What are the origins of the androgynous appeal of rock & roll?
Elvis. Elvis was very androgynous. People in the older generation were afraid of Elvis because of this. That was one of the things they saw in Elvis. They called it effeminate. And they saw it straightaway. I saw Elvis as a rock singer, and obviously you were attracted to him because he was a good-looking guy. But they saw an effeminate guy. I mean, if you look at the pictures, the eyes are done with makeup, and everything’s perfect. I mean, look at Little Richard. He had a very feminine appearance, but you didn’t translate that into what Little Richard’s sex orientation was. When did you first start to incorporate all that into your own act? Well, we did it straightaway, unconsciously. But when did you get deliberate about it? Oh, about 1960. Very early, before we made records. As far as I was concerned, it was part of the whole thing from the beginning. I couldn’t have talked about it like I talk about it now. But it wasn’t some new thing. You were copying all your idols. I always th
