“The Secret Public” Illustrates Music’s Role in the Rise of Queer Culture from the ’50s to the ’70s

THE SECRET PUBLIC book cover image.
THE SECRET PUBLIC cover image courtesy of “W. W. Norton & Company”

Music holds a certain power when invoking change. Whether it be artists like The Beatles and their pushback toward politics or David Bowie coming out and remaining wildly successful, many paved the way for queer culture to be in the mainstream as we see it today.

In his new book, Jon Savage explores pop music from 1955 through 1979 and the queer artists that were responsible for queer cultural breakthroughs. Beginning with Little Richard and ending with the collapse of disco, Savage takes us through how significant figures led to a massive social change bringing queer culture out of the shadows.

“The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream” is split into five parts, each containing seven chapters that explore major moments and people as well as legal and social occurrences at the time.

Each part kicks off with a specific month and year: November 1955, September 1961, June 1967, January 1973 and January 1978, according to Savage. He discusses icons like David Bowie, Johnnie Ray and Andy Warhol as well as significant influences such as “Saturday Night Fever,” the launch of Gay News and the progression of disco.

The book also explores some of the harsher realities of these times as well like Mary Whitehouse trying to shut down the Gay News in the U.K., the Homophile Movement advocating for LGBTQ+ equal rights and the discrimination queer people faced, according to Savage.

This is not the first time Savage has explored significant music eras and their impact. He wrote novels such as “England’s Dreaming” about punk rock and the Sex Pistols, “Teenage” where he explores the creation of youth culture, “1966” shaping the future of pop music and an oral history of the band Joy Division.

“All of these were projects that I wanted to do off the top of my head,” Savage says. “And then suddenly the way was clear to write this book.”

Savage says “The Secret Public” was influenced by his own experiences growing up gay in the U.K. in the 1960s, where the culture allowed youth, including himself, to find something to connect with.

“The experience of seeing something in popular culture that made you think, ‘Okay, I’m not getting any messages about who I am from my parents. I’m not getting any messages about who I am from my teachers or even from my peers. But here’s something that’s giving me a message about who I am.’ It’s really glamorous and really exciting,” Savage says.

For Savage, that moment of realization was seeing The Kinks perform “You Really Got Me” in 1964. He also says David Bowie coming out in 1972 saying “I’m gay and I always have been” was a major influence on him and was a major moment at the time.

Headshot of author Jon Savage.
Jon Savage photo by Jeff Cottenden

“Bowie, who’d said that he was gay, basically bossed British pop culture for two years and that was an incredible thing to see,” Savage says.

That time was very liberating and music being less censored at the time allowed its images, ideas, sounds and feelings to reach people and pop culture in a way other media couldn’t, Savage says.

“I think pop music does have that power because music isn’t in the language of news, it’s not in the language of current affairs, it speaks to people’s feelings,” Savage says.

While exploring pop culture and queer culture in the book, Savage says he wanted to make sure the tone was right. The tone is written in a serious style that gives testament to what gay people went through and respects the pioneers of the time.

Reading through what gay people had to face in the ’50s and ’60s, including the horrible names thrown at them, was upsetting and angering, says Savage. Although, many parts were enjoyable to research like going deeper into the story of why Bowie decided to come out and looking into the early gay roots of disco, especially all of the brilliant records.

He says this book has always been at the back of his mind, so he’s collected materials such as books and magazines over 40 years.

“The book has, by the time I really realized I was gay, probably taken 55 years for me to actually write this,” Savage says. “Not because I’ve not been out, but just because other things got in the way.”

Savage says he hopes the book opens doors for more specifically targeted histories to be written such as the lesbian history of pop music. He also hopes that readers listen to some of the records mentioned throughout the book. From disco to rock, there’s no shortage of artists to discover and enjoy from this novel.

“The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture From the Margins to the Mainstream” by Jon Savage will be released on Feb. 4 in the U.S.

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