Patrick Cowley was a gay liberationist who died as his brilliance was reaching its peak.
He is sometimes called the father of electronic dance music.
His influence is still clear in contemporary house music and techno.
Cowley played synthesizer on Sylvester’s 1978 hits “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat)” and he collaborated with Sylvester on his 1982 hit, “Do Ya Wanna Funk”
At 32, Patrick Cowley was among the first to die from the AIDS Epidemic.
“Going Home” is on the last track of Mind Warp, Cowley’s last album.
Cowley released Mind Warp in October of 1982, a month before he died from AIDS, which was still called GRID.
Cowley’s music embodies the energy and defiance that sparked and sustained the early Gay Liberation Movement.
“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”
― John F. Kennedy
Liberating the human mind and human sexuality from the constraints of fear, bigotry, hate, and superstition is what gay liberation was about.
The revolution is never over!
Happy Pride Month!
‘The City” (c) Rob Goldstein 2016
PATRICK COWLEY
Going Home 1982
by DISCOS BOLICHEROS
Internet Archive
Sylvester
“Do You Wanna Funk” 1982
by DISCOS BOLICHEROS
Internet Archive
Art by Rob Goldstein 