0:00

Where Were You in ninety two is a production

0:02

of iHeartRadio. It

0:06

reflects the fear

0:09

of the time period, the repression of

0:11

people's sexuality, the homophobia, all

0:14

of that was rooted in fear of AIDS. In that respect,

0:16

the album is one

0:18

of the first full albums

0:21

that really is a reflection

0:23

of the AIDS era. Welcome

0:31

to Where Are You in ninety two, a podcast

0:33

in which I Your host Jason Lamfier

0:36

look back at the major hits, one hit wonders,

0:38

shocking news stories, and irresistible

0:41

scandals that shaped what might be the wildest,

0:43

most eclectic, most controversial

0:45

twelve months of music ever this

0:49

week. After Queen singer Freddie

0:52

Murcury's death in the fall of nineteen ninety

0:54

one, musicians began confronting

0:56

the AIDS crisis head on. Madonna,

0:59

Elton, John You Two and Salton

1:01

Pepper wrote songs that addressed the disease.

1:04

R and B newcomer's TLC appeared

1:06

on talk shows with condoms emblazoned on their

1:08

flashy attire. Meanwhile,

1:10

the compilation album Red Pot

1:13

and Dance, featuring three exclusive

1:15

tracks from George Michael, set out to

1:17

raise awareness about safe sex, raise

1:19

funds for AIDS charities and

1:22

change the narrative around LGBTQ rights.

1:25

But as a nineteen ninety two

1:27

New York Times article declared, tackling

1:29

AIDS was a creative and ethical minefield

1:32

for pop stars. In this episode,

1:34

we looked at the various ways they navigated

1:36

it.

1:42

It was November nineteen ninety one.

1:45

Freddie Mercury had not performed live with Queen

1:47

in five years. The group's last

1:49

show with him at Nabworth Park in

1:52

England had drawn an audience of more than one

1:54

hundred and twenty thousand adoring fans,

1:56

but he was too weak and in too much pain

1:58

to take the stage ever again. Mercury

2:01

had just returned from Switzerland and

2:03

had been living as a recluse at Garden Lodge

2:05

in London. Speculation

2:07

that he was dying was rampant. Images

2:10

of him looking pale and gaunt had been

2:12

splashed all over the tabloids and papers.

2:15

He had him revealed that he had AIDS to the public

2:18

or even to his parents, but the press

2:20

and paparassi lingered outside the wall

2:22

surrounding his property. They knew something

2:24

was wrong. He would spend most

2:26

of the day in bed, sometimes drifting through

2:28

his home and garden. He was emaciated

2:31

and losing his eyesight and could barely

2:34

walk. He had stopped taking the medication

2:36

that had been keeping him alive. A

2:38

few select visitors were invited to see him.

2:41

Less than two weeks later, he had lost

2:44

his sight and was living off fluids. On

2:47

Friday, November twenty second, Mercury

2:49

asked to see Queen's manager, Jim Beach,

2:52

who came to his home and met with him in

2:54

his bedroom. Hours later,

2:56

Beach emerged saying Mercury

2:59

was ready to tell the world the truth. At

3:01

midnight, his team released an official

3:03

statement on behalf of the singer, in

3:06

addition to disclosing that he had tested

3:09

positive and now had aids. The

3:11

statement read quote, I hope

3:13

that everyone will join with my doctors

3:15

and all those worldwide in the fight

3:18

against this terrible disease. Two

3:21

days later, on Sunday, November

3:23

twenty fourth, nineteen ninety one,

3:26

Mercury died. He was forty

3:28

five. A

3:35

few weeks later, Bohemian Rhapsody,

3:38

Queen's most beloved track, was rereleased.

3:41

It would soar to number one on the UK singles

3:44

charts. It's second time hitting

3:46

number one in the UK and stay there

3:48

for five weeks. All

3:50

the proceeds from the rerelease, which totaled

3:53

around one million pounds, were donated

3:55

to the Terence Higgins Trust, the

3:57

UK's leading HIV and AIDS charity.

4:00

The song is the UK's third biggest

4:02

selling single of all time and

4:04

the most streamed song of the

4:06

twentieth century. The remaining

4:09

members of Queen knew they had to

4:11

do something. Before his death,

4:14

Freddie Mercury had faded from the public

4:16

eye. The most recent published images

4:18

of him were tragic and exploitative, signaling

4:21

his impending death. The band

4:23

wanted to celebrate his life, the Freddie

4:26

they knew and loved, as guitarist

4:28

Brian May sat at the time. Giving

4:30

their frontman and friend a proper send

4:32

off was not only what they felt

4:34

fans needed, but also the closure

4:37

they needed. Mercury

4:40

became the first high profile person

4:42

to die of an AIDE related illness in the UK,

4:45

but this disease was much bigger than him.

4:47

AIDS related deaths were on the rise. By

4:50

January nineteen ninety two, almost

4:53

four hundred and fifty thousand AIDS

4:55

cases had been reported to the Global Program

4:57

on AIDS of the World Health Organization, but

5:00

the estimated number of adult cases was one

5:02

point five million, tens

5:05

of thousands were dying. In

5:07

nineteen ninety two, HIV

5:10

infection became the leading

5:12

cause of death for men between the ages

5:14

of twenty five and forty four. By

5:17

nineteen ninety four, it would become

5:19

the leading cause of death among all

5:21

Americans between the ages of twenty five

5:23

and forty four. The

5:38

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert took place

5:41

on April twentieth, nineteen ninety

5:43

two, at London's Wembley Stadium,

5:45

where Mercury had delivered his dynamic performance

5:48

at the iconic benefit event Live Aid

5:50

in nineteen eighty five. As Queen's

5:53

songwriter and drummer Roger Taylor said

5:55

on the eve of the concert, quote,

5:58

Obviously, losing Freddy has brought at home

6:00

to us in a big way and many

6:02

other people that I know. As time

6:04

goes on, it becomes more of a threat. The threat

6:07

is growing, I think, and I don't think the awareness

6:09

is growing. So this seems like, especially

6:12

for us, a good time to do this. In

6:15

addition to Queen, the show's performers

6:18

included Elton John, George Michael,

6:20

David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Robert

6:23

Plant of led Zeppelin, Roger

6:25

Daltrey of The Who, Guns N' Roses,

6:27

Metallica Seal Deaf

6:29

Leopard, Lisa Stansfield You

6:32

Two Vias Satellite, and Eliza

6:34

Minelli. Actress and longtime

6:36

AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor delivered

6:39

an AIDS prevention speech. Clips

6:41

of Mercury interacting with fans were played

6:43

after her speech. The

6:45

concerts sets ranged from the

6:48

truly wild to the truly iconic.

6:51

Elton John and Axel Rose

6:53

led Queen's remaining members in an

6:55

impassioned rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody,

6:57

a song that was very much back in the Zega stue

7:00

to the original version's appearance in a now legendary

7:02

headbanging scene and the comedy Wayne's

7:04

World. George Michael's take on

7:07

Somebody to Love is astonishing.

7:09

It's no wonder that when the cover was officially

7:11

released a year later, it bolted

7:13

to the top of the UK singles chart. And

7:16

then, for God's sake, please

7:19

go watch and rewatch because

7:21

you will need to. David Bowie and Annie

7:24

Lennox's performance of under Pressure, originally

7:26

a Queen Bowie duet, decked

7:29

out in an enormous black

7:31

hooped tool dress with a silver

7:33

necklace, lamy top, sporting

7:35

the most fabulously exaggerated

7:38

raccoon eyes, her voice shattering

7:40

the stratosphere. Lennox manages

7:43

to do the unthinkable and sort

7:46

of outshine Bowie, though he

7:48

still absolutely slays in a mint

7:50

green suit with his token velvety groon.

7:53

The pair closes the number locked

7:55

in a desperate, melodramatic embrace

7:58

that truly honors the rock for

8:00

hybrid songwriting. Freddie Mercury

8:02

perfected. They

8:05

knew they'd nailed it, as Lennox recalled

8:07

and Matt Richards and Mark Langthorne's

8:10

twenty sixteen books Somebody to Love

8:12

The Life, Death, and Legacy of Freddie Mercury

8:14

quote, the performance was electrical

8:17

and totally on point. It

8:20

was one of the high points of my life

8:23

and mine. I divied my

8:25

life into before seeing Annie Lennox

8:27

and David Bowie perform under pressure and

8:30

after seeing Annie Lennox and David

8:32

Bowie perform under pressure the

8:37

crazy thing. Fans didn't even

8:40

know who besides the remaining members of Queen

8:42

was performing when the concerts tickets went on sale,

8:45

Still, all seventy two thousand of them

8:47

were snatched up in just three hours. Remember

8:49

this was pre Internet. That was

8:51

the power of Queen and Freddie Mercury.

8:55

The concerts profits, reportedly

8:57

some twelve million pounds, helped

8:59

launch the AIDS Cherry organization Mercury

9:02

Phoenix Trust. The concert

9:04

was also broadcast live on television

9:06

and radio to seventy six countries

9:09

around the world, hitting an

9:11

estimated audience of up to one

9:13

billion. After

9:20

Mercury's death, many who had never

9:22

felt affected by the AIDS crisis suddenly

9:24

were the remaining members of Queen,

9:26

and the group's fans came to better understand

9:28

what the disease was about. Some of

9:30

the prejudice surrounding AIDS would start to fade

9:32

away. The Freddie Mercury Tribute

9:35

Concert was their glorious goodbye to

9:37

a fallen hero. It was

9:39

also a reckoning. With his passing,

9:42

they were forced to confront the fact that they

9:44

may have to say goodbye to many more. Pop

9:51

music is supposed to make you feel good at

9:53

its best, good and sexy, even

9:56

when it's tackling unrequited love or

9:58

a romance cut short. It's sadness

10:00

connects with us, makes us feel like we're not

10:02

alone. If we two are

10:04

suffering from heartache or relationship

10:06

woes. It nudges us toward healing. This

10:09

suffering is universal. But

10:12

what if that sadness is deeper? What

10:14

if the end of the relationship is the most

10:16

permanent kind? What if the song

10:18

is cloaked in the shadow of death. A

10:21

nineteen ninety two New York Times article

10:24

titled the Uneasy Alliance

10:26

between AIDS and Pop pondered

10:28

these questions, arguing that pop music

10:30

and AIDS were quote unquote strange bedfellows.

10:33

The piece read quote forced

10:36

together. Pop and AIDS compromise

10:38

each other, forming a contradictory

10:40

alliance between an industry that market

10:43

sex is fun and a disease

10:45

that links sex with death. How

10:48

do you successfully capture the gravity

10:50

of AIDS in a three and a half minute pop

10:52

song? How do you sell it when

10:54

many don't understand it or wish to turn

10:56

their backs on it, or worse, believe

10:58

those suffering from it deserve to suffer?

11:01

How do you capture something so dark, painful,

11:04

and terrifying in a song without

11:06

looking glib or insincere or

11:08

preachy? And yet, how

11:10

do you make people understand without conveying

11:13

that this darkness, pain, and terror

11:15

are synonymous with the virus, because

11:18

in nineteen ninety two, AIDS was still

11:20

considered fatal. The

11:22

answer is both complicated and not.

11:25

Aid's awareness and activism and pop

11:28

was tough and risky territory, But

11:30

for certain artists, the reality of the crisis,

11:32

its severity, and in some cases, its

11:35

proximity to their lives was undeniable.

11:38

For them, the choice was simple, do

11:40

nothing or do something. AIDS

11:42

demanded their attention, and it demanded

11:45

action. In

11:47

nineteen ninety two, major artists

11:49

and entertainers were taking action, partly

11:52

because they felt if they didn't, who would.

11:54

Politicians weren't doing enough, nor were

11:56

churches. Summer nineteen

11:59

ninety two was, in a sense the summer

12:01

of safe sex, at least when it came

12:03

to the messaging. A handful of musicians were

12:05

putting out into the world hoping their fans

12:07

would choose to listen. One of

12:09

those musicians was George Michael, who

12:11

in nineteen ninety two was in the upper

12:13

echelon of pop stars. He had

12:15

performed in the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert

12:18

and devoted plenty of his time to aid's philanthropy,

12:21

all while dodging questions about his sexual orientation.

12:24

Hey, I said this ship was complicated,

12:27

but he had a new idea.

12:34

John Carlin founded Red Hot,

12:36

a nonprofit dedicated to fighting

12:38

HIV and AIDS through music and pop culture,

12:41

with his friend Lee Blake in nineteen eighty

12:43

nine. Since then, the organization

12:45

has raised more than fifteen million dollars

12:48

for charities like AMPHAR and Act UP, and

12:50

released some twenty music compilations,

12:53

starting with nineteen nineties Red Hot

12:55

and Blue, an album of reinterpretations

12:57

of Cole Porter songs that featured art

13:00

It's Like You Two, David Byrne, Katie

13:02

lang In, Shande O'Connor. In nineteen

13:04

ninety two, Carlin had lost his job

13:07

at his Manhattan law firm. He had

13:09

taken on Red Hot as a pro bono client

13:11

of the firm, and while he says he was able

13:13

to carry out all his responsibilities, it

13:16

wasn't happy about his work with the group. Says

13:18

Carlin. I was basically

13:21

kicked on the street around that

13:23

time, and

13:26

I didn't quite know what I was going

13:28

to do. And then one day,

13:31

out of the blue, I got a

13:33

call from someone who worked

13:35

very closely with George Michael me

13:38

Andy Stevens, and

13:40

Andy said George is a big fan

13:43

of Red Hot and Blue. He'd like

13:46

to donate a song to your next

13:48

album, and I'm

13:50

thinking to myself, we don't

13:52

have a next album. Carlin

13:55

was at an impass it as great as

13:57

Red Hot Blue was that it cost

13:59

me my job. It was exhausting.

14:01

It wasn't exactly how I

14:04

imagine my life at the moment. But

14:07

in nineteen ninety two, one

14:09

thing that you could not do was

14:11

turned down the gift of the George Michael

14:14

saw. George Michael

14:17

essentially kicked off what became a series,

14:19

which wasn't something that we had

14:21

in mind. The other thing that's really

14:23

important for people to understand

14:25

about George Michael in nineteen ninety

14:28

two was he wasn't

14:30

out so about

14:32

George Michael being famous

14:34

and openly queer in nineteen ninety two was

14:36

dangerous, especially given the close association

14:39

between aids and gay men at the time. As

14:42

the second episode of this podcast made clear, virtually

14:45

no well known musicians were openly queer in nineteen

14:47

eighty two. Katie Lang, who came out

14:49

that year, was one of the few if

14:52

a closeted pop superstar was willing

14:54

to put his reputation on the line and lend

14:56

Carlin's project the gravitas it needed.

14:59

Carlin thought he should probably take the risk two.

15:02

After all, this was an international

15:04

crisis that had showed no signs of slowing

15:06

down. George

15:09

was a member of the gay community. The

15:12

gay community was being ravaged. I

15:14

think he had a boyfriend who

15:16

was HIV positive at the time. Nineteen

15:19

ninety two was the worst year in the world

15:21

for gay people. Nineteen ninety

15:23

two is the year where so

15:26

many people died, and because

15:29

the retrovirals hadn't come

15:31

into play, so

15:33

so many people living with AIDS

15:37

just crashed in nineteen

15:39

ninety two. If the Coal Porter

15:42

Covers compilation Red Hot and Blue

15:44

targeted an affluent, urban queer

15:46

mail audience what was initially

15:48

thought of as a chief demographic

15:50

affected by HIV and AIDS, it's follow

15:53

up a turned to another audience. This something

15:55

lived where George was helpful was

15:58

who's at risk now? It was the young club

16:01

kids, and

16:04

it's much harder to

16:06

tell young hormonal

16:09

club kids to practice

16:12

safe or sex. These are the people going

16:15

out getting busy. Didn't

16:17

necessarily get the first

16:20

message. Red

16:22

Hot's second compilation was Red

16:24

Hot and Dance, which consisted mostly

16:26

of remix dands and pop tracks from the likes

16:28

of Madonna, Seal, Crystal Waters,

16:31

PM Don, Lisa Stansfield

16:33

and Slide the Family Stone featuring

16:36

cover by Keith Pairing. It was anchored

16:39

by three new exclusive songs,

16:41

the George Michael donated to Red Hot,

16:43

the top ten Nuvo disco cut, Too Funky,

16:46

Do You Really Want to Know, and Happy,

16:48

all of which he recorded for the follow up to was acclaimed

16:51

nineteen ninety album Listen Without Prejudice

16:53

Volume one. Too Funky

16:55

was Michael's final single for his contract

16:57

with Sony Music before he took legal action

17:00

to get out of it, claiming the label's lack

17:02

of support for rud Hotten Dance was

17:04

one of the reasons he wanted to cut ties with it.

17:07

Dude was not fucking around. Slick,

17:10

buoyant, and seductive, Red Hotten

17:13

Dance could be considered an antidote

17:15

to the melancholy and tragedy of

17:17

the AIDS crisis. It suggested

17:19

that change could come not only through

17:21

research and activism, but through unity

17:24

through bodies, black, brown, white,

17:26

queer, trans straight coming together.

17:29

It was about liberation, leaving

17:31

the shadows and living life out in

17:33

the open, on the dance floor, in

17:35

the bedroom. But it was also about

17:37

facing the truth if

17:40

in too funky. Michael sang I Gotta

17:43

get inside of You. His next

17:45

track on Red Hotten Dance, Do You Really

17:47

Want to Know, included the lyrics I

17:49

used to say it, but it's no longer true

17:52

because what you don't know can really hurt

17:54

you. It can kill you, baby. And

17:57

then later the world is full of

17:59

lovers after night and week after

18:01

week, trusting to luck and their pockets

18:03

full of rubbers. The message was

18:05

clear, sucks was inevitable.

18:08

Safety was essential To

18:11

drive that message home, Red Hot and Dance

18:14

was paired with a street poster campaign photographed

18:16

by Bigwig Lensman, Stephen Mazelle,

18:19

Stephen Klein, and Bruce Webber, featuring

18:22

queer and straight couples and intimate poses.

18:24

The posters boasted the slogan safe

18:26

sucks as hot sex. Red

18:29

Hot also collaborated with MTV

18:31

on a special that aired around the world, directed

18:34

by Mark Pellington, whose nineteen

18:36

ninety two video for Pearl Jams Jeremy would

18:39

win four VMA's. The documentary,

18:41

also titled Red Hot and Dance, included

18:44

interviews with young people affected by HIV and

18:46

AIDS, medical professionals

18:48

and celebrities like RuPaul, Cindy Lauper

18:50

and Salt and Pepperkids is

18:53

sexually transmitted disease. So

18:56

if you want to protect people, you have

18:58

to talk about set. How

19:00

we sold the Red Hot and Dance TV special

19:03

to MTV was basically

19:05

going in and saying, with all due respect,

19:08

this whole channel is about

19:10

selling sex to under h

19:12

teenagers. It's like, this

19:14

is why you exist.

19:16

Red Hot and Dance. The special put

19:19

condom use and Queerness front

19:21

and center nineteen ninety two

19:23

is really like a

19:26

transition near a tipping point

19:28

around using condoms. There

19:31

was a lot of work to make

19:34

that part of people's behavior. The

19:36

musicians involved in the Freddie Mercury Tribute

19:38

concert and Red Hot were among a

19:40

new wave of entertainers advocating

19:43

for safe sex and LGBTQ rights.

19:45

It's changing behavior and changing

19:47

the narrative, and I think that's

19:49

the way you have to work at pop

19:52

culture and propaganda.

19:54

So there were a

19:56

lot of people in the early nineties

19:58

doing both of the those things and

20:01

they had a huge impact. Those

20:03

things had to be done, and Red

20:05

Hot was just a little piece of that. It

20:08

was part of a chorus of

20:10

people saying, this

20:12

makes no sense. You know, we're going to

20:14

change the culture. Up

20:25

next, after the break, we look

20:27

at the other major artists who confronted the AIDS

20:29

crisis in nineteen eighty two, including

20:32

Salt and Pepper, Elton, John, TLC,

20:35

You Two, and Madonna. It

20:48

was the summer of nineteen ninety two, the

20:50

summer musicians were turning their attention to

20:52

safe sex and the AIDS crisis. MTV

20:55

aired Red Hot and Dance, a special

20:58

to coincide with the release of an album

21:00

of the same name, assembled by the

21:02

not for profit Red Hot Organization.

21:05

The record was a collection of George Michael songs

21:07

and remixed dance tracks to raise

21:09

money for AIDS awareness and charities. Also

21:13

that summer, ABC broadcast

21:15

in a New Light, a Call to Action

21:18

in the War against AIDS, a two

21:20

hour AIDS awareness special introduced

21:22

by Elizabeth Taylor and featuring performances

21:24

and cameos and the likes of Anita Baker, share

21:27

Clint Black, Reba McIntyre, and Salt

21:29

and Pepper set to aid's imagery. The

21:32

network donated its net advertising

21:34

proceeds from the special to AIDS

21:36

education, prevention and support services.

21:39

It was a significant move for a big foreign network.

21:42

When it came to HIV and AIDS awareness.

21:44

In nineteen eighty two, Salton Peppa

21:46

were doing the work. In fact, they were

21:48

one of the first high profile acts to

21:51

put the cause to music. In August

21:53

nineteen ninety one, the trio had released

21:56

Let's Talk About Sex. Okay. Yeah,

21:58

it was clearly intended to drop some jaws

22:00

and seals and records, but the song was also

22:02

essentially a safe sex campaign. In

22:05

their minds and in the minds of many

22:07

AIDS activists, people were afraid

22:09

to discuss sex, which was a major

22:11

hurdle in combating the disease. Says

22:14

rud Hot co founder John Carlin, I

22:16

have a good friend Kendall Thomas.

22:19

Early AIDS activists never a backt

22:21

up, and he says something which

22:23

has always stayed with these how

22:25

come when people talk about

22:27

the history of AIDS, people

22:30

don't talk about sex. AIDS

22:32

is also spread through intravenous drug

22:34

users sharing needles, but the most common

22:37

mode of exposure is through sex. Not

22:39

placing sex at the heart of the conversation

22:41

about HIV and AIDS was basically

22:43

ignoring the real issue. Solom

22:45

Pepper weren't here for that. The

22:48

hip hop trio had already pushed the envelope

22:50

with their nineteen eighty six far from subtle

22:52

single push It, But Let's talk

22:54

about sex. They achieved a rare feat.

22:57

They made a song about safe sex and

23:00

gentially about HIV and AIDS. There

23:02

was not only bold and uncomfortable enough to make listeners

23:04

pay attention, but also smart,

23:07

funny, at times, pretty sexy,

23:09

and not overly preachy. Check these

23:12

lyrics. But anyway, ready or

23:14

not, here he comes and like a dumb

23:16

son of a gun. Oops, he forgot the condoms.

23:19

Oh well, you say, what the hell? It's chill. I

23:21

won't get God, I'm on the pill until

23:23

the sores start to puff and spore. He

23:25

gave it to you, and now it's yours. Now.

23:34

There is some scary ass high

23:36

school health class shit, but also

23:39

facts. So much hip hop at the time

23:41

was objectifying women, but these ladies

23:43

were taken the genre by the balls and taking

23:46

real talk into your homes and cars

23:48

and clubs. They sounded tough and

23:50

confident, like they had agency over their

23:52

mouths and bodies. They were the safe

23:55

sex sages all swagger and SaaS

23:57

and wisdom. As

23:59

Soul aka Cheryl James

24:01

told Rolling Stone in nineteen ninety four,

24:04

quote, the song was not about

24:06

sex. The song was about communication

24:08

and talking about a subject that nobody wants

24:10

to talk about. So just from the gate, for

24:13

me, it was brilliant, said

24:15

Peppa aka Sandra Denton. Quote.

24:18

It wasn't a dirty song. It was

24:20

an enlightenment song. The

24:22

tracks sticky chorus goes, let's

24:25

talk about sex, baby, Let's talk about

24:27

you and me. Let's talk about all the good

24:29

things and the bad things that maybe.

24:32

The video features couples kissing and embracing,

24:35

and in one version of it, as the rappers

24:37

get to the line and the bad things that may be and

24:39

the last minute of the song, the camera cuts

24:42

to a skeleton sporting a necklace that reads and

24:44

big black letters AIDS with a red

24:46

circle around it. Over the skeleton's

24:49

mouth is a piece of yellow tape bearing

24:51

the word censored. The image

24:53

is actually a little chilling, like SMPS

24:55

take on the nineteen eighty seven Silence

24:57

equals death slogan and poster with the pink trying

25:00

which the AIDS coalition to unleash power

25:02

or act up would use as this defining

25:05

image and their activist campaign against

25:07

the epidemic. ABC

25:15

newscaster Peter Jennings took notice

25:17

after overhearing his daughter playing Let's

25:19

Talk About Sex. He gave the lyrics

25:22

a closer listen and really dug its

25:24

message. In February nineteen ninety

25:26

two, he enlisted Salt and Peppa for Growing

25:28

Up in the Age of AIDS, a TV special

25:30

he was hosting, asking them to rerecord

25:33

the track as Let's Talk About AIDS.

25:36

The retooled version addressed AIDS

25:38

and the ignorance and stigma surrounding it

25:40

more directly than any mainstream

25:42

pop or hip hop artist had before. Sample

25:45

lyrics, I got some news for you,

25:47

so listen please, It's not a black,

25:50

white, or gay disease. Then

25:52

later to the unconcerned and

25:54

uninformed, you think you can't get it, well

25:56

you're wrong. Don't dismiss, disc or

25:58

blacklist the topic. That ain't going

26:00

to stop it now. If you go about

26:03

it right, you just might save your life.

26:05

Don't be uptight. Come join the fight. As

26:09

Peppa told Yahoo Entertainment in twenty

26:11

twenty one, quote at the time,

26:14

it felt like a sense of obligation, but

26:16

when you listen to the lyrics, the awareness.

26:18

We were ahead of our time advocating

26:20

for this message at that time. For

26:23

him to change let's talk about sex to

26:25

let's talk about AIDS, it was a no

26:27

brainer for us to how to get that message out.

26:30

Salt added quote. One

26:33

of the things that I really love about that particular

26:35

moment is that people were afraid

26:37

to talk about it at that time. It was a

26:39

very unpopular, unspoken thing.

26:42

We took it head on and we remade

26:44

the song, and we became advocates for AIDS

26:46

and HIV awareness. I think that's a huge

26:48

part of our history something to celebrate. Salt

26:52

and Peppa weren't the only hip hop trio taking

26:54

on save sex at that point. Another

26:56

would make it an integral part of their branding

26:59

and esthetic. The female threesome

27:01

of Tan t Bos Watkins, Rozanda

27:04

Chili Thomas and Lisa left I

27:06

Lopez, better known as TLC,

27:09

sprang up at the beginning of nineteen ninety

27:11

two, and by the middle of that year they'd

27:13

blown up, becoming one of the most successful

27:16

new acts of the year and eventually

27:18

one of the most successful acts of the nineties

27:20

period. You

27:34

could draw a line from SMP to TLC.

27:37

SNP formed in Queens, New

27:39

York in nineteen eighty five. TLC

27:41

formed in Atlanta in nineteen ninety when

27:43

its members were in their early twenties, but they'd

27:46

studied Salm Peppa and had taken a page

27:48

from their book, bringing a similar strut

27:50

in silliness to their music and visuals. They

27:53

had a very clear identity from the get

27:55

go, coming off like the antithesis

27:57

on the scantily clad psultry women

28:00

populating so many hip hop videos at the time. They

28:02

dressed like their male counterparts, but

28:04

with less self seriousness and more whimsy

28:07

baggy jeans, oversized shirts, boxer

28:09

shorts, and flashy colors. Their

28:11

vibe was upbeat, frisky, self

28:14

assured. If you want to know what

28:16

so much of the early nineties were about, at

28:18

least the good times, just take a look

28:20

at the cover of their nineteen ninety two

28:22

debut album, Oh On the TLC

28:25

tip Joyous. In

28:28

the video for the LP's lead single,

28:30

Ain't Too Proud to beg the group channeled

28:32

that whimsy, positive energy, and wild

28:34

style into a good cause. If pinning

28:37

condoms to their clothes for their entree

28:39

into the world was pretty whack Lisa

28:41

left eye. Lopez putting one over her left

28:43

eye was just extra. But

28:46

when your rhymes and flow are so thoroughly

28:48

enjoyable as hers were, you can

28:50

get away with looking like some planned parenthood pirate.

28:53

Take the songs hook for example, Yo,

28:56

if I need it in the morning or the middle of the night, I

28:59

ain't too proud to BEG. If

29:01

the lovin is strong and he got it going on and

29:03

I ain't too proud to BEG two inches

29:06

or a yard rock hard, or if it's

29:08

saggin, I ain't too proud to BEG. So

29:10

it ain't like I'm bragging. Just joined the

29:12

pattiwagon because I ain't too proud to BEG.

29:15

I ain't too proud to BEG. Okay,

29:17

I know it's weird when I recite rap lyrics,

29:19

but as many of you have noticed, we can't play the

29:21

songs on this podcast anyway. You

29:24

have to admit that is a solid hook. The

29:26

same way Sir mix a Lot was promoting body

29:28

positivity with Baby Got Back while still

29:30

making it abundantly clear that he was horny

29:32

as hell. These ladies were all

29:34

about getting freaky, but wrapping it up

29:37

left. I was literally slapping a condom

29:39

on her face. She was a walking billboard

29:42

for safe sex and then rapping about

29:44

erect and soft penises. Speaking

29:47

of billboards, this song hit number six on the

29:49

Billboard Hot one hundred and number two on the Billboard

29:52

Hot R and B hip Hop Songs Chart. How

29:54

did this ship make it on the radio? It's so

29:57

penisy, but thank god it did.

30:00

So. How did the condom culture come about?

30:02

Well, here's how Chili recalled it

30:04

in a twenty seventeen teen Vogue

30:06

interview quote, we were on our

30:08

way to the studio one day and a condom and safety

30:11

pin weround the dresser, and when left

30:13

I came outside, t Bows and I were waiting for

30:15

her in the car. She had pinned the condom

30:17

to her pants. From that day, it

30:19

became part of our signature style. It

30:31

wasn't a joke. It was serious

30:33

messaging, wrapped in such a way that

30:35

TLC could actually get young, sexually

30:37

active listeners to listen, said

30:40

Chili in the same interview quote. Some

30:43

parents thought we were telling their kids to have sex,

30:46

but we were making a fashion statement to make

30:48

it easier to talk about sex. As

30:52

left I told the Los Angeles Times, in nineteen

30:54

ninety two quote, by making it

30:57

a fashion statement, we're doing something more

30:59

important, making a social statement.

31:01

Kids listen to performers, and we have

31:03

a duty to give them certain critical information.

31:07

We want something eyecatching, so when

31:09

kids see the condoms, they ask why

31:11

do we wear condoms? And talk about condoms?

31:13

That brings up the issue of safe sex. The

31:15

point is to make condoms something kids aren't

31:18

afraid of or ashamed of. In

31:22

that same twenty seventeen teen Vogue interview,

31:25

t BOS specifically addressed HIV,

31:27

saying quote, during that time, so

31:29

many people were getting diagnosed with HIV. People

31:32

were talking about it, but not really talking about

31:34

it. As role models, we knew

31:36

we needed to start the conversation. TLC

31:39

would pop up on talk shows to explain their messaging

31:42

and continue wearing condoms in the videos for their

31:44

next two singles, Baby Baby Baby and

31:46

What About Your Friends, both of which would hit

31:48

the top ten. In two For

31:50

one scene to the Baby Baby Baby video, they

31:53

plastered the side of a dorm building with posters

31:55

boasting the slogan protection is the priority.

31:58

The summer of safe sex continue. The

32:00

trio would later write specifically about HIV

32:03

and AIDS and their massive nineteen ninety

32:05

five number one hit Waterfalls,

32:08

TLC and Salt and Peppa did something

32:10

inconceivable in nineteen ninety two. They

32:13

made music that stressed the importance of

32:15

safe sex, but their PSA pop

32:17

made it seem cool and fun. Another

32:21

pop artist would take a different approach

32:23

to discussions around sex and the AIDS crisis,

32:25

a much bolder, in your face approach.

32:28

In nineteen ninety two, Madonna was already

32:31

pop's reigning queen of subversion,

32:33

but in the fall of that year, she would

32:35

embark on her most provocative shocking

32:38

venture yet. The day after

32:40

she dropped her dance driven fifth studio

32:43

album, Erotica, she would bring

32:45

sex to the table, specifically

32:47

the coffee table, releasing a glossy,

32:49

racy, nudity filled photobook

32:52

simply titled Sex The

32:54

World was Shook it Up.

33:14

Next after the Break, we look back

33:17

at the most controversial moment in Madonna's

33:19

career and what money consider her most

33:21

important, plus the story

33:23

of how an artist affected by AIDS left

33:25

a lasting impression on the band YouTube.

33:44

It was October nineteen ninety two.

33:47

Madonna was not only the biggest pop

33:49

star in the world, but also it's most

33:51

controversial, having blurred the lines

33:53

between sex and religion and gender

33:56

roles, and turned a spotlight on

33:58

interracial relationships and queer

34:00

relationships. But that month

34:03

she would cross the line for many, releasing

34:05

her provocative coffee table book Sex,

34:08

a collection of erotic photography and

34:11

softcore pornography that depicted

34:13

the singer and her clique in various

34:15

positions, states of undress,

34:17

and stages of ecstasy. Along

34:19

for the ride actress Isabella

34:21

Rossellini, rapper Vanilla Ice,

34:24

her lover at the time, model Naomi

34:26

Campbell, gay porn star Joey

34:28

Stefano, actor Udo Kier,

34:31

and socialite Tatiana von

34:33

Furstenberg. Homosexuality

34:35

and sado masochism were major themes

34:39

to shoot the book. Madonna enlisted

34:41

fashion photographers Stephen Mizell and

34:43

Fabian Baron, who spearheaded the relaunch

34:46

of Andy Warhol's Interview in nineteen

34:48

ninety. For inspiration, they

34:50

turned to the work of Gay Bardan, Helmut

34:53

Newton, and Robert Maplethorpe,

34:55

known for his heavy use of queer s

34:57

and m imagery. The singer wrote

35:00

the words, casting herself as

35:02

dominatrix and sex fiend. Mistress

35:05

Dieta, a character inspired by

35:07

nineteen thirties film actress Dieta

35:09

Parlow. If the endeavor was audacious

35:12

and risky, it proved more

35:14

than any other modern art book that Sex

35:16

sells, to the tune of more than

35:19

one point five million copies

35:21

worldwide. Sex sold

35:23

out, and it became the best

35:25

and fastest selling coffee table book

35:27

ever. Madonna's

35:38

goal was simple. Of course, she wanted

35:40

to shock the world that was her Raisin detra,

35:43

but like Salt and Peppa and TLC,

35:46

she also wanted people to break the silence

35:48

and talk about sex, to stop

35:50

seeing it as of her boating topic. As

35:54

she asserted, quote, sexual

35:56

repression is responsible for a lot

35:58

of bad behavior, she

36:00

sighed, and all my work, my

36:03

thing has always been not to be

36:05

ashamed of who you are, your body,

36:07

your physicality, your desires, your

36:09

sexual fantasies. The reason

36:12

there is bigotry and sexism and

36:14

racism and homophobia is

36:16

fear. People are afraid of their own

36:19

feelings, afraid of the unknown. And

36:21

I am saying don't be afraid. Like

36:24

Salt and Peppa and TLC, Madonna

36:26

knew sex was killing people, but she also

36:28

insisted that not talking about

36:30

sex was also killing people. Talking

36:33

about safe sex could save them. To

36:36

drive that point home, the book, which

36:38

was ring bound with metal covers, came

36:40

packaged in a zipped milar bag.

36:43

The sealed bag was meant to evoke a condom

36:45

wrapper Madonna's Clever and Sexy

36:47

Little PSA. In celebration

36:50

of the release of the book, the HMV Music

36:52

Store in New York City hosted a special

36:54

Madonna lookalike contest and set

36:57

up a booth where people could pay a dollar a minute

36:59

to paw through the book. The proceeds

37:01

went to LIFEbeat, a music industry

37:03

organization founded in nineteen ninety two to

37:06

help fund aid's education research

37:08

and prevention. Sex

37:11

was released a day after Madonna's fifth

37:13

album, Erotica, but for many,

37:16

the breuhaha over the book eclipsed

37:18

the music. Her detractors were

37:20

tired of the singer's porny, antics and

37:22

attention seeking and didn't even care to

37:24

hear it, and of those who did

37:26

take the time to listen, not everyone

37:29

got it. Produced by Shep Pettibone,

37:31

who co produced her massive nineteen ninety

37:33

number one hit Vogue, and Andre Betts,

37:36

who produced her other nineteen ninety number one

37:38

hit, Justify My Love with Lenny Kravitz.

37:40

The album had much more of a house and

37:42

hip hop vibe than her previous efforts. The

37:45

record peaked at number two on the US Billboard

37:47

two hundred album chart, becoming her

37:49

first studio album since her nineteen

37:51

eighty three debut not to top the chart.

37:54

None of its singles hit number one. Madonna

37:57

was thirty fourth time some declared

37:59

her career, but

38:08

for many, namely queer men,

38:10

Erotica as a nineties touchstone

38:13

and a pop music touchsdone. Sal

38:15

Sinquamani is a filmmaker, the co

38:18

founder of Slant magazine, and a writer

38:20

whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Billboard,

38:22

and The Village Voice. He falls into

38:24

the camp of music lovers who would argue

38:26

that while Erotica isn't Madonna's best album,

38:29

it may bee her most important, partly

38:31

because she refused to back down on

38:33

something she considered critical frank

38:36

conversations about sex and AIDS,

38:38

says Sinquamani. The more people push

38:40

back on it, the more she wanted to put it

38:42

out there, as she wanted to be no holds

38:45

barred, like, just completely free,

38:47

not thinking about the consequences.

38:50

Because she didn't have any you know, there were

38:52

no you know. She was going to be successful no matter what in

38:54

her mind. In nineteen ninety two, when

38:56

sex had become scary, when many

38:58

were equating sex with aid and death, Madonna

39:01

forced her audience to confront it. Her

39:03

music had always been fueled by sex, most

39:05

pop music was, but the

39:08

lego virgin singer stripped back the artifice

39:10

and made her carnal desires crystal clear.

39:12

She had been crucified for that. But

39:15

if there were ever a time to drill down on sex,

39:18

she felt like this was it. Too

39:20

many queer people were living their lives in secrecy,

39:23

too many of them were dying, and

39:25

she knew she had the power to get

39:27

people to pay attention. Yes,

39:29

Erotica contains songs about sex. The

39:32

title track, in which Madonna embraces

39:34

her Dita alter ego, is total

39:36

dam pop. As the pre chorus

39:39

goes, give it up, Do as I say, give

39:41

it up and let me have my way. I'll give you

39:43

love, I'll hit you like a trunk. I'll

39:45

give you love. I'll teach you how to Oh.

39:48

Where Life Begins is basically

39:51

six minutes of innuendo for Conelincus

39:54

Welcome to our last episode Kids, all bets

39:56

are off. However,

40:01

where Life Begins also contains these

40:03

lines, are you still hungry? Aren't

40:05

you glad you came? I'm glad you brought

40:08

your raincoat. I think it's beginning to rain

40:10

A nod to safe sex, safe

40:13

sex, but sexy

40:15

the thing is for all its naughtiness.

40:18

Erotica is mostly about the aftermath

40:20

of sex, the repercussions of sex,

40:22

belonging, frustration, fear, heartache,

40:25

and self destruction that comes after sex.

40:28

See tracks like Bye Bye Baby, Waiting

40:31

and Bad Girl. And

40:33

then there is In This Life About

40:35

in which Madonna tackles the AIDS crisis

40:37

head on, specifically remembering

40:39

two loved ones she lost to AIDS.

40:42

She was already an AIDS activist at the time,

40:45

having spoken and written about the disease

40:47

with the release of her nineteen eighty nine album

40:49

Like a Prayer, but this was her first work

40:52

that addressed AIDS explicitly. She

40:54

wrote the track about the deaths of her close

40:56

gay friend Martin Burgogne and gay

40:58

mentor Christopher Flynn. The song

41:01

captures that rare Madonna moment when

41:03

she drops the veil and bears her soul, revealing

41:06

her pain and anger over not only her

41:08

personal loss, but also homophobia

41:10

and the inaptitude America had displayed

41:12

in dealing with the disease. Why

41:15

should he be treated differently? Shouldn't

41:18

matter who you choose to love? She sings

41:20

then later because now

41:22

you're gone, and I have to ask myself what for

41:25

People pass by? And I wonder who's next, who

41:28

determines who knows best? Is there

41:30

a lesson I'm supposed to learn in this case? Ignorance

41:33

is not bliss. That last

41:35

line echoes the lyrics of George Michael's nineteen

41:38

ninety two Brad Houghton Dan's cut. Do

41:40

you really want to know when he sings?

41:42

Because what you don't know can really hurt you, It

41:45

can kill you. Baby. Sanquamani

41:48

was a young teenager when Erotica came out. He

41:50

was drawn to it and listened to it NonStop.

41:53

He was still figuring things out,

41:55

but tracks like in This Life spoke

41:57

to him. At that age. I sort of knew

41:59

which she was talking about, and I knew that it was

42:01

about me, and so I think that's why,

42:05

you know, young queer kids in my generation really

42:08

sort of resonated with her

42:10

so strongly. Because she was talking to us

42:12

and we knew that, but we couldn't say that, and we

42:14

couldn't talk to our friends or family about it. But

42:17

here was this woman talking

42:19

to us about it directly, and it really

42:21

felt like there was a connection there. If

42:23

you've listened to the album, it really sort of helped you

42:25

understand why she was so passionate about

42:27

that issue and why she was fighting

42:29

for that issue. And then years later we find out,

42:31

you know, that she was going to Mexico

42:34

to try to get experimental drugs and do all

42:36

this stuff to try to save her friends. You

42:38

know, it wasn't even about saving the world. She just wanted

42:40

to save her friends who were dying. And it's

42:42

really Madonna singing about

42:45

about her loss. In nineteen

42:47

ninety two, queer people felt like Madonna,

42:49

who was already an icon and so many of

42:51

their minds, was finally speaking to them

42:53

directly. Why is it so hard to

42:55

love one another? She asked on another

42:58

Erotica song, Why is it so hard? Her

43:01

remake of Fever, with its line

43:03

Everybody's Got the Fever could induce

43:05

chills. Whether it was intentional or not.

43:07

The AIDS subtext was there Madonna

43:11

at a peak of her career, you know,

43:14

really coming out and being vocal

43:16

about it and talking about not being ashamed,

43:18

and talking about safe sex and

43:21

putting these things out in the open. I think really

43:24

shaped my understanding of sexuality

43:26

and safe sex. All of the impact

43:29

that AIDS had on how we

43:31

connect with people, how we have sex

43:33

with people, how we

43:35

feel about ourselves. All of that is

43:38

encompassed in these songs that are seemingly

43:40

not about AIDS, but it just

43:42

it's nineteen ninety two, and it's at the peak

43:45

of the

43:47

deaths and the peak of the publicity

43:50

and fear mongering and

43:53

teaching kids like me and health class that we're

43:55

going to die. Literally, as SINGLEMANI

43:57

reached his twenties and then his dirties,

44:00

as he came out and came to better understand

44:02

AIDS and the history of the struggle for LGBTQ

44:04

rights, erotica took on a deeper

44:07

significance. I think its legacy

44:09

is just that it reflects the

44:12

fear of the time period.

44:15

At that time, things that were happening

44:17

with you know, the repression

44:19

of people's sexuality, the fear of

44:22

the homophobia. All of that was rooted in fear

44:24

of AIDS, and I think in that respect

44:26

the album is I

44:28

think, if not the first, one of

44:31

the first full pieces

44:33

full albums that really is

44:35

a reflection of the AIDS era. Stirred

44:38

by personal loss, the biggest pop

44:40

star in the world put pen to page to

44:42

express her grief, confusion, and

44:45

frustration through some she Wasn't

44:47

alone. You

45:00

Two, the biggest rock band in the world

45:02

in nineteen ninety two, would also release

45:04

a song to touch on the complexity and tragedy

45:07

of AIDS. Their track

45:09

one remains one of the group's most

45:11

beloved. While frontman Bano

45:14

preferred to keep its meaning ambiguous,

45:16

allowing the song to connect the listeners navigating

45:18

a variety of struggles, he has said

45:20

his admiration and friendship with queer

45:23

HIV positive artist and activist

45:25

David Voynerovitch at least partly

45:27

inspired it. When he began writing

45:29

the lyrics, he envisioned a difficult

45:32

conversation someone like Voynarovitch

45:34

might have with their family, Esbano

45:50

recalls in his twenty twenty two memoir

45:52

Surrender, he improvised a lyric

45:54

about a son telling his religious father that

45:57

he was gay, much like Madonna's

45:59

In This Life the song delivers no

46:01

real resolution. Bono writes,

46:04

I don't think we're all one. We can

46:06

be one, but I don't think we have to see

46:08

things the same way for that to be so, and

46:11

anarchic thought. We're one,

46:13

but we're not the same. We get

46:15

to carry each other, not that we've got to, just

46:18

that we get to no

46:23

answer, No nineteen eighties. We are

46:25

the world idealism. Life had

46:27

become more complicated in the nineties,

46:30

but one does call for more empathy,

46:32

a deeper understanding. The

46:34

choice is yours. How much you wish

46:36

to carry, give up, keep

46:39

trying, or come to peace with it.

46:44

Red Hot co founder John Carlin introduced

46:47

You To to Voynarovich. He'd

46:49

written an essay for a catalog

46:51

for one of Voynarovitch's exhibitions, and

46:53

after You Two recorded a song for

46:55

the first Red Hot compilation album, Red

46:58

Hot and Blue, Carlin sent its members

47:00

the catalog is a thank you gift. They

47:02

became collectors of his work. When

47:05

it was time for You Two to release one

47:07

in February nineteen ninety two, Carlin

47:10

helped them commission Voynarovich's photograph

47:12

untitled Buffalo, as the cover of the

47:14

single Voynarovitch had

47:16

created the black and white piece depicting

47:19

a herd of buffalo falling over a cliff

47:21

in nineteen eighty eight when he was diagnosed.

47:24

The image is stark and startling, chaotic

47:26

and tragic. The animals plummet

47:28

to their deaths. You want to save them,

47:31

but feel helpless. For many affected

47:33

by AIDS during that period, the metaphor

47:36

was clear. Carlin wrote

47:38

the blurb on the back of the one single and

47:40

arranged for its proceeds to go to AMPHAR, the

47:42

Foundation for aid's Research. One

47:45

version of its video, directed by Mark Pellington,

47:47

who directed Pearl Jam's Jeremy video and the rud

47:49

Hunt and Dance documentary showcased

47:51

slow motion footage of buffalo inspired

47:54

by Voynarovich's image. Another

47:56

version, filmed by Anton Korbyn, featured

47:58

the band in drag, but Bo thought it reinforced

48:01

stereotypes that everyone suffering from AIDS was gay.

48:03

The ultimate version was simpler Bono smoking

48:06

in a nightclub. As

48:08

John Carlin, the man who brought you two

48:10

and the Artist together tells it, the last

48:12

time Voyennarovich ever left his apartment

48:15

was to see a U two concert at the Metal Lands

48:17

in New Jersey. At that point,

48:19

Vuynarovich had aids and was very

48:21

close to dying. He had been estranged

48:24

from his family, having run away from home like

48:26

so many LGBTQ people in that era. Carlin

48:29

wanted to reconcile him with his brother and

48:31

sister, so he arranged an outing.

48:34

I knew that they could not turn down

48:37

tickets to see You two and

48:39

go backstage at

48:41

the Metal Lands, So David

48:44

came to the concert in a wheelchair, his

48:48

boyfriend Tom Rathenbard pushing And

48:52

one of the most moving moments was Bono

48:55

on stage stops right before he

48:57

sings the song one

48:59

and said something to the effect of, you

49:02

know, we're just pop artists, but there's a great

49:04

artist in our next And

49:07

they put the spotlight on David sitting

49:09

there in his wheelchair and his father and sister

49:11

behind him, and say, you

49:13

know, this is a truly

49:16

great artist, and it was

49:18

just an amazing moment. Voynerovich

49:20

died just months after One was released,

49:23

in July nineteen ninety two. He

49:25

was thirty seven. You Two

49:27

would anonymously pay off his medical bills

49:30

so that his estate didn't have to have a fire cell

49:32

of his work. Since then, Bano

49:34

has become one of music's most prominent

49:37

HIV and AIDS activists. Others

49:40

would die. In ninety two, again

49:43

AIDS related illnesses where the leading

49:45

caused death from end between the ages of twenty five

49:47

and forty four. That year. Artist

49:50

whose lives were claimed by AIDS and ninety

49:52

two included Peter Allen, Tina

49:54

Chow, Paul Jabara, Larry

49:56

Levan, and Arthur Russell. There

49:59

were many more. This

50:28

story doesn't have the happiest ending. I

50:31

wish it did. Studies

50:33

show a significant spike in the number of people

50:35

infected with HIV and dying of AIDS

50:38

in the nineteen nineties. Between

50:41

nineteen ninety six and two thousand and one, more

50:43

than three million people were infected every year.

50:47

The number of AIDS related deaths increased

50:49

throughout the nineteen nineties and reached a peak

50:51

in two thousand and four and two thousand and five, when

50:54

in both years close to two million people died.

50:58

But wow, have we come along way. The

51:01

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported

51:03

in twenty twenty one that HIV

51:06

incidents decreased by seventy three

51:08

percent from the highest number of infections

51:11

one hundred and thirty thousand, four hundred in

51:13

nineteen eighty four and eighty five to

51:16

thirty four thousand, eight hundred and twenty

51:18

nineteen. Thanks to

51:20

anti retroviral therapy, people

51:23

with HIV and AIDS today can expect

51:25

to live long lives, and we

51:28

have countless activists, including

51:30

musicians, to thank for that. By

51:34

nineteen ninety two, Elton John

51:37

had lost his friend Freddie Mercury, whom

51:39

he visited in his dying days, and

51:41

another friend, Ryan White, a

51:43

teenager who was infected with HIV by

51:45

a blood transfusion and who died in

51:47

nineteen ninety just before his high school

51:49

graduation. In

51:52

October nineteen ninety two, the same

51:54

month Madonna's In This Life would appear on

51:56

her album Erotica, John would

51:59

release a single inspired by his loss, told

52:02

from the point of view of a dying man reuniting

52:04

with his estranged father. John's

52:06

track, the last song from

52:08

his nineteen ninety two album The One,

52:11

was the first single he released to

52:13

benefit the Elton John AIDS

52:16

Foundation, the nonprofit organization

52:18

he founded that fall to support education,

52:21

prevention, treatment, and services

52:23

to people living with HIV and AIDS. The

52:26

Elton John Aids Foundation is the second

52:28

largest HIV related funder of LGBTQ

52:31

plus populations and the fifth largest

52:34

HIV related funder overall. Since

52:36

nineteen ninety two, it is funded

52:38

more than three thousand projects in

52:40

over ninety countries and raised

52:43

more than five hundred and twenty five million dollars

52:45

for HIV AIDS grants globally. For

52:48

red Hot co founder John Carlin, nineteen

52:51

ninety two was bittersweet, a time of

52:53

great laws, but also a time of great

52:55

change and great hope. I

52:57

think in around nineteen ninety two

53:00

and doing all these read out projects,

53:02

I realized that, you know, artists

53:05

have become the moral voice of our

53:07

culture. And

53:10

they weren't like heathenists. They

53:12

weren't people who were like contrary

53:15

subversive forces.

53:17

In some weird way, the politicians

53:20

and the business people became

53:23

reprehensible. They

53:26

were the people you couldn't trust for guiding

53:30

us through society, and somehow

53:32

it became artists, you know, Bono,

53:34

George Michael, for all their

53:36

complexity as human beings,

53:39

they have become our moral guide.

53:42

In nineteen ninety two, MTV

53:45

would air its first episode of

53:47

the Real World, kickstarting the modern

53:49

reality TV movement and initiating

53:52

the network's gradual move away from music

53:54

videos. Music television

53:56

would never be the same, but

53:59

the music itself hit deep in

54:01

nineteen ninety two. It felt massive,

54:04

resounding, monumental, grunge,

54:06

g funk, new age, hip hop, top shelf,

54:09

R and B line dancing, same

54:11

sex, lust and love, artist

54:13

protesting against police brutality

54:16

and child abuse, artist protesting

54:18

four LGBTQ rights and

54:21

the fight to end AIDS. It

54:23

was a time of shattered records, shattered

54:26

hearts, and shattered expectations. Maybe

54:35

we only fully understand how wild, shocking,

54:38

and absolutely fabulous nineteen ninety two

54:40

was now some thirty years later. Music

54:44

a reflection of our culture, yes,

54:47

as John Carlin puts it, the moral

54:49

voice of our culture so often.

54:51

Yes, a way to affect change

54:54

and shift our culture. Yes, and

54:56

here's hoping it continues to as we sold

54:58

her on, because music has been

55:00

all those things forever. But

55:07

oh my god,

55:11

was it extra special in nineteen

55:13

ninety two. Where

55:51

Were You in ninety two was a production of iHeartRadio.

55:54

The executive producers are Noel Brown and

55:57

Jordan run Tag. The show was researched,

55:59

written and hosted by me Jason

56:01

Laffier with editing and sound design by

56:03

Michael Alder June. If

56:06

you like what you heard, please subscribe and leave

56:08

us a review. For more podcasts from

56:10

My Heart Radio, check out the iHeartRadio

56:12

app, Apple podcast, or wherever

56:14

you listen to your favorite shows,