Music | Already 50 years ago, Lou Reed released a taboo-breaking hit about trans people with the help of David Bowie

“Now we’re coming out! Out of our closets, out on the streets!” (“We’re coming out, out of the closets and out into the streets!”)

Thus triumphantly sang Lou Reed already 50 years ago on his album Transformeron the cover of which she poses with strong make-up on her face, looking into the distance.

“If you think we’re gonna make it, you better hang on to yourself!” (“If you think we can make it, stick to who you are!”)

And so encouraged David Bowie on the album released in the same year The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Marson the cover of which she oozes androgynous, colorfully dressed, proudly and casually looking at the camera.

These two albums did a lot for mainstream rock. They sang more openly and honestly about sexual minorities than ever before.

Reed’s and Bowie’s characters were not provocative hotshots, but interesting but normal people who experience both non-belonging and joy and humor.

Perhaps the most famous song by Reed With Transformer is a hit Walk on the Wild Side. It tells about the trans people Reed knows and other people living on the wild side of New York. Its lyrics are humorous, but open and tender. Today it is considered a counterculture anthem.

Reed was fascinated by how the people in his close circle each managed to develop their own, beautiful version of themselves, regardless of what others thought was appropriate.

The song is about real people, many of whom are significant figures in the history of the trans community. Among them are Actors and transicons Candy Darling mixed Holly Woodlawn.

Reed sings, among other things, how Holly plucked her eyebrows and shaved her legs and then “he” became “she”.

At the end of each verse, one of Reed’s characters invites the listener to take a short walk on the wild path.

Walk on the Wild Side was already very successful in its time and despite its taboo subjects, it was played a lot on the radio.

In Britain, its words referring to oral sex (“But she never once lost her head, even when she was giving head”) slipped past the censor because the radio staff apparently did not know the meaning of the slang expression in question.

Slightly earlier that year, David Bowie’s album was also released The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It is similar thematically and musically Transformers. There is a reason for this.

Before his solo career, Reed played in the unpopular but hugely important band The Velvet Underground, which sang about topics unknown to the mainstream at the time, such as drug addiction and sex work.

The Velvet Underground strongly inspired David Bowie, who was also attracted to people living on the fringes of society. Bowie himself began to deal with similar topics and therefore somewhat hijacked Reed’s image.

While the world was apparently not yet ready to hear about drugs and gays in the days of The Velvet Underground, Bowie rose to fame a few years later by singing about these topics.

After The Velvet Underground broke up, Reed’s solo career didn’t take off, so Bowie, who had become a superstar, saw an opportunity to help one of his role models.

He produced his guitarist Mick Ronson’s with Transformer and helped market it. Bowie can be heard, among other things, as a backing singer on numerous songs.

Also The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust tells in its own way about the feelings of not belonging.

On the album, Bowie creates an alter ego for himself called Ziggy Stardust and builds an interesting and touching sci-fi story around him, in which the alien Ziggy is sent to earth to spread the good news of rock to the youth of the planet.

However, Ziggy happens to be an androgynous bisexual, which is why he faces a lot of trouble in the country.

“People Stare at the makeup on his face, laugh at his long black hair”, Bowie sings in the song Lady Stardust. (“People stare at the makeup on her face, laugh at her long hair.”)

Homosexuality and transgenderism were still very controversial topics in the 1970s. With the counterculture born at the end of the 60s, talking about the position of sexual minorities also started to rise to the arenas of culture little by little.

Reed and Bowie were both openly bisexual. As a teenager, Reed was even forced into electroshock therapy because of his sexual orientation, which was a truly traumatic experience for him.

For decades, it has been important for new generations to see how Reed and Bowie rose to fame in their own right 50 years ago.

Correction 2.7. at 2:39 p.m.: In the caption, Lou Reed was said to have performed in Milan in 1975. However, he did perform in Milan.