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User:Dannyno/Richard Smith (journalist)

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Richard Smith (18 January 1968 - 25 August 2017) was an English journalist, essayist and blogger. He wrote for a range of publications including Gay Times, Melody Maker, MixMag, and The Guardian.

His blog, Fagburn.com, which he launched in April 2010, was nominated for Publication of the Year in the 2013 Stonewall awards [1] [5].

Life and Career

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Richard Smith was born in Oxford and educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He then attended the University of Sussex for two years before dropping out [2]. He lived in Brighton for the rest of his life.

Smith was a contributor to Gay Times from 1990, becoming Associate Editor in 1998, and his writing on music for that publication received praise in The Guardian: "some of the sharpest pop critiques today can be found whenever Richard Smith writes for Gay Times." [3] David Smith described him as " one of the brightest stars of gay journalism", continuing:

His passionate and often merciless pop music criticism was expressed in a sparkling style full of humour, humanity and literary allusion. It was also a vehicle for examining his personal journey from loneliness and isolation to fulfilment and comradeship. He laid his life on the page and it won him legions of fans. [4]

Smith noted that

Two memorable articles about recreational drug use by gay men won him a media awards commendation from the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependence, and he was shortlisted for the Mike Rhodes award, the UK’s most prestigious gay media award. [5]

Smith's articles for The Guardian included a number of obituaries: Kris Kirk [6], David Rees [7], Dan Hartman [8], Denis Lemon [9], Jeremy J. Beadle [10], Ron Storme [11]

Smith also co-founded Brighton electroclash club night "Fuck the Pain Away", under the name DJ Wanker [12].

Seduced and Abandoned

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In 1995, Smith published a collection of essays on the topic of gay men and pop music, Seduced and Abandoned: essays on gay men and popular music. Most of the essays had previously been published in Gay Times. Andy Medhurst, of the University of Sussex, wrote the foreword. The book was reissued in hardback by Bloomsbury Academic in 2016 [6].

The book's contents are:

  • "The Acid Queen: Mixmaster Morris" (Gay Times, April 1995)
  • "Ambisexuality" (Melody Maker, 12 December 1992 - includes final section cut from original)
  • "Baby Don't Apologize: Nirvana" (March 1995)
  • "Back in the YMCA: Village People" (December 1993)
  • "Bad?: Michael Jackson" (February 1994 - updated version of piece originally published in Gay Times)
  • "Being Boring: Erasure" (Gay Times, May 1994)
  • "Blaming it on the Boogie: Stock, Aitken and Waterman" (Gay Times, July 1990)
  • "Cock Rock: The Secret History of the Penis in Pop" (Gay Times, August 1993)
  • "Dear Shaun: Happy Mondays" (Melody Maker, 5 September 1992)
  • "Dragged into the Future: Trannies With Attitude" (Gay Times, November 1993)
  • "Getting Away with It: Right Said Fred" (Gay Times, May 1993)
  • "The God that Failed?: Morrissey" (Gay Times, August 1990)
  • "Godfathers and Sugardaddies: Tom Watkins" (Gay Times, July 1991)
  • "The Happy Wanderer: Jimmy Somerville" (Gay Times, December 1990)
  • "Homo Psycho Sexy Burlesque: My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult" (Gay Times, December 1992)
  • "Hope I Get Old Before I Die: Pop and AIDS" (Gay Times, September 1990)
  • "The House That Frankie Built: Frankie Knuckles" (Gay Times, August 1992)
  • "Housewives' Choice: Female Fans and Unmanly Men" (Gay Times, June 1991)
  • "I'm Not Like Everybody Else: The Kinks" (Gay Times, October 1994)
  • "Just Good Friends?: Take That" (April 1995)
  • "Kerrang! The Sound of Confusion: Heavy Metal" (Gay Times, January 1992)
  • "Let's (Not) Talk about Sex: Sex, Pop and Censorship" (Gay Times, November 1992)
  • "Little Town Flirt: Suede" (Gay Times, March 1993 - based around "The Great Maker Sex Debate", Melody Maker, 12 December 1992, co-chaired by Simon Price, The Stud Brothers and Cathi Unsworth)
  • "The London Boy: Colin Bell" (March 1995)
  • "Murmuring: REM" (Gay Times, February 1993)
  • "The Odd Couple: McAlmont (Thieves)" (Gay Times, November 1993)
  • "Out On Your Own: Kitchens of Distinction and Sugar" (Gay Times, November 1994)
  • "'Outrage and Boredom Just Go Hand in Hand': Manic Street Preachers (Gay Times, August 1991)
  • "Pink Vinyl: Gay Dance Labels and Nu-NRG" (Gay Times, August 1994)
  • "Preaching to the Perverted: Homocore and Queercore" (Capital Gay, 11 February 1994 - adapted from "Queer, There and Everywhere", Melody Maker, 23 October 1993)
  • "The Queen of New York: RuPaul" (Gay Times, July 1993)
  • "Relaxed: Holly Johnson" (Gay Times, April 1994)
  • "The Rhythm Divine: Jon Savage and Disco" (Gay Times, January 1991)
  • "Seriously: Pet Shop Boys" (Gay Times, October 1993)
  • "This Charming Man: Gene" (Gay Times, March 1995)
  • "Three Little Words: Pet Shop Boys" (Outrage (Australia), November 1994)
  • "Us Boys Together Clinging: One Night in a Gay Club" (Gay Times, September 1994)
  • "What Do We Want?: 2wo Third3" (Gay Times, March 1994)
  • "A Year in the Death of Freddie Mercury: Queen" (Gay Times, January 1993)
  • "Afterwords"

Bibliography

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Books, as author or co-author

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  • A Problem Shared (with Peter Burton) (Millivres Books, 1992).
  • Seduced and Abandoned: essays on gay men and popular music (Cassell, 1995).

Books, as editor

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  • A Boy called Mary: Kris Kirk's greatest hits (Millivres Books, 1999).

Book Chapters

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  • "Frock Tactics", in Baker, Roger (ed.) (1994). Drag: a history of female impersonation in the performing arts. London, Cassell.
  • "Something Changed", in Davidson, Toni (ed.) (1998). Intoxication: an anthology of stimulant-based writing. London, Serpent's Tail.

References

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  1. ^ Butterworth, Benjamin (2017). "Journalist Richard Smith, the man behind ‘gay Private Eye’ Fagburn blog, dies", Pink News, 3 September. [1].
  2. ^ "About the author". Smith, Richard (1995). Seduced and abandoned: essays on gay men and popular music. London, Cassell.
  3. ^ Medhurst, Andy (1994). "De-pressing pop's spirit", The Guardian, 22 May.
  4. ^ Smith, David (2017). "Richard Smith obituary", The Guardian, 12 October. [2]
  5. ^ Smith, David (2017). "Richard Smith obituary", The Guardian, 12 October. [3]
  6. ^ Smith, Richard (1993). "Kris Kirk". The Guardian, 29 April, p.A11.
  7. ^ Smith, Richard (1993). "David Rees". The Guardian, 27 May
  8. ^ Smith, Richard (1994). "Doyen of disco music: Dan Hartman", The Guardian, 9 April
  9. ^ Smith, Richard (1994). "Daring to care for the cause: Denis Lemon". The Guardian, 22 July, p.A20."
  10. ^ Smith, Richard (1996). "Gay thrillers and pop culture: Jeremy J. Beadle". The Guardian, 3 January, p.11.
  11. ^ Smith, Richard (2000). "Ron Storme". The Guardian, 2 December, p.28.
  12. ^ Robinson, Peter (2017). "A little respect: paying tribute to a great queer writer, Richard Smith", Gay Times, 8 September, [4]
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