LISTEN: This ’80s R&B jam about two men hooking up was somehow both ahead of its time & really homophobic
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were putting out songs with queer-coded lyrics about the forbidden love that dare not speak its name like “Hand in Glove” and “Relax”, respectively, a heterosexual cisgender woman was climbing the R&B charts with a unambiguous track about two men getting it on behind her back.
Barbara Mason’s 1984 post-disco soul single “Another Man” centers on finding out her husband has been living a double life and hooking up with – you guessed it – another man.
While groundbreaking for openly discussing same-sex relationships and mentioning fellas on the DL years before the topic became common knowledge, the mid-tempo jam eventually descends into a barrage of gay stereotypes and blatant homophobia as Mason describes her man’s “strangeness” as a “defect” that occurred “not when he was created but somewhere down the line.”Other anti-gay and femme-shaming lines deride her cheating lover for the way he “switches” his walk, his high-pitch voice, and for being a “facsimile” of a real man.
There’s even a part where she accuses the two-timer of stealing her “very, very sexy dress” to wear it himself.Despite the derogatory lyrics, “Another Man” became a mainstay on leading R&B stations like WBLS and 98.7 KISS in New York City, and was even more successful in Europe.After entering the music industry as a teen, Mason became an accomplished singer/songwriter best known for her 1965 hit single “Yes, I’m Ready,” which went to #2 on the R&B charts.
