Greats through the eras: The essential Pride Month playlist

Posted On June 29, 2024June 29, 2024

“Leave trans kids alone, you absolute freaks,” reads the lettering on a t-shirt worn so elegantly by David Tennant. The former Doctor Who actor’s pride allyship has landed him in hot water numerous times recently, but what is it they say about homophobic bigots? Say the wrong thing, and you’ll anger all of the right people. Although society has progressed exponentially since the first Stonewall riots, we still have a long way to go before everybody is accepted everywhere.

While most of us love and appreciate the fact that Tennant recently urged known anti-transgender Minister for Women and Equalities Kemi Badenoch to “shut up”, the cause for celebration is always, as ever, relatively short-lived. Acceptance of LGBTQ+ persons across the world has developed in many ways since mere decades ago, but the reality is far from promising just yet. Advancements have often coincided with politicians trying to use non-issues as impetus for polarisation to drum-up some distraction from the cataclysms they have been responsible for.

In 2024, it’s still illegal to be queer in 64 countries, and countless LGBTQ+ people continue to live under harsh laws of dated attitudes and legislation. Trans people, too, bear a significant brunt of this, as it’s also illegal in many countries to present under “impersonation” or “disguise”, which, if that isn’t derogatory in its purest form, seems to be pretty undignified as a categorisation of someone’s genuine—and very valid—identity.

Pride Month is one of the most important causes for protest and celebration because of its ability to do just that—celebrate as much as support and rally. We have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for, and we are slowly but surely making great strides in the right direction, but we must be privy to our history and the opposition to know which actions to take and when.

In terms of celebration, Pride Month is one of the most uplifting demonstrations of solidarity the world has ever seen. Not only does it demonstrate the unbreakable force that is the LGBTQ+ community, it also unapologetically displays one of the things that queerness holds over almost everything else: queer culture. Throughout all of the painful and harmful trials and tribulations, the queer community builds and builds, becoming stronger against the backdrop of various consumerist and cultural moments.

Music, for instance, has been a pivotal companion and driving force of the entire movement. Back in the 1980s, during a paradoxical time when the rise in homophobic attitudes coalesced with the AIDS epidemic, music counter-acted this with timeless beats, exotic—and oftentimes erotic, let’s face it—lyrics, movements, and messages that reminded us that we will get through this, and we will be stronger.

It might seem relatively strange to curate a Pride Month playlist that draws from various eras and genres, but at the crux of it, that’s who we are. The entire community is patched together from the victories and mistakes of times gone by, cauldrons of sentience trying to educate the world about love and acceptance, world-class partiers who want to move our bodies to the soul-defining sounds of Freddie Mercury’s belts, generations filled with both happiness and suffering in a complicated explosion of feelings amounting to the same feeling you get when listening to ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ by Chappell Roan.

All of the songs selected below have been picked with love, the kind that understands how far we have yet to go but recognises it as a fight we will all do together. Bigots might be with us until we die, but at least they will dissolve on the wrong side of history. Enjoy this playlist made up of all those who either fought prejudice, contributed to queer culture, gave us hope for a better tomorrow, or reminded us of the power of a moment’s respite during the good fight.

The essential Pride Month playlist tracklist:

• Queen – ‘I Want To Break Free’
• Erasure – ‘A Little Respect’
• Pet Shop Boys – ‘It’s A Sin’
• Pet Shop Boys – ‘Always On My Mind’
• Ghost – ‘Enter Sandman’ (trivia: every stream benefits Camp Aranu’tiq, a charity supporting trans youth)
• Chappell Roan – ‘Good Luck, Babe!’
• Chappell Roan – ‘Pink Pony Club’
• Chappell Roan – ‘Casual’
• Frankie Goes To Hollywood – ‘The Power Of Love’
• Alison Moyet – ‘Is This Love?’
• Depeche Mode – ‘People Are People’
• Cher – ‘Believe’
• Bronski Beat – ‘Smalltown Boy’
• Madonna – ‘Vogue’
• t.A.T.u. – ‘All The Things She Said’
• ABBA – ‘Dancing Queen’
• Orville Peck – ‘Daytona Sand’
• Soft Cell – ‘Tainted Love’
• David Bowie – ‘Modern Love’
• Donna Summer – ‘Hot Stuff’
• Elton John – ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’
• Queen – ‘Another One Bites The Dust’
• Eurythmics – ‘Sweet Dreams’
• Blondie – ‘Heart Of Glass’
• Charli XCX – ‘Von Dutch’
• Depeche Mode – ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’
• Queen – ‘Radio Ga Ga’
• Tracy Chapman – ‘Give Me One Reason’
• George Michael – ‘Freedom!’
• Annie Lennox – ‘Walking on Broken Glass’
• David Bowie – ‘Let’s Dance’
• Grace Jones – ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’
• Frankie Goes To Hollywood – ‘Relax’
• Bronski Beat – ‘Why’
• SOPHIE – ‘Immaterial’
• SOPHIE – ‘Faceshopping’
• The Cliks – ‘Henry’
• Ezra Furman – ‘Restless Year’
• The Cliks – ‘Still’
• The Cliks – ‘4 Letter Words’
• Ethel Cain – ‘Crush’
• Ethel Cain – ‘Michelle Pfeiffer’
• Lucas Silveira – ‘I’m Your Man’
• The Last Dinner Party – ‘Nothing Matters’
• The Japanese House – ‘Touching Yourself’
• Tracy Chapman – ‘Fast Car’
• Brittany Howard – ‘What Now’
• Christine and the Queens – ‘Tilted’
• St. Vincent – ‘Big Time Nothing’
• Dream Wife – ‘Old Flame’
• Lady Gaga – ‘Bad Romance’
• Pet Shop Boys – ‘Go West’
• Deee-Lite – ‘Groove Is In The Heart’
• All Saints – ‘Pure Shores’
• The Goo Goo Dolls – ‘Iris’
• Gloria Gaynor – ‘I Will Survive’
• 4 Non Blondes – ‘What’s Up?’
• Against Me – ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’
• Against Me – ‘True Trans Soul Rebel’

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