The big queer '80s: a new boxed set brings back memories of gender-bending pop stars and postdisco fabulousness.

Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box (Totally) * Various artists * Rhino Records

For a moment, the transition of the '70s into the '80s sounded the death knell of gay sensibilities in mainstream popular music. The 1979 declaration of disco's death--a move that die-hard afficionados of the genre still bitterly refer to as a bloodcurdling murder--ushered in a brief period that shuttled queer music back into the underground. Instead of the sexually carefree vibe of disco, radio and pop culture were quickly saturated by the harsh macho swagger of punk and the sometimes cartoonish pogo-bounce of New Wave, two movements that were decidedly hetero in demeanor at frost.

But it wasn't long before queer flavor was once again permeating the mainstream--albeit in a far less decadent, occasionally more clownish manner than during the '70s. And while it wasn't likely Rhino's intention to trace the emergence of gay sensibilities in pop music during the '80s, the label's mammoth, seven-CD boxed retrospective Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box (Totally) offers an amusing, sometimes revelatory peek into how we came back into mainstream prominence amid a sea of punkers, New Wavers, hair-metal poseurs, and adult-pop drips. The set does little to affirm the artistic merit of the Reagan decade, but it provides a firm reminder that the '80s were a damn sight more fun than the new millennium has been so far.

The beauty of this collection is that it doesn't strive to be intensely cool, nor to function from any one point of view--instead, it's a simple reflection of what the masses were plunking down their bucks for throughout the decade. It's fascinating to see goofy cuts like "Keep on Loving You" by REO Speedwagon and Eddie Rabbitt's "I Love a Rainy Night" eventually giving way to Queen's groin-tugging "Another One Bites the Dust" and Soft Cell's dark yet wildly erotic "Tainted Love." Not only did both of the latter cuts resurrect the notion of primal, club-spiced rhythms as fodder for pop success, they were both by bands fronted by men with undeniably queer images: Soft Cell's Marc Almond was out during the act's heyday, though Queen singer Freddie Mercury's homosexuality remained an open secret until after his AIDS-related passing in 1991.

Even more fascinating is how the impact of the British-born New Romantic and synth-pop movements seeped into pop consciousness with a slew of hetero and gay acts that not only toyed with the once-reviled musical ethics of disco (ABC's "The Look of Love" and "Obsession" by Animotion) but also employed elements of drag. As bands like Duran Duran, Dead or Alive, and Eurythmics became the new guard, mainstream pop audiences became increasingly accepting of nontraditional, often queer sexual images. This acceptance spilled beyond boundary-pushers like Culture Club's Boy George to rockers Twisted Sister, who playfully merged a hypermasculine stomp with makeup and lingerie-spiked clothing. By the end of the '80s, the lines had blurred and a sizable portion of pop music had once again become a free-for-all of sexual excess and proud flamboyance. Without trying, Like, Omigod! outlines this in vividly loving detail.

Too bad the '90s and grunge had to come along and spoil the fun.

Flick is senior talent editor at Billboard.