LISTEN: This ’80s R&B jam about two men hooking up was somehow both ahead of its time & really homophobic

In the ’80s, while bands such as The Smiths and Frankie Goes to Hollywood were putting out songs with queer-coded lyrics about the forbidden love that dare not speak its name like “Hand in Glove” and “Relax”, respectively, a heterosexual cisgender woman was climbing the R&B charts with an unambiguous track about two men getting it on behind her back.

Barbara Mason’s 1984 post-disco soul single “Another Man” centers on finding out her husband has been living a double life and hooking up with – you guessed it – another man.

While groundbreaking for openly discussing same-sex relationships and mentioning fellas on the DL years before the topic became common knowledge, the mid-tempo jam eventually descends into a barrage of gay stereotypes and blatant homophobia as Mason describes her man’s “strangeness” as a “defect” that occurred “not when he was created but somewhere down the line.”

Other anti-gay and femme-shaming lines deride her cheating lover for the way he “switches” his walk, his high-pitch voice, and for being a “facsimile” of a real man. There’s even a part where she accuses the two-timer of stealing her “very, very sexy dress” to wear it himself.

Despite the derogatory lyrics, “Another Man” became a mainstay on leading R&B stations like WBLS and 98.7 KISS in New York City, and was even more successful in Europe.

After entering the music industry as a teen, Mason became an accomplished singer/songwriter best known for her 1965 hit single “Yes, I’m Ready,” which went to #2 on the R&B charts. She would go on to release more than a dozen Top 40 singles throughout the ’60s and early ’70s.

At some point during the ’70s, she developed an affinity for frank songs about sex and infidelity. In 1981, she recorded “She’s Got Papers (But I Got the Man),” which centered on shading the wife of her male lover, and then followed it up with her anti-LGBTO+ opus as the sequel single.

At over six minutes long, “Another Man” takes its sweet time to reveal its nasty side. The bass and synthesizer pulsate deep as Mason fluctuates between actually singing and her “real talk” monologues.

The song’s electro funk beat is so seductive that fans back in the day probably didn’t even notice the problematic lyrics until they were already drenched from sweating on the dance floor. It was a sonic hate crime and a bop!

While one can sympathize with the anger a woman would feel for being lied to and cheated on, the casualness with which the track degrades gay men is indicative of how persuasive the animosity permeated the culture at the time.

Viewing the song’s brazenly abhorrent lyrics through a 2023 lens is less an indictment of Mason (she isn’t credited as the songwriter, but did agree to sing it), but of the homophobic society that wrote, produced, sold, bought, played and danced to the track without so much as a batting an eye.

After “Another Man,” Mason didn’t put out new music for over 20 years until releasing her 2007 album Feeling Blue. She was inducted into the Soul Music Hall of Fame in 2016 and continues to tour from time to time.

While it’s unclear if she has any regrets about “Another Man” today, Mason seemed completely unbothered by any of the song’s lyrics (as did the musicians and audience members) while performing it in London in 2011. Maybe things haven’t changed as much as we think?

As we continue to celebrate the beauty of queer musical artists like Lil Nas X, Troye Sivan, Omar Apollo and Brandi Carlisle getting to sing openly about queer love without shame or hidden subtext, “Another Man” offers a reminder of how far we’ve come and what LGBTQ+ pioneers such as Elton John, George Michael, Boy George and Sylvester had to put up with while navigating the musical landscape during that era.