‘Verboten’ Documents Homosexual Offerings To Popular Music

When most people see a list of the recordings in an upcoming four-CD boxed set from DCC Compact Classics, they’ll probably assume they’re holding a collection of some of the most celebrated music in American pop history.

And they will be. The titles include Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow,” Duke Ellington’s “Satin Doll,” Doris Day’s “Secret Love,” Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” and Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.”

But there is a more ambitious concept behind the 63 songs in “Club Verboten,” which is due in stores April 22.

The package, including a 96-page booklet penned by television writer and music historian Richard Oliver, documents one of the most colorful, if often unchronicled, chapters in contemporary culture: the contributions of the gay and lesbian community to mainstream popular music.

Though not all were written or performed by homosexuals, the cuts on “Club Verboten” have all made a strong connection to gay and lesbian listeners either because of their lyrical themes or the artists involved.

Touching on music from the days of Noel Coward and Cole Porter through Billy Strayhorn and Janis Ian, the pop portion of the collection opens with “Masculine Women, Feminine Men,” a gender-bending sendup from 1926 that includes the unforgettable line, “Which is a rooster, which is a hen?/ It’s hard to tell ‘em apart today.” The third disc ends with a 1995 Gloria Gaynor recording of the celebratory gay anthem “I Am What I Am,” from the musical “La Cage aux Folles.”

Selections on the classical disc include the “Death in Venice” suite by Benjamin Britten, whose 35-year relationship with tenor Peter Pears resulted in several operas written especially for the acclaimed singer, and “Dybbuk” by the bisexual Leonard Bernstein.

Alan Klein, national communications director for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, calls the eclectic set a “groundbreaking” project.

“In essence,” Klein says, “it is a time capsule for many gay and lesbian music lovers.”

DCC is hoping that “Club Verboten” also appeals to a mainstream audience.

“Whether you’re gay or not makes no difference,” says Oliver. “It’s really a celebration of music. I mean, who can say no to Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart?”