Entertainment
queer
song
Interviews
Gay
track
band
How punk band the Ramones memorialized this infamous NYC gay cruising spot
The Loop, an area “where young male hustlers [hung] out and older men [cruised] to buy sexual favors.”The fact that such an explicitly LGBTQ+ cruising spot could exist in Manhattan (and so many avenues away from the neighborhood later known as Hell’s Kitchen, at that) is a testament to a bygone and much seedier New York City.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.But it’s this version of the Big Apple that birthed one of punk music’s most influential bands — the Ramones, who paid tribute to the queer spot in their own unique way.Listen.The track appeared on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees’ 1976 self-titled debut album. Although the LP includes some of the group’s most notable tracks — including “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” — it was a commercial flop upon release.