Rocking the gay bandwagon.

It's now official: The pop world is obsessed with us gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transpendered people. Whether motivated by fashion, envy, admiration, curiosity, lust, or sheer fabulousness, mainstream musicians of every stripe are commenting on their connections to the queer world. And just as our Hollywood profile is evolving from our initial silver-screen status as suicidal sissies and killer dykes, our pop-music image is diversifying, no longer confined to walking exclusively on the wild side.

Consider the many ways we show up in five of the season's high-profile releases. Why, one could write a queer-studies thesis merely on how our presence is felt throughout The Velvet Rope (Virgin), the new one by Janet Jackson. On "Free Xone" Jackson sings of boys who get boys who lose boys who do girls who lose girls, only to get them back again. True to the singer's Rhythm Nation ethic, it's all rather stilted, though it's wacky fun and certainly openhearted. On "Together Again," a track dedicated to the many friends she's lost to AIDS, Jackson celebrates the love she feels for a departed pal, accompanied by an appealing mix of Motown melody and house-music grooves. And on "Tonight's the Night" she covers the Rod Stewart oldie without changing the gender until the final refrain. "Loosen up the back of your pretty French gown," she coos more convincingly than usual. Go there.

If Green Day vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong's mom has a clothes closet, the singer's definitely been there, done that, and is now celebrating the joys of cross-dressing. On "King for a Day," from the rejuvenated-sounding trio's latest album, Nimrod (Reprise), Armstrong--the self-avowed bisexual (and married) punk-pop poster boy--asserts that an interest in wearing women's clothing began at age 4 when he sneaked into his mother's room "to find something in a size 4." You'll marvel as his musical cohorts Gabe McNair and Stephen Bradley (of No Doubt) race to keep up with a man who's obviously learned to achieve high speeds in heels.

On Reel Big Fish's breakthrough CD Turn the Radio Off (Mojo/Universal), the latest ska-pop band from Southern California's Orange County presents "She Has a Girlfriend Now" from a decidedly straight-guy perspective: "I never thought it would end like this / Just because I got no tits." Simplistic, yes, but at least these frat-boy yuksters are the butt of their own bad joke.

The mother of all things punk, Patti Smith, addresses on her latest, Peace and Noise (Arista), the loss and legacy of poet-provocateur Allen Ginsberg. "Spell" sets Ginsberg's 1955 poem "Footnote to Howl" to moody music, while the funkier "Don't Say Nothing" embodies his cranky "speak your mind" spirit. In keeping with Smith's eulogistic tone, "Death Singing" depicts, to a strident rock march, the swan song of a musician in the final throes of AIDS performing his last concert.

Multimedia princess RuPaul teams with Martha Wash--the former Two Tons o' Fun/Weather Girls belter whose voice has graced countless dance-floor hits for C+C Music Factory, Black Box, and others--for an inspired update of Wash's 1982 hit "It's Raining Men," to be featured on the upcoming Martha Wash: The Collection (Logic/BMG). Penned by dearly departed disco queen Paul Jabara (with David Letterman sidekick Paul Shaffer), this classic song is a textbook example of a heterosexual diva singing the words of a homo songwriter for the benefit of other dance-happy homos, and now America's favorite drag ambassador helps bring the anthem closer to its creator's original man-to-man context. Don't forget your raincoat!