The Music That Made Gay Porn – Patrick Cowley

But back in the day, the soundtrack was an important part of the whole experience of porn.

Enter Patrick Cowley, a legend you’ve probably never heard of but whose work has influenced top artists like The Pet Shop Boys and New Order as reported on by The New York Times. This genius, as he’s been called by many, created several soundtracks for gay porn, and since 2013, Dark Entries Records has made it its mission to release four compilations of his work. The story of how this music was discovered and brought to life for the world to hear is a fascinating slice of adult film history.

Cowley who died way too young from AIDS at the age of 32, was a master at creating what was called the Hi-NRG disco sound – active from 1978-1983. He developed his signature style in a time when you really had to be skilled at making electronic music. Keyboards and sound mixers were not what they are today, which is a testament to how talented Cowley really was.

An underground king of disco in the San Francisco gay scene, Cowley would light up clubs with his original songs and covers. Most notably, his unauthorized remix of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” garnered a lot of love. Said Sam Lefebvre, who penned the article “Waking the Spirit of a Disco Innovator” about Cowley for the Times, “That he stormed the discothèque on the strength of a decadently elongated bootleg is a bit of poetic justice. Since mainstream disco regularly denied its origins among gay and African American artists, the remix now seems a coup for the genre’s secret history.” Later Cowley went on to compose and produce songs for Sylvester.

But, mostly since then, Cowley had been forgotten, until Honey Soundsystem, comprised of Josh Cheon, (Dark Entries Records) Jacob Sperber and Robert Yan, reissued his music so listeners could finally get their hands on it. It was a lucky break that led them to Cowley’s unpublished tracks and it occurred after meeting John Hedges, who ran Megatone Records – the label that Cowley co-founded in the late 70s. Moving from San Francisco to Palm Springs, Hedges invited Honey Soundsystem to go through his basement collection and pull over 2,000 records (how fun is that?). But, even more exciting for them than nabbing all that vinyl was the moldy box they found amongst it. Inside was magic – reel to reel tapes of Cowley’s that had never been released.

With the discovery, they dug deeper, meeting Cowley’s friends and family who told them about his gay porn soundtracks that hadn’t been released either. This led to a meeting with John Coletti who owned the gay porn vintage company – Fox Studio in Los Angeles, where they were able to pick up Cowley’s forgotten soundtrack tapes, restore them and bring them to light.

The compilation double vinyl record that I had a chance to pick up was School Daze (released 2013) which includes the porn soundtracks to School Daze and Muscle Up. What’s wonderful about the release is not only how hip it still sounds after all these years, but how Dark Entries didn’t shy away from promoting the music as it was intended. The double record opens to reveal original pictures of gay porn from the flicks that Cowley’s music accompanied, and an in-depth write up about Cowley. It also includes two beefcake inserts – one which looks like a copy if the original poster of School Daze, the other a flyer from Colt Studio advertising adult performer, Steve Kelso in Intimate Hours. To sweeten the deal even more, all proceeds from the album are donated to Project Open Hand and Tenants Together (formerly the AIDS Housing Alliance).

In addition to the School Daze vinyl release, Dark Entries also just made a fresh printing of its final volume of gay porn soundtracks composed by Cowley – Afternooners. Filled with 70 minutes of music never released on vinyl, it’s guaranteed to be a treat. And lastly, for any die-hard fans out there, Dark Entries also has a page full of goodies including Cowley CDs, t-shirts and hoodies, and a book giving homage to the man who gifted gay porn with his talent. So, head over and check it out, or pull it up on Spotify – if you like electronic music, you won’t be disappointed.