Queer The Music: Jake Shears On The Songs That Changed Lives
Jake Shears celebrates the anthems that have dominated dancefloors and shaped queer lives. Throughout the history of popular music, queer artists have made huge contributions - often at great expense and risk to themselves personally and professionally.
Mercury Studios
Show overview
Queer The Music: Jake Shears On The Songs That Changed Lives has been publishing since 2024, and across the 2 years since has built a catalogue of 72 episodes, alongside 3 trailers or bonus episodes. That works out to roughly 50 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a monthly cadence, with the show now in its 3rd season.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 39 min and 50 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. Roughly 22% of episodes carry an explicit flag from the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Music show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed 3 days ago, with 12 episodes already out so far this year. The busiest year was 2024, with 36 episodes published. Published by Mercury Studios.
From the publisher
Jake Shears celebrates the anthems that have dominated dancefloors and shaped queer lives. Throughout the history of popular music, queer artists have made huge contributions - often at great expense and risk to themselves personally and professionally. This podcast shines a spotlight on those who trailblazed paths towards self-expression. Join Scissor Sisters’ frontman Jake Shears and his guests as he unearths these important stories song by song. Executive Producers: Alice Williams, Dan Borrelli Producer: Debbie Kilbride Director: Oisín Bickley Project Manager: Claudia Mantle Production Manager: Amy Hainstock Production Team: Lauren Baugh, Esther Duckworth Researcher: Karine Sebatware
Latest Episodes
View all 72 episodesBen Platt on Love, Queer Life and the Magic of Theatre | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
The Queer History of Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
Jenny Beth: “I’m In It For The Long Run” | Queer The Music
Why Josh Homme Challenges the Rules of Rock | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
Meek on Music, Survival, and Finding Her Voice | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
What Happens When Queer Spaces Disappear? | Jeremy Atherton Lin | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
How ‘Yes’ Became a Queer Anthem | David McAlmont | Queer the Music
Baby Queen on Ego Death, Therapy & Starting Over | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
How Jodie Harsh Built London’s Biggest Queer Party | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
Tove Lo on Body Confidence, Bisexuality & Pop Music | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
How Brian Molko (Placebo) Redefined Rock | Queer the Music with Jake Shears
Queer the Music returns for season 4!
The Greatest Bits From The Past 3 Seasons
The Greatest Bits From The Past 3 Seasons
EChristmas has come early as Jake selects some of his favourite bits from the last 3 seasons. Really just a reminder to go back and listen to the episodes you've missed - there have been some brilliant conversations - wishing everyone a Happy New Year and thank you for listening to Queer The Music in 2025! We'd love to hear from you - get in touch via instagram @queerthemusicpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Queer Year In Music with Self Esteem
A Queer Year In Music with Self Esteem
For this special episode of Queer The Music Jake is joined by the brilliant Rebecca Lucy Taylor aka Self Esteem. With a critically acclaimed new album, a concert tour and book under her belt this year, the pair have plenty to catch up on. Listen as Jake and Rebecca discuss their highlights of the year in queer music, answer questions from listeners, reveal what 2026 has in store for them and tell us who they’ll be kissing under the mistletoe. We'd love to hear from you - let us know who you would like to hear on Queer The Music - you can get in touch via instagram @queerthemusicpodcast or leave us a review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
'Epic' by Faith No More - with Roddy Bottum
It's our season finale and we're delighted to be joined by Roddy Bottum, best known as the keyboardist of Faith No More. Back in 1990 Roddy found himself in the spotlight in the rock world as its first openly gay star. In this special episode Jake and Roddy celebrate Faith No More's breakthrough hit 'Epic' and they discuss what it was like to be the only out queer in rock, on tour with Guns N' Roses and Metallica, his important friendship with Courtney Love and Curt Kobain and his brilliant memoir 'The Royal We'. Thank you for listening to Series 3 of Queer The Music! Keep an eye out for some special bonus episodes dropping next month... We'd love to hear from you - let us know who you would like us to feature on Queer The Music @queerthemusicpodcast via Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
"Epic" by Faith No More with Roddy Bottum
S3 Ep 9'Grace Kelly' by Mika
This week on Queer The Music we celebrate Grace Kelly - the debut single from Multi-platinum, BRIT Award-winning, and Grammy nominated global pop visionary Mika. Listen to Jake and Mika's fascinating conversation about Mika's childhood, the struggles he faced, how he found sanctuary through music, his creative process and how he created the hit single Grace Kelly which shot to the top of the UK charts and stayed there for 5 whole weeks. Mika's new single Modern Times is out now. We'd love to hear from you - let us know who you would like to hear on Queer The Music - you can get in touch via Instagram @queerthemusicpodcast or leave us a review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices