{"id":45,"date":"2023-10-06T18:37:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T18:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalwriting.cornellcollege.edu\/queer-voice\/?p=45"},"modified":"2023-10-10T19:49:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T19:49:21","slug":"queercore-unacknowledged-trailblazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalwriting.cornellcollege.edu\/queer-voice\/2023\/10\/06\/queercore-unacknowledged-trailblazers\/","title":{"rendered":"Queercore: Unacknowledged Trailblazers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cover photo of Vaginal Davis<\/a> (a queercore icon) and Alice Bag<\/a>, 1986, from Wikimedia Commons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019re a queer person with some sort of music listening platform (Spotify, Apple Music, or even godforsaken Pandora<\/em>) chances are at some point you\u2019ve looked for queer music on it. For LGBTQ+ folk, it\u2019s only natural\u2013I know I love finding other queer people to relate to. This combined with my love of punk music drove me to discover Queercore and Riotgrrrl, two intriguing parts of feminist and queer history not often talked about. While I cherish both dearly, and they\u2019re kind of connected, today I\u2019ll only be doing a deep dive into Queercore. So sit back, pull out your artist recommendation list, and get ready to learn!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So…what is Queercore?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Queercore is a subculture of punk formed in the 1980s centered around LGBTQ+ artists, community, and activism. It is a designated safe space for queer punks to express their gender and sexuality, largely through zines, art, and music. Being a punk subculture, Queercore also holds the punk values of being anti-establishment and resistance\u2013which align perfectly with queer activism movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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History of Queercore<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite the punk scene literally being centered around deviating from the social norm, homophobia, misogyny, racism, and transphobia<\/a> were rampant in it. I mean, take a look at skinheads<\/a>. Or punks\u2019 historical treatment of women<\/a>. Because of this, queer punks needed a space where they could exist and resist. So, they created queercore. Though queer punks have been making music since the beginning of punk, queercore didn\u2019t gain traction until the mid-1980s and was popularized mostly due to increasing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and the AIDS epidemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Founders<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Two queer creators credited for creating queercore<\/a> were G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce. In Toronto, Canada, in 1985, they created a zine called J.D.s. This queer punk zine coined the term \u2018Homocore\u2019, which then changed to \u2018Queercore\u2019 for inclusivity. In J.D.s, they envisioned they were involved in a queer punk movement in Toronto<\/a>, using the zine to build an inclusive space they didn\u2019t see in the world around them (which is actually really sad if you think about it). G.B. Jones, often referred to as the mother of Queercore<\/a> then went on to make the band Fifth Column, a Queercore band that was also extremely influential to the Queercore movement. Bruce LaBruce was also in a Queercore band of his own called Zuzu\u2019s Petals, and made queer films.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Queercore media forms<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Zines<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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If you don\u2019t know, zines are self-published print-works of art and text, known for their DIY feel. Being similar to pamphlets, they are made to be passed around small communities and are strictly non-commercial. Zines can be about anything and include just about anything. In addition, queer zines were used to discuss gender and sexuality through personal narrative, comics, artwork\u2013the list goes on. Though allegedly the official pronunciation of zine is \u201czeen\u201d, I don\u2019t care, it\u2019s \u201czine\u201d like \u201cdine\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Image of the zine \u201cI Heart Amy Carter\u201d by Tammy Rae Carland. More info about the zine and Amy Carter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Music<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Like zines and other forms of queer media, Queercore music is very DIY. It often sounds the same way punk does: loud, aggressive, and fast-paced, but it can encompass many different genres like hardcore, indie rock, experimental, and more.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cover of the Team Dresch album “Choices, Chances, and Changes”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Film<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While music and zines were relatively popular in the Queercore scene, filmmaking was present, but definitely not as abundant. One of the only films I could find that directly related to it was \u201cQueercore, How to Punk a Revolution,\u201d which was released in 2017, and of course works created by Bruce LaBruce such as \u201cNo Skin Off My Ass\u201d, \u201cSuper 81\/2\u201d, \u201cHustler White\u201d, and more. That\u2019s not to say Bruce LaBruce wasn\u2019t putting out a lot of queer films\u2013in fact, he released over 20<\/a>\u2013but it just indicates that queer filmmaking wasn\u2019t as widespread as other forms of artwork. This has to do with a mix of filmmaking resources being hard to access at the time and the fact the Queercore movement wasn\u2019t well-known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Filmmaking icon Bruce LaBruce<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Bruce LaBruce\u2019s films were unapologetically queer and were often regarded as scandalous. LaBruce was not afraid to have fun, exploring the queer experience and related themes alongside queer nudity and sexuality. In his debut film, \u201cNo Skin Off My Ass<\/a>\u201d (1991), LaBruce paints a gay love story between a lonely punk hairdresser and a skinhead (which is a wacky premise, but okay) in which after a bath scene and a visit to the skinhead\u2019s filmmaking sister, they find out their feelings are requited, and they can then live out their gay fantasies. The plot of this film, which in a way is a queer fantasy (requited love and the ability to be with a lover), draws back to the zines Bruce LaBruce and G.B. Jones created where they created an idealized punk scene out of desire for one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Screenshot from “No Skin Off My Ass” taken by Vtape<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Due to homophobia and transphobia, a lot of Queercore films, music, and art at the time were based around wanting queer progress to be further than it was. While Queercore still brings up the world\u2019s lack of progress today, in my interactions with the scene, modern Queercore doesn\u2019t have as much yearning as it did back in the 1980s, \u201890s, and even 2000s. It\u2019s still (typically) angry and drives for change, of course. Just now we have a little more rights, and it\u2019s more socially acceptable to be queer, so there\u2019s less of a need to fantasize about progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bands<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Below are a list of bands and band members that are involved in or contributed to queercore with their music. While there\u2019s plenty more, the list would end up being way too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pre-1990s<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Since Queercore started in 1985, many bands before and during this time period weren\u2019t specifically involved in it. That being said, I did find one that technically counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n