Check out our top 10 list.

(PAGE 2:) The 80s was a big decade for glam, make-up and revealing clothes, and many of the biggest pop bands of the past 25-30 years, especially British bands, had gay frontmen.

Side2 has created an informal list of the best gay bands and artists from the decade. We have also selected two songs from each band and each artist.

10. Community

After leaving Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville started The Communards with Richard Coles in 1985. The band achieved its greatest success with two cover versions of famous songs from the 70s: “Don’t Leave Me This Way” (Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes/ Thelma Houston), which was the best-selling single in the UK in 1986, and Never Can Say Goodbye (Jackson 5/Gloria Gaynor).

Never Can Say Goodbye

Don’t Leave Me Like This

9. Soft Cell

This British synth duo topped the charts in 17 countries with their cover of Tainted Love (Gloria Jones released the original in 1965) in 1981 and 82.

Tainted love

One bedroom apartment

8. Freddie Mercury

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury also had a solo career in the second half of the 80s. His greatest solo success came in 1993, almost two years after he died of AIDS. Then the 1985 remix of the song Living On My On topped the UK singles charts and in several other countries.

Living Alone (original)

I Was Born To Love You

7. Dead Or Alive

Dead Or Alive has the dubious honor of being the first Stock, Aitken, Waterman production song to reach the top in the UK. You Spin Me Round was first released in 1984, and this high NRG song has been recorded by a number of other artists.

In recent years, bisexual frontman Pete Burns has made a career as a plastic-heavy reality TV star in his native England.

You turned me around

Promise to Come Back to Me

6. Culture Club

Boy George’s Culture Club had two number 1 hits in much of the world. You can get it here:

Karmic Chameleon

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

5. Bronski Beat

Bronski Beat had huge success with their debut album The Age of Consent and the single Small Town Boy in 1984. However, the public quickly lost interest after frontman Jimmy Somerville quit and started The Communards in 1985.

Small Town Boy

I feel love

4. Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Frankie Goes To Hollywood made a splash with the highly homoerotic song Relax in 1983/84. The song was banned by the BBC, and sold almost two million copies in the UK alone. In 1993, the remix version went straight into the charts again. Vocalist Holly Johnson has kept a low profile in public since she became infected with HIV in 1991.

Relax

Welcome to the Pleasuredome

3. Removal

Andy Bell (gay) and Vince Clarke (non-gay) have had an incredible 35 top 100 hits in their native England, but none of their songs have reached the top (1986’s, Sometimes, was closest at #2.)

Love to Hate You

Always

2. Pet Shop Boy

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have sold more than 100 million records and had 22 top 10 hits in the UK since meeting by chance in a London shop in 1981. We’ve picked two hits from the 80s that weren’t played much on the radio at the time. This.

suburbs

Domino Dance

1. Punch!/George Michael

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley (not gay, by the way) had five number 1 hits as Wham! in the UK (two in the US) from the albums Make It Big and Music from the Edge of Heaven. George Michael went on to top the UK charts five times and Billboard six times. We’ve selected a song from Wham!’s first album! Fantastic (1982) and one song from their last release – Music from the Edge of Heaven (1986).

Tropicana Club

Heaven’s Edge

This case was first published on 03/19 2012.