In a recent post, I suggested that the commercial failure of Rufus
Wainwright's excellent record was due, in part, because "Rufus pushes the
"gay thing" to excess, and I'm convinced it's this that has managed to turn
off the straight audience
completely. Had I been consulted, I'd have recommended he downplay the gay
thing - which he emphasises to excess, all the time, and interminably - and
just deliver the music."
This upset Neil Weiss, who wrote:
>I understand where you are coming from, Richard, with your mindset being
>to help an >artist achieve the maximum level of success that he/she can.
>But what price success? >The suggestion that Rufus should keep his
>homosexuality to himself in order to sell >more records is just the kind
>of crap that gives the record industry a bad name.
What I did suggest was NOT that Rufus stay in the closet; anyone who meets
him, sees him on-stage, or spends more than five minutes with him will get
the message that he's gay. I did suggest, in a world that is still mostly
straight, that Rufus' "guns-a-blazing" approach - which may or may not
qualify him as, in Neil's phrase, as "a fucking hero" - has damaged his
commercial prospects.
That's the fault of society as a whole rather than of Rufus. Recognizing
this, I would have said: "Rufus, you're gay. Enjoy. But a lot of people
are going to have trouble dealing with this. Don't hide it - it's who you
are. But don't throw it in peoples' faces." I have a pretty secure
feeling that Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin probably told him the same thing...
But if Dreamworks DID spend a million bucks on this, and if it's true that
it has sold a paltry 35,000 copies, I wouldn't expect another major
investment in this artist in a hurry, and we'll all be the poorer for it.
Audience members who are gay - instantly recognize "their own" and
enthusasitically support them; k.d. had a gay audience from the get-go,
long before she came out. Ditto Dusty Springfield, ditto Elton John, ditto
George Michael.
I must say that I found Neil's final line - "Would you suggest that James
Brown be less Black, or Oasis less British?" - rather offensive. Of course
not; James Brown IS black, Oasis IS British. And while Rufus is indeed
gay, and that sensibility informs his music, I still think he and his music
would have gained wider acceptance if he hadn't flaunted it so loudly, so
interminably, and so insistently. Once he's made "star" he can do what he
wants; till then, a bit of discretion may help. And if that's "the sort of
crap that gives the record industry a bad name" I'm sorry...
Cheers,
Richard
