Aural Fixation

Mom, she is a rich man – and one of the fiercest icons in the queer canon at that. Cherilyn Sarkisian's inimitable force has carried her from 1965 to the present day. There really is no one like Cher. A towering goddess of this stature couldn't be tackled by Drew and Andy alone, so we roped in long-time listener and huge friend of the pod, Matthew Harden – aka @slaydydiana . Slaydy diall...

If you're not listening to Quick Fix, you're only getting half the story – and we've got the full download on the lead single, "Tenderoni", from Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke's first solo album The Boxer . Released ten (!?) years ago, Kele's bold new musical direction and image was in stark contrast to that curated over Bloc Party's meteroic rise to fame...

Over 30 years ago, Beverly Glenn-Copeland released Keyboard Fantasies , a six track album that sold very few copies. It wasn’t until a Japanese music stan discovered the album in 2015 and shared it amongst his fellow audiophiles that it was lauded as a new-age, synthesised masterpiece. Before long, a number of record labels were fighting to sign Copeland, now in his seventies. From there the fasci...

Heaven is, in fact, a Quick Fix on Earth, as well as four minutes of utter pop excellence performed by iconic ally Belinda Carlise. Join us for an exploration of this A grade masterpiece, including but not limited to, topics such as why this song is so bloody good, why this song is particularly gay, and why “San Junipero” is the greatest episode of Black Mirror ever.   If you’ve made it this far i...

What have I done to deserve this? What are we going to do about the rich? I don’t know what you want but I can’t give it to you – musings we should all be considering, or Pet Shop Boys song titles? Both!   We’re well into Cycle 4, and for a supposed queer music podcast we took our sweet time getting to this iconic duo. Nevertheless, here we are with the PSBs, an act who have shaped many of the art...

Few break-up tracks capture the boppery, struttery and sheer i’m-so-over-you-ery found soaked throughout Song 4 Mutya, our next selection for Aural Fixation's Quick Fix . Conceived by UK electronica duo Groove Armada, the song was originally meant for Estelle before being handed to ex-Sugababe (and current hun) Mutya Buena shortly after she departed the band. We couldn’t imagine it in anyone...

As we’re sure you’re aware, recent developments surrounding Madame Rona and government mandates regarding social distancing mean that for the foreseeable future, Drew and Andy won't be able to record Aural Fixation in the same room as one another for a while.  While we play around with ways in which we can record our episodes remotely, we wanted to share our first ever experiment with you – E...

In the grand tradition of reality TV show companion spin-offs broadcast on D-grade companion TV channels, we're keeping the flame burning at Aural Fixation with Quick Fix: Shorter episodes focusing on a song, rather than an album, which left a similar impact on our queer selves.   We're kicking off with a look at the "finest all-female collaboration between 1988 and 2018" (a bi...

The world continues to get more topsy turvy, but it also continues to spin, so therefore you have a brand new episode of Aural Fixation. We're kicking off with an artist who, quite frankly we cannot believe we haven't tackled sooner! Hang on – have we done Robyn before?   As you can imagine with three EPs and a lot of heartbreak to get through, it's a bumper episode indeed, which we...

We can't lie – these are mysterious times. Everything feels a little bizarre and confusing at the moment, but something you can rely on is your fortnightly dose of unbridled queer joy from Drew and Andy. To wrap up our third (third!) season (cycle?), the boys once again take a deep dive into the DMs to provide their answers to your questions. This ep is pepped with conjecture on Gaga's u...

Have you ever felt like you’re ever-so-slightly less-than? Do you ever get the sense that you’re living in someone else’s shadow? Have you, too, experienced that niggling sensation that there is somebody else – somebody more successful than you, more recognised, more universally revered – consistently beating you to the punch? OF COURSE YOU DO! You’re queer for christ sake, those feelings of inade...

We’re coming out, and we want the world to know … that not all gay men are born with an innate, all-encompassing love for disco, ok!? In fact, only 50% of Aural Fixation was, as we discover on a glitter ball-guided tour through 1980’s diana , by Diana Ross. Released in the disco revolution’s twilight years, diana was the Boss breaking free from the shackles of Motown, the record label which made h...

A tornado blew around the Aural Fixation recording studio before we came, and, well, excuse the mess it made! Ok, that analogy can only go so far,  but nonetheless, the memorable opener from Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You” has endured since it’s 2012 release on Channel Orange . At the time, a ground-breaking hip hop album documenting the lost loves of a 23 year old finding out who he is, Frank ha...

It’s hard to believe that the Spice Girls were active for less than two years during their initial run as a (Spice Force) five-piece. Hot on the heels of their ground-breaking 1996 debut Spice , the gals were on a roll when they put out both Spiceworld (the album) and Spice World (the movie) in 1997. By this point they were cooking with gasoline-soaked platforms, overtaking the globe with their tr...

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers met at school before forming femme folk twosome Indigo Girls in 1985. They’ve performed together steadily ever since, providing the soundtrack to sapphic glances across campfire singalongs the world over. In this episode, Drew and Andy take a look at their self-titled LP. Released at a time where queer female voices were scarce, the album became a beacon for the lesbian c...

God rest ye merry queers, and step into an Aural Fixation wonderland for our very first Christmas special.   Drew and Andy take each other on a Yuletide journey down and up their respective memory lanes, applying their now trademark Queer Analysis™ to exactly what makes a merry music moment so magical. Each picking their eight favourite festive bops, the boys riff on the spectrum of emotions Chris...

Does any gay icon better illustrate the Anglo-Australian tapestry of Aural Fixation than Kylie Minogue? Just why it took so long for us to sit down with the Princess of Antipodean Pop is unexplainable and inexcusable, but we’re here now, spinning around, so ploise move out of our way.   After blazing through the late 80s as Stock Aitken Waterman’s poster girl and notching up four UK number ones, K...

As part of teen pop two-piece Wham!, George Michael was every little hungry schoolgirl’s – and statistically one tenth of all little hungry schoolboy’s – pride and joy. With his hair feathered, his torso bronzed and his shorts shortened, George spent the first seven years of his career selling more than 30 million records globally alongside ghost of pop past Andrew Ridgely. By 1987, it was time fo...

We begin our third collection of musings on queer musos with a deep dive into Andy’s second favourite of all time, Mother Björk. Defiantly impossible to compare to pretty much any other artist, queers the world over have clasped Bjork to their alternative bosoms since her 1993 first album Debut , but what exactly is it about her body of work, visual language and legacy that appeals so directly to...

Q: Can Andy and Drew last an hour without talking about Madame X or Mother Monster? A: No.   Q: Can Andy and Drew last five minutes without talking about Madame X or Mother Monster? A: Also no.   By popular demand, the boys wrap up the second season (!) of Aural Fixation with another bumper Q&A session. But this time there’s a twist – any word of either of their #1 bitches comes with a punishm...

Aural Fixation’s second season of queer icons wraps up with our most contemporary yet. Ariana Grande might be the most popular artist among queer people under the age of, erm... twenty-five, but in recent years has trodden a path taken by very few, if any, of her peers.   Released just six months apart, Sweetener and thank u, next both represent a different side to the complex coin of Grande’s car...

It’s the early seventies and Dame Elton John is spaffing out music like it’s nobody’s business. As part of his songwriting sisterhood with Bernie Taupin, Elton had already gifted us with six albums by early 1973, featuring hits such as “Your Song”, “Tiny Dancer” and “Crocodile Rock”. You’d think at this point the gal needed a break. Actually – if you’ve seen Rocket Man , you’d know the gal needed...

Whether you've been a regular on the fan forum since 2002 or you simply know them as the band that did the song from Romeo and Juliet , chances are you know a little about this episode's subject – Garbage. But there is no way in gay hell you know anywhere near as much as this episode's guest, Liam, who has deeply stanned the band ever since discovering an obscure Garbage remix on hi...

Gimme a beat! This is a story about Control – Janet Jackon's Control , the 1986 album which quite literally birthed an entire genre (Siri, what's 'new jack swing'?), and placed the Jackson Five's little sister on a path to international stardom, selling 100 million records worldwide and directly influencing artists as diverse as Britney, Beyoncé and, erm, Heidi from the Su...

What do maketh a queer icon? Pop princess blighted by tragedy – tick. Indie darlings, misunderstood by their contemporaries but retrospectively lauded – check. Alexandra Burke – say no more, dot com.   How about an effeminate, sexually ambiguous teenager pulled from small town 70s England to front a reggae-influenced pop rock band who would go on to sell 150 million albums, and soundtrack wedding...