Michael Cohen (American musician) explained

Michael Cohen
Birth Date:	1951
Death Date:	1997

Michael Cohen (1951November 1997) was an American singer-songwriter from New York City.^[1] He released three albums in the 1970s which were among the first to deal with explicitly gay themes.^[2] Cohen was licensed as a cab driver in New York City in 1972.^[3]

Work and influences

Cohen self-released his first album, eponymously titled Mike Cohen, in 1972. This was followed by two albums on Folkways Records, What Did You Expect? (Folkways Records FS 8582, 1973) and Some of Us Had to Live (Folkways Records FS 8582, 1976).^{[4] [5]} The latter two are available from Smithsonian Folkways. Cohen was influenced by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen.^[6] "The Last Angry Young Man", which opens What did You Expect?, deals with the misconceptions around homosexuality of the older generation while "Gone", from the same album, deals sensitively with the death of a gay friend. Frieze Magazine describes Cohen's "Bitterfeast" from the same album as a "raw and chokingly emotional" ballad based on a poem by Leonard Cohen.^[7] After releasing a third album, Cohen "dropped off the radar" until his death in November 1997.

Discography

1. Mike Cohen (1972)
2. What Did You Expect? (1973)^[8]
3. Some of Us Had To Live (1976)

External links

• Cohen sources
• JD Doyle, June 2005 radio transcript to the show Queer Music Heritage
• Materials from Folkways Records held by Rinzler Folklife Archives at the Smithsonian Institution

Notes and References

1. Web site: Minarik. Carson. Listen: Revisiting Michael Cohen's seminal & sad gay folk album 50 years after its release. June 17, 2023. Queerty. November 11, 2023.
2. Web site: June 2005 Show Script: Chris Robison & Michael Cohen . www.queermusicheritage.com . 10 August 2016.
3. Liner notes to What Did You Expect...? Songs about the Experience of Being Gay (New York: Folkways Records FS 8582, LP, 1973), http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/folkways/FW08582.pdf, accessed January 2014
4. What Did You Expect...? Songs about the Experience of Being Gay. New York, New York: Folkways Records (originally FS 8582, LP released 1973) http://www.folkways.si.edu/michael-cohen/what-did-you-expect-songs-about-the-experiences-of-being-gay/american-folk-struggle-protest/music/album/smithsonian
5. Some of Us Had to Live. New York, New York: Folkways Records (originally FS 8583, LP released 1976) http://www.folkways.si.edu/michael-cohen/some-of-us-had-to-live/american-folk-struggle-protest/music/album/smithsonian
6. Weaver. Neal. In Search of Gay Heroes: Michael Cohen and Steven Grossman. In Touch. 23 November 2016. 2. 1. 1974.
7. Web site: Queer Noises 1961-1978: From the Closet to the Charts (review) . 2006 . 22 March 2014 . Eichler, Dominic . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140415015103/https://www.frieze.com/issue/review/queer_noises_1961_1978_from_the_closet_to_the_charts/ . 15 April 2014 .
8. http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:siris_arc_232819 Discographic details from Smithsonian Institution