THE UNSILENCING: Man Parrish

The world that birthed Man Parrish, the NYC underground (of the late 70’s - early 1980s) has long been a source of great fascination for me. The high octane, bodyrocking sound of 80s electro is truly a source of power and inspiration. Man Parrish is amongst the greats, a godfather of contemporary dance music culture. This alone makes him a fitting guest for backklash, but it was something more specific that brought him to The Unsilencing, our mini-series devoted to highlighting the secret histories of 1980s gay men’s health crisis. In Tim Lawrence’s epic tome, Love and Death on the New York Dance Floor, Man Parrish gave an account of an insidious vaccination campaign that targeted gay men in the late 1970s, with seemingly tragic outcomes. This anecdote has been rattling around in the back of Pool’s mind since he read it, and became the impetus for him reaching out to Mr. Parrish for this interview in late December 2023.Joined by The Unsilencing collaborator / researcher Nick Petosky, Man Parrish brings to life the electric underworld of late 1970s/early 1980s NYC, shining light on the dark side of disco that is not always told in the nostalgic histories of the period. Man shares his experiences as well as his reactions to Nick’s groundbreaking research, as this trio explores the shadowy roots that form the source of the plague mindset that society finds itself in today. This episode is a raw look into the past, but one that is crucial for making sense of our present reality. The tragic loss of so many men has precluded this history from being more widely known…until now. Bursting from out of the shadows, in defiance of death’s shadowy grip, comes this time-traveling juggernaut of an episode. This is the Unsilencing.Man Parrish - YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVlt0cT_nnNHAAaovVocsggMan Parrish - Home Pagehttps://www.manparrish.com/main/Man Parrish for Red Bull Academyhttps://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2013/10/man-parrish-interviewFollow Nick Petosky on Xhttps://twitter.com/pizzapicklespurFollow DJ POOLHOUSE on Xhttps://twitter.com/DJPOOLHOUSETim Lawrence - Life and Death on the NY Dance Floorhttps://www.timlawrence.info/life-and-death Life And Death - NY Timeshttps://web.archive.org/web/20161010125325/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/books/life-and-death-on-the-new-york-dance-floor-charts-a-kinetic-scene-in-the-early-80s.html Nick’s Deck - Secret History of HIV Timeline https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V5piPGU-Xzk0Y5uC_iGmF58-WTtvlr_o/viewKlaus Nomi Man Parrish’s tribute to Klaus Nomi: https://www.manparrish.com/klausnomi/From the Merck/NIH Heptavax campaign that targeted gay men in SF / NYC / LA in the 1970s:Please check out our previous episodes in THE UNSILENCINGTHE UNSILENCING mini-series - Eyewitnesses stories, alternative histories, and more:https://backklash.substack.com/p/backklash-the-unsilencinghttps://backklash.substack.com/p/the-unsilencing-1https://backklash.substack.com/p/the-unsilencing-3The episode of HERE COMES THE BACKKLASH that started it all - the full HIV alternative timeline presentation from Nick Petosky:https://backklash.substack.com/p/episode-36EPISODE MIXTAPE:Man Parrish - Boogie Down Bronx (Dub)ESG - MoodyMan Parrish - Man Made (DJ POOLHOUSE Man Made Edit)Peech Boys NYC - Stay With Me (Tom Moulton Club Mix)Sylvester - Band of Gold (Remix)Program Theme: KLF This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit backklash.substack.com