As anyone who follows the news knows, Republicans have a hard on for drag queens — uh, maybe I should rephrase that. Or maybe I shouldn’t.
Southern states must be hotbeds of drag shows, because many of them are trying to curtail them or ban them outright. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has been particularly vocal about the issue, so it was more than a tad embarrassing for him when a reporter confronted him with a photo of Lee in a cheerleader outfit. Lee said that was different. Riiiiiight.
This song, the lead single from the 1987 LP “Permanent Vacation,” reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 and got plenty of airplay. Co-writer Desmond Child said the lyrical idea came about when Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler was at a bar and mistook Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil for a woman with long blonde hair. It’s been criticized for promoting anti-trans cliches, but as I recall those were common attitudes back in the heyday of hair metal, when many of the dudes wore clothes and makeup that were thisclose to drag.
