocative coffee table

518
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:12,319
Speaker 1: book Sex, a collection of erotic photography and softcore pornography

519
00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:15,880
Speaker 1: that depicted the singer and her clique in various positions,

520
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: states of undress, and stages of ecstasy. Along for the

521
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:24,759
Speaker 1: ride actress Isabella Rossellini, rapper Vanilla Ice, her lover at

522
00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 1: the time, model Naomi Campbell, gay porn star Joey Stefano,

523
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:36,040
Speaker 1: actor Udo Kier, and socialite Tatiana von Furstenberg. Homosexuality and

524
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:40,960
Speaker 1: sado masochism were major themes to shoot the book. Madonna

525
00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:45,440
Speaker 1: enlisted fashion photographers Stephen Mizell and Fabian Baron, who spearheaded

526
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 1: the relaunch of Andy Warhol's Interview in nineteen ninety. For inspiration,

527
00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,720
Speaker 1: they turned to the work of Gay Bardan, Helmut Newton,

528
00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:57,400
Speaker 1: and Robert Maplethorpe, known for his heavy use of queer

529
00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:01,200
Speaker 1: s and m imagery. The singer wrote the words, casting

530
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:06,360
Speaker 1: herself as dominatrix and sex fiend. Mistress Dieta, a character

531
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:10,759
Speaker 1: inspired by nineteen thirties film actress Dieta Parlow. If the

532
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:14,760
Speaker 1: endeavor was audacious and risky, it proved more than any

533
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:18,520
Speaker 1: other modern art book that Sex sells, to the tune

534
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:22,760
Speaker 1: of more than one point five million copies worldwide. Sex

535
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 1: sold out, and it became the best and fastest selling

536
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:39,960
Speaker 1: coffee table book ever. Madonna's goal was simple. Of course,

537
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:42,760
Speaker 1: she wanted to shock the world that was her Raisin detra,

538
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,360
Speaker 1: but like Salt and Peppa and TLC, she also wanted

539
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,319
Speaker 1: people to break the silence and talk about sex, to

540
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:55,320
Speaker 1: stop seeing it as of her boating topic. As she asserted, quote,

541
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,200
Speaker 1: sexual repression is responsible for a lot of bad behavior,

542
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 1: she sighed, and all my work, my thing has always

543
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,600
Speaker 1: been not to be ashamed of who you are, your body,

544
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 1: your physicality, your desires, your sexual fantasies. The reason there

545
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 1: is bigotry and sexism and racism and homophobia is fear.

546
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:21,000
Speaker 1: People are afraid of their own feelings, afraid of the unknown.

547
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:24,960
Speaker 1: And I am saying don't be afraid. Like Salt and

548
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,319
Speaker 1: Peppa and TLC, Madonna knew sex was killing people, but

549
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 1: she also insisted that not talking about sex was also

550
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,960
Speaker 1: killing people. Talking about safe sex could save them. To

551
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:39,160
Speaker 1: drive that point home, the book, which was ring bound

552
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,760
Speaker 1: with metal covers, came packaged in a zipped milar bag.

553
00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:46,000
Speaker 1: The sealed bag was meant to evoke a condom wrapper

554
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,560
Speaker 1: Madonna's Clever and Sexy Little PSA. In celebration of the

555
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: release of the book, the HMV Music Store in New

556
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 1: York City hosted a special Madonna lookalike contest and set

557
00:36:57,040 --> 00:36:59,000
Speaker 1: up a booth where people could pay a dollar a

558
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,360
Speaker 1: minute to paw through the book. The proceeds went to LIFEbeat,

559
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:06,120
Speaker 1: a music industry organization founded in nineteen ninety two to

560
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:11,880
Speaker 1: help fund aid's education research and prevention. Sex was released

561
00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:15,720
Speaker 1: a day after Madonna's fifth album, Erotica, but for many,

562
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:20,200
Speaker 1: the breuhaha over the book eclipsed the music. Her detractors

563
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:23,440
Speaker 1: were tired of the singer's porny, antics and attention seeking

564
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 1: and didn't even care to hear it, and of those

565
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:29,319
Speaker 1: who did take the time to listen, not everyone got it.

566
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,280
Speaker 1: Produced by Shep Pettibone, who co produced her massive nineteen

567
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:36,760
Speaker 1: ninety number one hit Vogue, and Andre Betts, who produced

568
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,239
Speaker 1: her other nineteen ninety number one hit, Justify My Love

569
00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 1: with Lenny Kravitz. The album had much more of a

570
00:37:42,160 --> 00:37:45,360
Speaker 1: house and hip hop vibe than her previous efforts. The

571
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:47,839
Speaker 1: record peaked at number two on the US Billboard two

572
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:51,480
Speaker 1: hundred album chart, becoming her first studio album since her

573
00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:54,960
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three debut not to top the chart. None

574
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,759
Speaker 1: of its singles hit number one. Madonna was thirty fourth

575
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:10,160
Speaker 1: time some declared her career, but for many, namely queer men,

576
00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:14,680
Speaker 1: Erotica as a nineties touchstone and a pop music touchsdone.

577
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:19,560
Speaker 1: Sal Sinquamani is a filmmaker, the co founder of Slant magazine,

578
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 1: and a writer whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard,

579
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,160
Speaker 1: and The Village Voice. He falls into the camp of

580
00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:28,160
Speaker 1: music lovers who would argue that while Erotica isn't Madonna's

581
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:31,800
Speaker 1: best album, it may bee her most important, partly because

582
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 1: she refused to back down on something she considered critical

583
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:40,319
Speaker 1: frank conversations about sex and AIDS, says Sinquamani. The more

584
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:42,480
Speaker 1: people push back on it, the more she wanted to

585
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,680
Speaker 1: put it out there, as she wanted to be no

586
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:49,960
Speaker 1: holds barred, like, just completely free, not thinking about the consequences.

587
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,200
Speaker 1: Because she didn't have any you know, there were no

588
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:53,919
Speaker 1: you know. She was going to be successful no matter

589
00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,920
Speaker 1: what in her mind. In nineteen ninety two, when sex

590
00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,919
Speaker 1: had become scary, when many were equating sex with aid

591
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,480
Speaker 1: and death, Madonna forced her audience to confront it. Her

592
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,759
Speaker 1: music had always been fueled by sex, most pop music was,

593
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:10,640
Speaker 1: but the lego virgin singer stripped back the artifice and

594
00:39:10,719 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 1: made her carnal desires crystal clear. She had been crucified

595
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 1: for that. But if there were ever a time to

596
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:19,360
Speaker 1: drill down on sex, she felt like this was it.

597
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,759
Speaker 1: Too many queer people were living their lives in secrecy,

598
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 1: too many of them were dying, and she knew she

599
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,600
Speaker 1: had the power to get people to pay attention. Yes,

600
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:33,399
Speaker 1: Erotica contains songs about sex. The title track, in which

601
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:37,760
Speaker 1: Madonna embraces her Dita alter ego, is total dam pop.

602
00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,080
Speaker 1: As the pre chorus goes, give it up, Do as

603
00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 1: I say, give it up and let me have my way.

604
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,240
Speaker 1: I'll give you love, I'll hit you like a trunk.

605
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:47,799
Speaker 1: I'll give you love. I'll teach you how to Oh.

606
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:52,840
Speaker 1: Where Life Begins is basically six minutes of innuendo for

607
00:39:52,920 --> 00:40:01,280
Speaker 1: Conelincus Welcome to our last episode Kids, all bets are off. However,

608
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:05,640
Speaker 1: where Life Begins also contains these lines, are you still hungry?

609
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 1: Aren't you glad you came? I'm glad you brought your raincoat.

610
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:12,280
Speaker 1: I think it's beginning to rain A nod to safe sex,

611
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 1: safe sex, but sexy the thing is for all its naughtiness.

612
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:22,120
Speaker 1: Erotica is mostly about the aftermath of sex, the repercussions

613
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 1: of sex, belonging, frustration, fear, heartache, and self destruction that

614
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:30,800
Speaker 1: comes after sex. See tracks like Bye Bye Baby, Waiting

615
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 1: and Bad Girl. And then there is In This Life

616
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,080
Speaker 1: About in which Madonna tackles the AIDS crisis head on,

617
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:42,839
Speaker 1: specifically remembering two loved ones she lost to AIDS. She

618
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:46,000
Speaker 1: was already an AIDS activist at the time, having spoken

619
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:48,279
Speaker 1: and written about the disease with the release of her

620
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:51,040
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine album Like a Prayer, but this was

621
00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:54,880
Speaker 1: her first work that addressed AIDS explicitly. She wrote the

622
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:57,520
Speaker 1: track about the deaths of her close gay friend Martin

623
00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:01,600
Speaker 1: Burgogne and gay mentor Christopher Flynn. The song captures that

624
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:04,560
Speaker 1: rare Madonna moment when she drops the veil and bears

625
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,919
Speaker 1: her soul, revealing her pain and anger over not only

626
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:12,000
Speaker 1: her personal loss, but also homophobia and the inaptitude America

627
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 1: had displayed in dealing with the disease. Why should he

628
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:19,600
Speaker 1: be treated differently? Shouldn't matter who you choose to love?

629
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 1: She sings then later because now you're gone, and I

630
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 1: have to ask myself what for People pass by? And

631
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:30,279
Speaker 1: I wonder who's next, who determines who knows best? Is

632
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 1: there a lesson I'm supposed to learn in this case?

633
00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:36,760
Speaker 1: Ignorance is not bliss. That last line echoes the lyrics

634
00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:39,960
Speaker 1: of George Michael's nineteen ninety two Brad Houghton Dan's cut.

635
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:43,240
Speaker 1: Do you really want to know when he sings? Because

636
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:45,560
Speaker 1: what you don't know can really hurt you, It can

637
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:49,920
Speaker 1: kill you. Baby. Sanquamani was a young teenager when Erotica

638
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:52,319
Speaker 1: came out. He was drawn to it and listened to

639
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 1: it NonStop. He was still figuring things out, but tracks

640
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:59,040
Speaker 1: like in This Life spoke to him. At that age.

641
00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 1: I sort of knew which she was talking about, and

642
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:03,279
Speaker 1: I knew that it was about me, and so I

643
00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 1: think that's why, you know, young queer kids in my

644
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 1: generation really sort of resonated with her so strongly. Because

645
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 1: she was talking to us and we knew that, but

646
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:15,480
Speaker 1: we couldn't say that, and we couldn't talk to our

647
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 1: friends or family about it. But here was this woman

648
00:42:18,719 --> 00:42:21,480
Speaker 1: talking to us about it directly, and it really felt

649
00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:24,080
Speaker 1: like there was a connection there. If you've listened to

650
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,359
Speaker 1: the album, it really sort of helped you understand why

651
00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 1: she was so passionate about that issue and why she

652
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:31,000
Speaker 1: was fighting for that issue. And then years later we

653
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: find out, you know, that she was going to Mexico

654
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:36,400
Speaker 1: to try to get experimental drugs and do all this

655
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:38,759
Speaker 1: stuff to try to save her friends. You know, it

656
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:40,759
Speaker 1: wasn't even about saving the world. She just wanted to

657
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:43,520
Speaker 1: save her friends who were dying. And it's really Madonna

658
00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:48,560
Speaker 1: singing about about her loss. In nineteen ninety two, queer

659
00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:51,200
Speaker 1: people felt like Madonna, who was already an icon and

660
00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:54,240
Speaker 1: so many of their minds, was finally speaking to them directly.

661
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:57,000
Speaker 1: Why is it so hard to love one another? She

662
00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:59,839
Speaker 1: asked on another Erotica song, Why is it so hard?

663
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:04,000
Speaker 1: Her remake of Fever, with its line Everybody's Got the

664
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 1: Fever could induce chills. Whether it was intentional or not.

665
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:12,759
Speaker 1: The AIDS subtext was there Madonna at a peak of

666
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:16,520
Speaker 1: her career, you know, really coming out and being vocal

667
00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 1: about it and talking about not being ashamed, and talking

668
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 1: about safe sex and putting these things out in the open.

669
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 1: I think really shaped my understanding of sexuality and safe sex.

670
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 1: All of the impact that AIDS had on how we

671
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:35,600
Speaker 1: connect with people, how we have sex with people, how

672
00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 1: we feel about ourselves. All of that is encompassed in

673
00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:42,200
Speaker 1: these songs that are seemingly not about AIDS, but it

674
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 1: just it's nineteen ninety two, and it's at the peak

675
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:50,520
Speaker 1: of the deaths and the peak of the publicity and

676
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,760
Speaker 1: fear mongering and teaching kids like me and health class

677
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:57,799
Speaker 1: that we're going to die. Literally, as SINGLEMANI reached his

678
00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:00,920
Speaker 1: twenties and then his dirties, as he came out and

679
00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:03,480
Speaker 1: came to better understand AIDS and the history of the

680
00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 1: struggle for LGBTQ rights, erotica took on a deeper significance.

681
00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:12,400
Speaker 1: I think its legacy is just that it reflects the

682
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:16,560
Speaker 1: fear of the time period. At that time, things that

683
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:21,080
Speaker 1: were happening with you know, the repression of people's sexuality,

684
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:23,920
Speaker 1: the fear of the homophobia. All of that was rooted

685
00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:26,640
Speaker 1: in fear of AIDS, and I think in that respect

686
00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:30,839
Speaker 1: the album is I think, if not the first, one

687
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:35,600
Speaker 1: of the first full pieces full albums that really is

688
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:39,520
Speaker 1: a reflection of the AIDS era. Stirred by personal loss,

689
00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:42,000
Speaker 1: the biggest pop star in the world put pen to

690
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:45,880
Speaker 1: page to express her grief, confusion, and frustration through some

691
00:44:46,680 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 1: she Wasn't alone. You Two, the biggest rock band in

692
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:04,880
Speaker 1: the world in nineteen ninety two, would also release a

693
00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:07,680
Speaker 1: song to touch on the complexity and tragedy of AIDS.

694
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:12,280
Speaker 1: Their track one remains one of the group's most beloved.

695
00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:16,960
Speaker 1: While frontman Bano preferred to keep its meaning ambiguous, allowing

696
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:19,800
Speaker 1: the song to connect the listeners navigating a variety of struggles,

697
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,600
Speaker 1: he has said his admiration and friendship with queer HIV

698
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:28,239
Speaker 1: positive artist and activist David Voynerovitch at least partly inspired it.

699
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:32,000
Speaker 1: When he began writing the lyrics, he envisioned a difficult

700
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:50,120
Speaker 1: conversation someone like Voynarovitch might have with their family, Esbano

701
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:54,279
Speaker 1: recalls in his twenty twenty two memoir Surrender, he improvised

702
00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:56,960
Speaker 1: a lyric about a son telling his religious father that

703
00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,640
Speaker 1: he was gay, much like Madonna's In This Life the

704
00:46:00,719 --> 00:46:04,919
Speaker 1: song delivers no real resolution. Bono writes, I don't think

705
00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:07,640
Speaker 1: we're all one. We can be one, but I don't

706
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:09,239
Speaker 1: think we have to see things the same way for

707
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:13,360
Speaker 1: that to be so, and anarchic thought. We're one, but

708
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,080
Speaker 1: we're not the same. We get to carry each other,

709
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 1: not that we've got to, just that we get to

710
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,840
Speaker 1: no answer, No nineteen eighties. We are the world idealism.

711
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:30,680
Speaker 1: Life had become more complicated in the nineties, but one

712
00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:35,160
Speaker 1: does call for more empathy, a deeper understanding. The choice

713
00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,520
Speaker 1: is yours. How much you wish to carry, give up,

714
00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:45,279
Speaker 1: keep trying, or come to peace with it. Red Hot

715
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:49,520
Speaker 1: co founder John Carlin introduced You To to Voynarovich. He'd

716
00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:53,400
Speaker 1: written an essay for a catalog for one of Voynarovitch's exhibitions,

717
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:56,360
Speaker 1: and after You Two recorded a song for the first

718
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:59,680
Speaker 1: Red Hot compilation album, Red Hot and Blue, Carlin sent

719
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,440
Speaker 1: its members the catalog is a thank you gift. They

720
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:05,920
Speaker 1: became collectors of his work. When it was time for

721
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:09,239
Speaker 1: You Two to release one in February nineteen ninety two,

722
00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:14,160
Speaker 1: Carlin helped them commission Voynarovich's photograph untitled Buffalo, as the

723
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:17,640
Speaker 1: cover of the single Voynarovitch had created the black and

724
00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:20,759
Speaker 1: white piece depicting a herd of buffalo falling over a

725
00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:24,200
Speaker 1: cliff in nineteen eighty eight when he was diagnosed. The

726
00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:28,480
Speaker 1: image is stark and startling, chaotic and tragic. The animals

727
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 1: plummet to their deaths. You want to save them, but

728
00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:34,960
Speaker 1: feel helpless. For many affected by AIDS during that period,

729
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:38,719
Speaker 1: the metaphor was clear. Carlin wrote the blurb on the

730
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:41,560
Speaker 1: back of the one single and arranged for its proceeds

731
00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:45,000
Speaker 1: to go to AMPHAR, the Foundation for aid's Research. One

732
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:48,040
Speaker 1: version of its video, directed by Mark Pellington, who directed

733
00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,200
Speaker 1: Pearl Jam's Jeremy video and the rud Hunt and Dance

734
00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:55,520
Speaker 1: documentary showcased slow motion footage of buffalo inspired by Voynarovich's image.

735
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:59,520
Speaker 1: Another version, filmed by Anton Korbyn, featured the band in drag,

736
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:02,520
Speaker 1: but Bo thought it reinforced stereotypes that everyone suffering from

737
00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:06,240
Speaker 1: AIDS was gay. The ultimate version was simpler Bono smoking

738
00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:10,239
Speaker 1: in a nightclub. As John Carlin, the man who brought

739
00:48:10,239 --> 00:48:12,800
Speaker 1: you two and the Artist together tells it, the last

740
00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:15,719
Speaker 1: time Voyennarovich ever left his apartment was to see a

741
00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:18,200
Speaker 1: U two concert at the Metal Lands in New Jersey.

742
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:22,120
Speaker 1: At that point, Vuynarovich had aids and was very close

743
00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:25,080
Speaker 1: to dying. He had been estranged from his family, having

744
00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:27,920
Speaker 1: run away from home like so many LGBTQ people in

745
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:31,400
Speaker 1: that era. Carlin wanted to reconcile him with his brother

746
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:34,719
Speaker 1: and sister, so he arranged an outing. I knew that

747
00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:39,400
Speaker 1: they could not turn down tickets to see You two

748
00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:44,640
Speaker 1: and go backstage at the Metal Lands, So David came

749
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:49,960
Speaker 1: to the concert in a wheelchair, his boyfriend Tom Rathenbard

750
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:55,040
Speaker 1: pushing And one of the most moving moments was Bono

751
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:59,960
Speaker 1: on stage stops right before he sings the song one

752
00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:02,600
Speaker 1: and said something to the effect of, you know, we're

753
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:05,200
Speaker 1: just pop artists, but there's a great artist in our

754
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:09,719
Speaker 1: next And they put the spotlight on David sitting there

755
00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:12,279
Speaker 1: in his wheelchair and his father and sister behind him,

756
00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:16,720
Speaker 1: and say, you know, this is a truly great artist,

757
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:21,400
Speaker 1: and it was just an amazing moment. Voynerovich died just

758
00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:24,839
Speaker 1: months after One was released, in July nineteen ninety two.

759
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:29,080
Speaker 1: He was thirty seven. You Two would anonymously pay off

760
00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:31,600
Speaker 1: his medical bills so that his estate didn't have to

761
00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:34,520
Speaker 1: have a fire cell of his work. Since then, Bano

762
00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:38,520
Speaker 1: has become one of music's most prominent HIV and AIDS activists.

763
00:49:39,600 --> 00:49:44,640
Speaker 1: Others would die. In ninety two, again AIDS related illnesses

764
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:46,879
Speaker 1: where the leading caused death from end between the ages

765
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:50,239
Speaker 1: of twenty five and forty four. That year. Artist whose

766
00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:53,880
Speaker 1: lives were claimed by AIDS and ninety two included Peter Allen,

767
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:58,959
Speaker 1: Tina Chow, Paul Jabara, Larry Levan, and Arthur Russell. There

768
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:30,520
Speaker 1: were many more. This story doesn't have the happiest ending.

769
00:50:31,200 --> 00:50:35,000
Speaker 1: I wish it did. Studies show a significant spike in

770
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:37,680
Speaker 1: the number of people infected with HIV and dying of

771
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:42,160
Speaker 1: AIDS in the nineteen nineties. Between nineteen ninety six and

772
00:50:42,200 --> 00:50:44,879
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, more than three million people were

773
00:50:44,880 --> 00:50:49,719
Speaker 1: infected every year. The number of AIDS related deaths increased

774
00:50:49,719 --> 00:50:52,120
Speaker 1: throughout the nineteen nineties and reached a peak in two

775
00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:54,600
Speaker 1: thousand and four and two thousand and five, when in

776
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:59,320
Speaker 1: both years close to two million people died. But wow,

777
00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:02,480
Speaker 1: have we come along way. The Centers for Disease Control

778
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:06,640
Speaker 1: and Prevention reported in twenty twenty one that HIV incidents

779
00:51:06,719 --> 00:51:10,520
Speaker 1: decreased by seventy three percent from the highest number of

780
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:13,760
Speaker 1: infections one hundred and thirty thousand, four hundred in nineteen

781
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:17,239
Speaker 1: eighty four and eighty five to thirty four thousand, eight

782
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:23,160
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty nineteen. Thanks to anti retroviral therapy, people

783
00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:26,120
Speaker 1: with HIV and AIDS today can expect to live long lives,

784
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:31,239
Speaker 1: and we have countless activists, including musicians, to thank for that.

785
00:51:34,560 --> 00:51:37,879
Speaker 1: By nineteen ninety two, Elton John had lost his friend

786
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:41,279
Speaker 1: Freddie Mercury, whom he visited in his dying days, and

787
00:51:41,440 --> 00:51:45,080
Speaker 1: another friend, Ryan White, a teenager who was infected with

788
00:51:45,200 --> 00:51:48,240
Speaker 1: HIV by a blood transfusion and who died in nineteen

789
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:53,239
Speaker 1: ninety just before his high school graduation. In October nineteen

790
00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:56,239
Speaker 1: ninety two, the same month Madonna's In This Life would

791
00:51:56,239 --> 00:51:59,880
Speaker 1: appear on her album Erotica, John would release a single

792
00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:03,080
Speaker 1: inspired by his loss, told from the point of view

793
00:52:03,080 --> 00:52:07,120
Speaker 1: of a dying man reuniting with his estranged father. John's track,

794
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:10,959
Speaker 1: the last song from his nineteen ninety two album The One,

795
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:15,120
Speaker 1: was the first single he released to benefit the Elton

796
00:52:15,239 --> 00:52:19,720
Speaker 1: John AIDS Foundation, the nonprofit organization he founded that fall

797
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:24,359
Speaker 1: to support education, prevention, treatment, and services to people living

798
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:28,080
Speaker 1: with HIV and AIDS. The Elton John Aids Foundation is

799
00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 1: the second largest HIV related funder of LGBTQ plus populations

800
00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:36,960
Speaker 1: and the fifth largest HIV related funder overall. Since nineteen

801
00:52:37,040 --> 00:52:40,719
Speaker 1: ninety two, it is funded more than three thousand projects

802
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:43,920
Speaker 1: in over ninety countries and raised more than five hundred

803
00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:47,280
Speaker 1: and twenty five million dollars for HIV AIDS grants globally.

804
00:52:48,480 --> 00:52:51,879
Speaker 1: For red Hot co founder John Carlin, nineteen ninety two

805
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:54,840
Speaker 1: was bittersweet, a time of great laws, but also a

806
00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:58,080
Speaker 1: time of great change and great hope. I think in

807
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:02,799
Speaker 1: around nineteen ninety two and doing all these read out projects,

808
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:06,240
Speaker 1: I realized that, you know, artists have become the moral

809
00:53:06,360 --> 00:53:12,120
Speaker 1: voice of our culture. And they weren't like heathenists. They

810
00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:18,319
Speaker 1: weren't people who were like contrary subversive forces. In some

811
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:24,800
Speaker 1: weird way, the politicians and the business people became reprehensible.

812
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:30,239
Speaker 1: They were the people you couldn't trust for guiding us

813
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:34,640
Speaker 1: through society, and somehow it became artists, you know, Bono,

814
00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:39,600
Speaker 1: George Michael, for all their complexity as human beings, they

815
00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:44,960
Speaker 1: have become our moral guide. In nineteen ninety two, MTV

816
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:49,120
Speaker 1: would air its first episode of the Real World, kickstarting

817
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:53,160
Speaker 1: the modern reality TV movement and initiating the network's gradual

818
00:53:53,239 --> 00:53:57,480
Speaker 1: move away from music videos. Music television would never be

819
00:53:57,520 --> 00:54:02,080
Speaker 1: the same, but the music itself hit deep in nineteen

820
00:54:02,200 --> 00:54:07,439
Speaker 1: ninety two. It felt massive, resounding, monumental, grunge, g funk,

821
00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:10,840
Speaker 1: new age, hip hop, top shelf, R and B line dancing,

822
00:54:11,239 --> 00:54:16,000
Speaker 1: same sex, lust and love, artist protesting against police brutality

823
00:54:16,080 --> 00:54:21,239
Speaker 1: and child abuse, artist protesting four LGBTQ rights and the

824
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:25,480
Speaker 1: fight to end AIDS. It was a time of shattered records,

825
00:54:25,840 --> 00:54:36,680
Speaker 1: shattered hearts, and shattered expectations. Maybe we only fully understand

826
00:54:36,719 --> 00:54:40,880
Speaker 1: how wild, shocking, and absolutely fabulous nineteen ninety two was

827
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:47,040
Speaker 1: now some thirty years later. Music a reflection of our culture, yes,

828
00:54:47,640 --> 00:54:50,359
Speaker 1: as John Carlin puts it, the moral voice of our

829
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:54,520
Speaker 1: culture so often. Yes, a way to affect change and

830
00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:58,200
Speaker 1: shift our culture. Yes, and here's hoping it continues to

831
00:54:58,320 --> 00:55:01,040
Speaker 1: as we sold her on, because music has been all

832
00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:12,200
Speaker 1: those things forever. But oh my god, was it extra

833
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:52,360
Speaker 1: special in nineteen ninety two. Where Were You in ninety

834
00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:56,120
Speaker 1: two was a production of iHeartRadio. The executive producers are

835
00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:59,480
Speaker 1: Noel Brown and Jordan run Tag. The show was researched,

836
00:55:59,600 --> 00:56:02,960
Speaker 1: written and hosted by me Jason Laffier with editing and

837
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:06,440
Speaker 1: sound design by Michael Alder June. If you like what

838
00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:09,400
Speaker 1: you heard, please subscribe and leave us a review. For

839
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:12,799
Speaker 1: more podcasts from My Heart Radio, check out the iHeartRadio app,

840
00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,800
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,