Okay, how stupid were girls in the 80s?

[shipperx]

Getting ready for bed and they're doing a "Wham" thing on VH1. They're talking about teen girls in the 80s thinking of George Michael as a sex symbol. Dude! I was as naive as they come in the mid-80s, and I was well aware from his first video that the boy was gay. He was clearly gay. Did most girls in the 80s NOT realize that he was gay?

Comments

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Think back to the climate then. We really didn't HAVE "out" celebrities. Hell, Rock Hudson denied it till his death!

It's hard to believe how much has changed in 20 or so years - but it's very true!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but... the earrings, the pink, and the short-shorts! :)

I remember that there was always some sort of code that a guy with an earring in one ear (forget which) meant gay and if in the other ear it meant straight. And George Michael had them in both ears. I thought that was a pretty clear statement right off the bat. I loved "Never Gonna Dance Again," But I thought that "Wake Me Up Before I Go, Go" held a pretty out and out statement that the guy was bi. And I really was as naive as they come... or at least I thought I was. (Let's put it this way, it took me years to figure out that the name Queen indicated more than just a name). :)

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

OK...context...

The pink? This was the 80s. Lime Green and Pink were IN. Preppy, remember? And then, rocker-preppy, wherein the pink got used in other stuff :)

ShortShorts? Dude - I need to dig out some pix of frat boys from 1983 for you ;)

And the earrings THREW US. Yes, there was supposedly some code (which mutated enough that NO one eventually knew what it meant) - but 2 ears? We figured "ok, it's just a fashion statement". Seriously! Cause it didn't fit into any of the codes as then understood.

And the song? Hell - it was bouncy, and good to dance to when you were drunk. It had lyrics? *giggle*

And all this was AFTER it had dawned on me that I was bi ;)

We just expected our rockers to be more off the wall than normal folks.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Oh, believe me, I owned tons of green and pink stuff. I just always assumed that George Michael was gay. :)

[xionin.livejournal.com]

gay or not, he's still fuckable.
besides, he's bi.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

He was never the type I lusted after. In the 80s my crushes were Pierce Brosnan and Rick Springfield (yes, I was quite the preppy). I liked Wham's music, but I always assumed he was gay. :) He was cute, and he had pipes. But he was never a celebrity that I crushed on.

[xionin.livejournal.com]

i guess i didn't find him attractive until the 90s. 80s george is just too 'pop' for me.

michael biehn was my 80s crush.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... Michael Beihn is a quality 80s crush.

[xionin.livejournal.com]

and he's back! doing a show about vegas on one of the networks this fall. :]

[artemis-child.livejournal.com]

The bit that cracks me up is that wholesome, all-American, PGest PG evah! show "Full House" had George Michael's poster up in the eldest daughter's bedroom as her longstanding celebrity crush. Little did they know...*snerk*
And yeah, the short shorts combined with the pink and the jumping should've been a clue to his bisexuality, but then again he did hang around top models a lot so I suppose that gave him the benefit of the doubt or something *shrugs*

[paratti.livejournal.com]

All the (English) footballers of the time wore the really short shorts. And started taking their shirts off. /back now.
Gay was Marc Almond ans Tainted Love, and later the Frankie Goes to Hollywood gay orgy/bondage video.
And George had Pepsi and Shirley for beards.

Though things may have been different in the US.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's really hard to tell with British men anyway. I mean, even if they're total yobbos, there's always this, er, undercurrent. [g]

That said, I knew Michael was gay when I first saw the video for "Young Guns." I mean, really -- talk about nascent leather men. And by "Wake Me Up" it was pretty damn blatant (what with the gay man dance twirl and all). Still thought he was dead sexy, though -- "Father Figure" still gives me shivers, both the song and the video.