On Monday, Jan 27, 2003, at 21:27 Europe/London, Jim Leonard wrote:
I'd find it to be interesting "JC" to know why it is that Joni has
such a large gay following - or, even, a predominantly gay following,
if one
is to judge by the demographics of those who post regularly to the
JMDL.
I have a theory about this one, which I've discussed with a few
other JMDLers, and we've been broadly in agreement.
I started listning to Joni with Hejira, DJRD and Hissing,
followed by Court & Spark. At the same time, I'd not long
(as in a few years ago) figured out that I was gay, and was
putting myself through the wringer by managing to fall in
love with a straight friend of mine. Except I didn't know
that's what I was doing, but I was, regardless.
Anyway, suffice to say, her music immediately appealed to
me because of it's talk of love, and the fact that there
were so many lyrics which resonated so strongly with my
*feelings* at the time (and a few times since then, too).
Fast forward a few years, and I know much more about who
I am: I've spent an unhealthy amount of time navel-gazing,
analyzing what's going on in my head, analyzing what I want
out of life, analyzing my emotions, and so on. I've come to
the conclusion that Joni appeals to a large amount of GLBT
folk because many of these people have been through the
same process, are going through it, or are aware that they
should, and end up empathising so strongly with her lyrics.
Anyone with me on this one? :)
--Chris Marshall
chrisAThatstand.org (AIM: Chr15Marshall)
"If you're ever lost, I'll beat the world to finding you"
Stryngs, "Bobblehats and Beer", http://www.stryngs.com/
