Gay Pride: Boys

The times they are a-changin’ . . . again. This calls for a party in celebration of progress, for which our Gay Pride: Boys Essentials reminds you how far we’ve all eased on down that yellow brick road toward better, brighter days. And what better track to kick off the party than GaGa’s defiant, dance-floor-slammin’ statement of pride and defiance “Born This Way,” which is backed by Madonna’s pioneering call-to-confidence “Express Yourself.” Want to hear a boys’ a cappella choir out-camping Katy Perry? Then satisfaction is yours, once you’ve cued-up the Dalton Academy Warblers’ version of “Teenage Dream,” from Glee.

Celebrate the influential and eternal ’80s, in Next Steps.

To be out and proud at the start of the 2010s is a way more accessible experience than it was during the ‘80s, when so many closets remained firmly padlocked. Maybe that’s why those nuggets from the Reagan era still sound so groundbreaking and game-changing. Alt-rock icon Morrissey was fronting the Smiths when he made shyness a cause for celebration with “This Charming Man,” proof-positive that the awkward underdog has, indeed, inherited the earth, amid struggle and longing, while Frankie Goes to Hollywood put it all on the line in groundbreaking fashion with “Relax.” Of course, the ’80s could never completely eclipse the ’70s, as ABBA, Lipps Inc., and Hot Chocolate all confirm.

Tune into the new wave of prideful divas, in Deep Cuts.

No pride celebration is complete without a nod to the next wave of boundary shattering divas — not all of them ladies in this new era of dancing outside the box and across the musical spectrum. Rufus Wainwright waves the rainbow flag over “Gay Messiah,” while Kylie makes a convincing Aphrodite with “All the Lovers.” Rewinding the clock, earthy Brit chanteuse Alison Moyet dials up the passion with timeless Yaz club classic “Don’t Go,” and we make your pride party rule Supreme with that other Boss — Miss Ross, and her amazing version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” — along with surefire floor-fillers, including Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record).”

These days, pride is a year-round celebration and everybody is invited to the party. That means when June hits, you can turn up these celebratory tracks that much louder as a reminder of what true progress, evolution, and transformation sound like in this new dawn of hope and optimism. Pride is all about the mix. Whether it’s classic disco from ’70s sirens Diana Ross, Grace Jones, and the late Donna Summer, ’80s alt-anthems courtesy of the Cure, Depeche Mode, and the Smiths, or uncompromising, uncategorizable pop hybrids from the ’90s and ’00s in the form of Antony & The Johnsons, and MIKA, our Gay Pride: Boys Essentials covers four decades of unity, uplift, and liberation, showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon.