Gay Iconography
The B's formed in Athens, Ga., in but its two most high-profile band members have Jersey roots: Fred Schneider was born in Newark and grew up in Belleville and then Long Branch; Kate Pierson was born in Weehawken and grew up in Rutherford. ^ "Fred Schneider Biography". Archived from the original on March 31, Retrieved May 16, Each member of The Bs is a worthy of celebration on their own, but collectively the band is an iconic staple of LGBT culture. From their beginnings in Athens, Georgia, in the late s through their continued touring today, The Bs have infused an unapologetically campy, queer sensibility into the pop culture lexicon.
Kate Pierson
Their offbeat style and subversive tunes made CBGB scenesters The Bs a beloved party band -- and Reagan-era idols for a queer audience. Forty years on, the original members look back on a. In May — a decade after their last studio album, Funplex , reached No. In fact, people often mistook the two women for drag queens.
The B
Four of the band’s five original members did, in fact, identify as LGBTQ: Ricky, Schneider and Strickland as gay men, and Pierson, who was involved with a man until the early s, is now married to a woman. But Schneider says they didn’t set out to explicitly write queer anthems, as later acts like Erasure would. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. As the Bs embark on what could be their final tour this September, Pete Crighton reflects on the impact the group had on him, reminding us that through every challenge, we can dazzle the world with our authentic selves and celebrate our differences. The B
Singer Kate Pierson discussed the larger goals of The Bs with AfterEllen last year. “We all went through the devastating time of the AIDS crisis and I think that galvanized us to be more. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Here, Michael Martin is bringing it back to with the Bs. Queer Classic
The Bs have been loud and proud supporters of the LGBTQ+ community, with four of the band's five original members identifying as LGBTQ members themselves: the late Ricky Wilson, singer Fred Schneider and Keith Strickland as gay men, and singer Kate Pierson, who married her wife, Monica Coleman, in The bands from that era usually picked out by the mainstream music press would certainly reflect that theory. In , however, a band formed in Athens, Georgia, over a fishbowl cocktail, that would go on to become, not just one of the greatest bands to come out of that scene, but one of the greatest LGBTQ bands in history. 
Fred Schneider
The Bs, a groundbreaking queer band, are hitting the road for what may be their final tour. Pete Crighton reflects in this personal essay how they paved the way for LGBTQ+ representation in music. .
PRIDE REWIND
We're highlighting 50 years of queer classics this week, as seen in "Songs in the Key of Pride" in the June/July issue. Here, Michael Martin is bringing it back to with the Bs. . Navigating my queer identity through the lens of 80s group
The impact of the B’s on the LGBTQ community, and pop culture in general, is profound and long-lasting. More recently, fearlessly flamboyant frontman Fred Schneider appeared on two separate albums by Jinkx Monsoon, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5. .