Review
Chuck Prophet achieved fame as the guitarist with 1980s American band Green on Red. Since then, Prophet has worked as a session musician with a range of other artists and is often compared to the likes of Ray Davies, Tom Petty and Leonard Cohen.
Admittedly, So So Gay‘s music reviews betray a certain inclination towards the dance and pop genres. Therefore a guitar-based track with country undertones would not seem an obvious choice. What sets ‘White Night, Big City’ apart, however, is the context of the song. A native of California, Prophet takes his inspiration for the track from the chaotic aftermath of the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and legendary Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first gay man elected to public office in the United States.
In Prophet’s own words, ‘The big riot after Dan White was acquitted on the Twinkie defence, after assassinating gay rights hero Harvey Milk and the mayor, George Moscone. Did cops hassle punks? Yeah, man. Throw in being black or gay, and the nightsticks really flew. I’m proud of how this came together. I actually improvised all the doo-wop call and responses in one take. I’m glad the tape was rolling. I remember seeing this all on TV as a kid, growing up in Richard Nixon’s home town. Not sure I really understood what it meant at the time. Turns out Harvey Milk was one of our own, a martyr and a trail-blazer. We’re still catching up to his visions. Shot down by a home grown villain with every screw in his head loose.’
The passion behind the project is palpable, no more so than in the video for ‘White Night, Big City’, comprised primarily of archive footage from the events of 1978, when riots took hold in San Francisco after the murders of Milk and Moscone at the hands of their former colleague. The track itself is pleasant enough, if a tad repetitive. Set to a guitar riff and with a 1960s summery feel, it is an inoffensive affair with a much-repeated chorus comprised entirely of the title
Nevertheless, the video is worth viewing, even if only from an educational point of view. It’s good to see a straight male guitarist take on a topic like this as we approach LGBT history month. We should all celebrate it as a sign of how far we have come since those dark days of November 1978.
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