Jobriath! Theatrical Broadway Glam Rock

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 9:38am

Jobriath was a cast member of Hair who became the first in-your-face post-Stonewall pop artist to loudly proclaim himself gay during the glam rock years. Other more successful pop stars hinted coyly about being bisexual, not Jobriath. He was there, he was queer, but they didn't get used to it. He released two records of glam rock in the early '70s. In almost every review, "Broadway" and "theatrical" were mentioned in discussing his style.

The two lps languished in obscurity, and Jobriath, whose persona was very much like David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust, never became the screamingly gay rock messiah he proclaimed himself to be upon his arrival. None of his music was released on CD, until Morrissey, a fan forever, shepherded a compilation to release last fall.

The following excerpt from an LA Times article even mentions similarities to the music of Hedwig & The Angry Inch. At last, with the release of the cd, the most obvious missing piece in the bridge between theater and rock is available for our listening pleasure.

Jobriath's time may be here at last

by Steve Hochman, LA TIMES

...The '70s artist known as Jobriath is at best remembered, if remembered at all, as a footnote to the glam years. At worst, he's a joke, one of the most hyped but least successful boondoggles of major-label excess.

Today, though, some who cherished his music are trying to salvage the legacy of what the distance of time shows as a talented, ambitious artist who was cast aside by the music business and died of AIDS in 1983 before having a chance to salvage that legacy himself.

On one front, Morrissey has compiled an anthology of Jobriath's music ... on the singer's Attack Records label, the first CD appearance of Jobriath music. And a New York documentarian is working on a film about Jobriath's life and music

Jobriath (real name: Bruce Campbell) was signed with great fanfare to Elektra Records in the early-'70s, as such flamboyant artists as David Bowie and Elton John had become pop sensations. A 1973 debut album, "Jobriath," was launched with great and costly flourish, including a prominent Times Square billboard of the album cover, which featured the naked upper torso of the artist, reclining against a fuchsia background.

But reviews were generally negative for the music's combination of glam showiness and Broadway romanticism, and the album made virtually no impact. (It didn't crack Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart, and yielded no charted singles.) A second album, 1975's "Creatures of the Street," went pretty much un-promoted and unnoticed by the public - it never charted either - and Jobriath turned to a life as a singing waiter and still-aspiring composer before becoming ill.

More recently, though, an awareness and appreciation of Jobriath started to creep into pop consciousness. The 1998 movie "Velvet Goldmine," fictionalizing the glam scene, included visual and musical references to Jobriath, while the stage and film musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," intentionally or otherwise, echoed his musical sensibilities in many places. And Jobriath's music, heard today, stands on its own as entertaining and accomplished, a very worthy artifact of its era.

"Jobriath's music transcends rock and goes back to theatrical styles, and maybe while it sounded a little cheesy in its day, it was just ahead of its time a little - or a lot," says Mark Petracca, who is directing the documentary "Jobriath: Queen of Prussia," a play on the openly gay singer's hometown, King of Prussia, Pa. "And his story is compelling. It's the story of anyone who dares to dream to be a major pop-culture figure. When you dream of being an icon, the fall from grace is even harder."


From the following Jobriath fansite, in a section discussing celebrity fans of Jobriath's:

Alan Menken

The musical composer most famous for co-writing Disney musicals like The Little Mermaid, etc., gets back to us that he liked the Jobriath LPs & still has them.



Jobriath

Updated On: 3/10/05 at 09:38 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 10:47am

This listing by Chuck Eddy (who is clearly not a fan of cabaret!) has two mp3s of Jobriath you can listen to. Check out "I'Ma Man," and imagine a glam rocker who was too out of the closet gay and too theatrical for even the era that gave us Ziggy and The New York Dolls.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 10:47am

double post somehow...


Jobriath MP3s

Updated On: 3/10/05 at 10:47 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 11:06am

A friend of mine had a Jobriath LP back in the late 70's. I just remember a song called "Dietrich Fondyke" - the lyrics were simply a listing of legendary Hollywood divas -Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, et cetera, ending with "Jane Fondyke".

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 4:20pm

That one is on the new compilation, it's a great song, and the most archly theatrical of the songs on the compilation.

Jobriath and Klaus Nomi and Lance Loud's band The Mumps are three of the greatest pop culture question marks for me. How different would the world have been without homophobia? Without HIV? What creative heights might we have seen?

Hedwig fans especially should check out Jobriath.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 4:34pm

How different the world would have been without HIV...

That question goes way beyond glam rock.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/10/05 at 4:47pm

Well, I know. But I was just thinking about those three alone. Jobriath, Klaus and Lance. For the sake of this thread.