How Wendy Carlos transformed electronic music while refusing to be anything but herself.

Wendy Carlos is a badass. Full stop. She is one of the most influential architects of modern sound. Her groundbreaking work with the Moog synthesizer helped redefine how electronic instruments could be used in popular music, classical interpretation, and film scoring, reshaping the sonic language of the late twentieth century. From her landmark 1968 album Switched-On Bach to her unforgettable scores for A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Tron, Carlos was at the forefront of musical innovation. At the same time her career was ascending, Carlos was also navigating her life as a transgender woman in an era that offered little safety, privacy, or understanding, making her achievements all the more remarkable.

Today, I’m joined in the studio by Lucas Grindley — a composer of electronic orchestral music and film scores, former Editor-in-Chief of The Advocate, and two-time LGBTQ+ Journalist of the Year — to explore Carlos’ legacy, her artistry, and the lasting impact she’s had on how we hear music today. We’ll also hear two original songs composed and arranged by Lucas.

You can hear Lucas' original music on SoundCloud, TikTok, and Youtube.

Lucas is new to Substack so be sure to give him a follow!

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How one nightclub gave shelter to rebels and helped a generation of artists find their chosen family.

If I could go back in time to any place during any era of time, I would land myself at the doors of Max’s Kansas City in 1968. Anyone who knows me would fully understand my obsession for New York City’s music scene and specifically my love for the cultural significance of this venue. This was THE place to be if you wanted to be an artist or musician. So many legends began as nobodies here - Lou Reed, Patti Smith, the New York Dolls, Debbie Harry, the list goes on.

On this week’s episode, I dive into the history of Max’s Kansas City with Yvonne Sewall, who was there from the beginning. We talk about her book High on Rebellion, her life inside Max’s, her nonprofit that’s keeping the spirit of Max’s alive through a new generation of artists, and what she has planned for the club’s 60th anniversary.

Music in this episode includes songs from the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, Suicide, Blondie, the Ramones, Patti Smith, and many more.

Learn more about the Max’s Kansas City Project HERE.

Purchase High on Rebellion: Inside the Underground at Max’s Kansas City

Hard Cover Edition HERE or E-Book HERE

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House music’s queer foundations, its worldwide takeover, and the legacy still echoing through today’s biggest artists.”

House music wasn’t born in studios or corporate boardrooms…it was built in the dark, crowded rooms where Black, queer, and trans people went to breathe. Born in Chicago at the famed Warehouse, the the dancefloor became a place where survival and joy could coexist. In this week’s episode of Songs That Saved Your Life, I’m tracing how those early nights at the Warehouse and the Paradise Garage grew into a global sound that still pulses through pop music today.

From Frankie Knuckles to the ballrooms that shaped voguing, from Daft Punk’s shimmering French Touch to Beyoncé’s Renaissance, House remains one of the most powerful legacies of queer creativity. This episode is a love letter to the people who created a home in the music long before the world was ready to recognize them.

We’ll hear music from Frankie Knuckles, Masters at Work, Phuture, Crystal Waters, Robin S., Stardust, Daft Punk, Madonna, and many more.

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And since House music was born from Disco, you may also want to listen to my episode on the queer roots of Disco music here.

Marking Cyndi Lauper’s Rock Hall induction and her decades of queer advocacy.

One of my favorite queer allies was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year so it felt like the right time to celebrate Cyndi Lauper on Songs That Saved Your Life Radio. her music has been a lifeline for misfits, queer kids, and anyone who’s ever felt unseen. This episode looks at how she turned her art into action, how she fought for LGBTQ+ lives, and how her spirit still echoes through the artists she inspired. It’s gonna be a bop y’all - a SHE BOP.

Music in this episode includes songs by Prince, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Chappell Roan, Santigold, Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson, Janet Jackson, Robyn, and many more.

How a teenage misfit helped shape punk, invented post-punk, and carved out a new space for queerness in rock.

Just in time for the full moon last night, we’re digging into the legacy of Siouxsie Sioux who helped define punk’s first wave and inspired what came after it. From hanging out at early Sex Pistols gigs to inventing her own sound with the Banshees, Siouxsie pushed post-punk into new, darker, weirder places. We trace her story from the gritty queer bars of London to her global legacy. Siouxsie doesn’t get enough credit for just how many bands cite her as a direct influence. On this episode, I attempt to give credit where it’s due because there’s no doubt that post-punk, New Wave, and Goth wouldn’t be the same without her.

This episode contains some of my favorite music from some of my favorite bands like The Smiths, Joy Division, Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins, The Cure, Radiohead, TV on the Radio, and many more. I hope you enjoy!

What a treat it was to be joined by Madeleine Peyroux and Gail Ann Dorsey today for a live performance in the Radio Kingston studios. MAD and GAD (as I lovingly call them) came by to promote an upcoming benefit concert for the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network.

Peyroux, who began her career busking in Paris as a teenager and broke through with her 1996 debut Dreamland and the gold-selling Careless Love, sang a gorgeous Bessie Smith cover and Dorsey, celebrated for her decade on bass with David Bowie and a solo career that’s taken her from Tears for Fears to The National, shared an original song that will be appearing on her forthcoming album.

In addition to the live performance, music in this episode includes songs by Joan Osborne, Rebecca Martin, David Baerwald, Matt Munisteri, Roberta Flack, Billie Holiday, Ani DiFranco, and more.

For those local to the Hudson Valley, the Estamos Contigo: Friends & Neighbors Concert will be held on Saturday, September 20th at The Old Dutch Church in Kingston at 7pm. All proceeds from the concert will benefit the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network. The evening will also include singer/songwriters Joan Osborne, David Baerwald, Clare & Olivier Manchon, Larry Grenadier, Rebecca Martin, and Matt Munisteri.

Tickets can be purchased here for the event.

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This week on Songs That Saved Your Life, I’m honored to share a conversation with Janis Ian—a songwriter whose courage has matched her extraordinary talent for more than six decades.

At just 14 years old, Ian wrote “Society’s Child,” a ballad about an interracial romance and American racism that radio stations refused to play. Her father, a civil-rights activist, was already under FBI surveillance, and the backlash against the song only intensified that scrutiny. From an early age, Ian became a voice for social justice.

A decade later, she gave us “At Seventeen.” The song earned a Grammy and became a refuge for outsiders everywhere, especially queer listeners who heard themselves in every line.

Ian’s refusal to stay silent never wavered. In the early 1990s, during the height of the AIDS crisis, she came out publicly as gay and released Breaking Silence, a landmark album that confronted trauma, prejudice, and love with unflinching clarity.

In our interview, Ian reflects on her legacy of speaking truth to power. We also talk about the new documentary Janis Ian: Breaking Silence

Music in this episode includes songs by Billie Holiday, Odetta, Lead Belly, Nina Simone, Brandi Carslile, and Janis Ian’s own unforgettable songs.

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Disco’s queer roots, its rise, and the ‘Disco Sucks’ backlash that tried to silence it.

Before the mirror ball became a symbol of Saturday night excess, disco was the heartbeat of queer New York. Born in underground parties curated by visionary DJs like David Mancuso, Larry Levan, and Nicky Siano, disco offered sanctuary and liberation for those pushed to society’s margins. In this week’s episode of Songs That Saved Your Life, I explore disco’s queer roots, its explosive rise into the mainstream, and the backlash that followed in the form of the “Disco Sucks” movement. It’s a story of joy, resistance, and the erasure and survival of queer culture in popular music.

Music in this episode includes songs from Manu Dibango, Eddie Kendricks, Disco Tex and the Sex-o-lettes, Donna Summer, Sylvester, Chic, Labelle, and more.

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If you’re interested in a deeper dive, here are two articles:

AND

Exploring Hip Hop’s historical tensions with queerness and the legacy of representation from Queen Latifah to Doechii.

Hip Hop celebrated its 52nd birthday on August 11th. This week on Songs That Saved Your Life, we’re diving into the history of Hip Hop—its origins, its evolution, and its complicated relationship to queerness. I invited my Radio Kingston colleagues, Micah and Lotus, the brilliant hosts of Hip Hop 101, to join me for this conversation. Together, we trace the Golden Era of Hip Hop, share some of our favorite tracks, and reflect on the culture’s ongoing tension between celebration and exclusion. We also highlight the trailblazing role of Queen Latifah, who helped pave the way for today’s openly queer artists like Doechii and Lil Nas X.

Music in this episode includes tracks from Fatback Band, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Kurtis Blow, De La Soul, Rapsody, Doechii and more.

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If you’re interested in reading more about Queen Latifah’s impact as a queer icon…

Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Bronski Beat are too often reduced to singles — but their stories are part of queer music history.

This week on Songs That Saved Your Life, we revisit the revolutionary sounds of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Bronski Beat, two bands often dismissed as ‘80s one-hit wonders, but whose music told stories of queer resistance, visibility, and survival. At the height of the AIDS crisis, at a time when mainstream pop rarely acknowledged LGBTQ+ lives, these artists brought unapologetic sexuality to the charts. From the hedonistic defiance of “Relax” to the aching vulnerability of “Smalltown Boy,” this episode explores how these songs offered lifelines to queer listeners and helped carve out space for self-expression in a hostile cultural climate.

Did you know that the music video for “Relax” was banned by the BBC for being too gay? And that because of Bronski Beat lead singer Jimmy Somerville’s activism, he was routinely targeted by the media? Despite the oppressive governments who tried to erase queerness from the mainstream, Frankie’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome and Bronski’s Age of Consent became beacons of hope for listeners.

Tune in as we dive deeper than the hits to uncover the radical legacy these bands left behind. Music in this episode includes songs by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soft Cell, Culture Club, Eurythmics, Dead or Alive, and more.

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And of you’re interested in reading my previous articles about both bands……..

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When Pop Was Political, Madonna Led the Way.

We’re celebrating Madonna’s birthday a little early with a radio episode dedicated to her fearless legacy as an LGBTQ+ icon. I played tracks from her new Veronica Electronica remix album and traced her influence through artists like The Pretenders, Blondie, George Michael, Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga, and more.

I also discussed the significance of her 1992 album Erotica. Madonna's entire catalog is key to queer history but I would argue that Erotica and her Sex book might be the most central to the queer struggle and as a testament to Madonna's activism.

Get into the groove and celebrate the Material Girl’s 67th birthday with me on Songs That Saved Your Life radio!

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Billie Joe Armstrong brought queer identity to MTV and suburban bedrooms, channeling the rebellious energy of punk’s earliest queer pioneers.

If you tuned in last week, you might remember that we covered the history of punk rock and its very queer beginnings. It felt like an appropriate through line to turn our attention to one of the most famous bands on the planet. Green Day’s 1994 album Dookie was named Rolling Stone’s “Best Alternative Album” of 1994 and was cited by Fuse as the most important pop-punk album of all time. Lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong has always been an out and proud bisexual and wrote about it in songs like "Coming Clean" and "King For a Day." Today, we'll explore Green Day’s place in history not only as rock icons but also queer icons.

Music in this episode includes songs from The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, The Jam, Pansy Division, Rancid, and more.

Before it had a name, punk was queer. It was inspired by queer people and queer spaces. On today’s episode, we’re discussing the queer artists, influencers, and spaces that influenced the birth of punk rock. From Andy Warhol to music impresario Danny Fields and filmmaker Derek Jarman, punk may never have materialized without them. We’ll also talk about Malcolm McLaren and his appropriation of queer culture to sell punk to the masses.

Music in this episode includes songs from The Velvet Underground, The New York Dolls, Jayne County, The Ramones, Suicide, MC5, The Stooges, Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Slits, and many more.

What started as a catcall became a revolution. Debbie Harry transformed Blondie — and rock & roll — on her own terms.

We're celebrating a birthday as we turn the spotlight on bisexual icon - Debbie Harry of Blondie who turned 80 years young this week.

Debbie Harry is known for her devastatingly cool style and catchy hooks. She helped define the sound of New York’s downtown scene in the late '70s. From the seedy stages of Max’s Kansas City to global superstardom, Harry fused punk, disco, reggae, and hip-hop with a swagger that's been emulated by countless artists who followed in her wake.

In a music industry that still tries to box women in, Debbie Harry blew the box wide open. She sang about desire on her own terms and she carved out space for the weirdos, the outsiders, and the lovers of all genders.

Today, we’ll celebrate her legacy — not just as a front woman, but as a queer icon — playing songs that shaped her, songs she shaped, and music by the artists who stand on her shoulders.

Music in this episode includes songs from Screamin Jay Hawkins, Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Grandmaster Flash, Madonna, Beth Ditto, Sia and more.

When aggression became an albatross, Pete Townshend found his feminine side.

Today we're celebrating rock & roll legend Pete Townshend of the Who. Townshend, who was the guitarist and primary songwriter for the band practically invented the macho guitar rock god persona. The power chords, the power stance, the guitar smashing — Pete Townshend started all of that.

Considering how much his life has been dissected in rock history, Townshend is rarely looked at as a bisexual icon. That's because he didn’t come out until later in his career and waffled about his sexuality for years before that. But, we don’t have to dig too deep into his catalog (and interviews) to reveal that his destructive behavior and need to rebel was, in part, because of a yearning to buck the toxic masculinity he came to symbolize. Songs like "Tattoo," and "I'm a Boy," both confront the pressures to conform to hyper-masculine standards of manhood and the song "Rough Boys" refers to his bisexuality. Today, we're going to dissect all of those songs and Townshend's coming out story.

Music in today's episode includes songs from Elton John, Jimi Hendrix, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley, The Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, The White Stripes, and more.

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Because she wasn’t out in her lifetime, Simone’s legacy as a queer icon is often overshadowed.

On this week’s episode, we celebrate the fullness of Nina Simone’s legacy - not just as a musical genius and Civil Rights activist, but as a queer icon whose radical vulnerability has too often been overshadowed. We trace her journey from classical prodigy to genre-defying performer, political firebrand, and underground favorite in Greenwich Village’s queer nightlife. With a voice that embodied resistance and yearning, Simone lived—and loved—on her own terms.

This episode revisits her most iconic recordings and dives deep into the parts of her story that history tends to quiet. Music in today’s episode includes songs by Billie Holiday, Talib Kwali, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Tracy Chapman, and more.

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There would be no rock & roll without the genre’s queer lineage.

Rock & roll history is queer history. The genre was born from the blues and blues history is also queer history. Today, we're stretching all the way back to the 1920's to the first big stars of the blues — two queer Black women named Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.

If you’re going to talk about the queer ancestry of rock & roll, then Smith and Rainey are the most essential stop. Called "The Empress of the Blues," Bessie Smith was the highest paid Black entertainer of the classic blues era of the 1920s. Her mentor, Ma Rainey, was the first major celebrity of the blues, and she sang openly about queer life in tunes like “Bo-Weevil Blues,” “Sissy Blues” and “Prove It On Me.”

1928's “Prove It on Me Blues” is considered one of the earliest gay anthems in history.

Tune in for a deep dive into rock's fore-bearers.

Music in today's episode includes songs by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Little Richard, Big Mama Thornton, Janis Joplin, Lil Nas X, Lil Kim, Queen Latifah, and many more.

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The home for Songs That Saved Your Life Radio on WKNY 107.9FM where Jami explores the very queer roots of rock n roll and plays a lot of great music!

I sat down with the legendary June Millington, co-founder of Fanny, the groundbreaking all-woman rock band that shattered barriers in the 1970s. June shared stories of her journey as a queer, Filipina-American musician, the challenges and triumphs of being a pioneer in rock & roll, and the lasting impact of Fanny’s music. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about resilience, representation, and rock history.

Music in today's episode includes songs by Fanny, Suzi Quatro, The Runaways, Gossip, ESG, David Bowie, and many more.

If you’re unfamiliar with Fanny’s legacy, this 2021 documentary is a great place to start!

A dream come true for this queer kid - rock icon Kate Pierson joined me today to discuss her new solo album, Radios & Rainbows and her upcoming shows.

Kate and I also discussed her legacy as a queer icon, the impact the B-52's had on John Lennon, and the songs that saved her life as an artist.

Music in today's episode includes songs from Kate Pierson, the B-52's, the Beatles, Patti Smith, and James Brown.

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History can’t erase the legacy of the transgender soul singer who scored a major hit in 1963.

As we celebrate the last week of Black History Month and the dawning of Women's History Month, I can think of no better person to uplift than pioneering soul singer - Jackie Shane, the first transgender woman to have a hit on the Billboard charts in 1963.

A lot of folx haven't heard of Jackie Shane, but that will soon change as her popularity is having a resurgence due to the GRAMMY awards and a new documentary that just premiered last year at Sundance. I'm honored to be able to amplify her story and pay tribute to someone who paved the way for so many folx both in music and in the queer community.

Music in today's episode includes songs from The Drifters, Roberta Flack, Little Richard, Big Maybelle, Joe Tex, Labe Siffre, Shea Diamond, The Cliks, and many more.