Gay icon Own Kind of Music" and "Different") and free love. Her music was later featured in the acclaimed gay film "Beautiful Thing" (1996), adapted from the play of the same name. Singer and actress Bette Midler became recognized as a gay icon in the 1970s. After performing on Broadway, Midler began performing at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album "The Divine Miss M" (1973). "Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [singing at
The Shangri-Las his album "Citizen Cain'd". He's heard to say “When I say I’m dead you best believe I’m dead, D-E-A-D” during the outro. In an outtake of "Careless" from their album "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash", The Replacements opened with the line "When I say I'm in debt, you best believe I'm in debt, D-E-T!" In 1972, "Leader of the Pack" was performed by Bette Midler on her debut album "The Divine Miss M". The opening from "Leader of the Pack"—"Is she really going out with him?"—was recycled both as the opening lines of 1976's "New Rose" by