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From Issue 3.4 - May 1997

Music from a Bygone Era

The Catacombs on 21st Street was San Francisco's major fistfuckingclub from 1975, when it was opened by Steve McEachern until 1981, whenit closed following Steve's sudden death from a heart attack. Steve'ssurviving lover Fred reopened the Catacombs on Shotwell Street, whereit enjoyed another run from 1982-1984.

My first encounter with the "music of the baths," or music programmedto enhance S/M or fistfucking, was at the 21st Street Catacombs, whereSteve and friends put together a series of brilliant tapes. The partytapes relied primarily on disco and electronic space music, althoughthere were also rock, soul, funk, and other genres. Upbeat and drivingsongs dominated the prime time party soundtrack, while slow, spaceystuff came on in the early hours of the morning. The followingannotated list is drawn from memory, fragmentary documentation, andrecords obtained when Fred sold some of Steve's personal effects.

• Skatt Brothers, "Walk the Night/Fear of Flying/Life on the Outpost.""Walk the Night" was a particular anthem of late '70s gay maleS/M. The Skatt Brothers were similar to the Village People, but withlyrics that were darker and more explicit, for example: "He's got arod beneath his coat/gonna ram right down your throat/make you grovelon the floor/spit, bump, and scream and beg for more."
• Bette Midler, "Knight in Black Leather." This send up of gay leatherwas another Catacombs greatest hit. Midler was backed up by a malechorus. At one point, the chorus is singing, "we're in control," whenthey trail off in a descending scale, as if their poppers had justhit.
• Hot Chocolate, "Heaven"
• Rick James, "Love Gun"
• Grace Jones, "I need a Man"
• Kiss, "I Was Made for Loving You"
• Kraftwerk, "The Man Machine" album, "Radioactivity"
• The Village People, especially "Macho Man," "San Francisco," "In theNavy," "YMCA," and "My Roommate"
• Donna Summer, especially "Queen for a Day" and "Sunset People"
• Jean Michel Jarre, "Oxygene" and "Equinoxe" (played late night andearly morning)
• Klaus Schulze, "Timewind" (late night and early morning)
• Space, "Just Blue," "Save Your Love for Me," and "Deliverance"
• Elton John, "Love Lies Bleeding" and "Candle in the Wind"
• Amanda Lear, "Follow Me"
• Cindy and Roy, "Can You Feel It?" This was an obscure disco singlewith the lyric, "can you feel it in your body?/let your body move"
• Joel Diamond Experience, "Music Machine." Another obscure disco songwith a repeated refrain of "in and out," which seemed utterly inkeeping with all the arms pumping away.
• the disco versions of Ravel's "Bolero"
• Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, "Electricity"
• Giorgio Morodor, "The Chase" (theme from the movie Midnight Express)and the B side of "Theme from Battlestar Galactica and OtherCompositions" (Steve used the other compositions)
• Music from "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Star Wars," and "The Wizard of Oz"

There were other Catacombs songs I remember well but do not know thenames or the artists. One featured a male vocalist who sang, "you needa strong love...a man's love." Another spoke of needing to be"changing jobs" after staying out at too many all-night parties. Ifanyone knows of these or recalls other songs from the Catacombs,please contact me in care of Cuir Underground.

Gayle Rubin has been chronicling the history of the local leathercommunity for nearly two decades.