Electric 6's "Gay Bar"
One upside of gay marriage: we'll all see a welcome infusion of style into the horrid realm of wedding receptions. (Pretty much all the aesthetic abominations in my life have involved either bridesmaid's dresses or wedding cover bands.) So cancel that reservation at the Elks Lodge, take down the white crepe paper streamers, ban Styx's "Come Sail Away" from the playlist, and meet us all "at a gay bar". We'll be dancing to remixes of this cult hit all night long. Or if that seems a bit too decadent, it's fun to stay at the...

The Village People's "YMCA"
I used to go to the Y in this song when I lived in New York (it's on West 63rd), and I have to say, none of the regulars were ever too happy to see me walk into the weight room. There were also signs in the men's (but not women's) locker rooms that specifically prohibited sex. If you can live with the restrictions, what better locale for wedding night festivities...maybe topped off by that dance where everyone makes the "Y," "M," "C," and "A" with their arms.

Broken Social Scene "I'm Still Your Fag"
Celebrate your civil union with the whispery, romantic, intimate track that has everyone asking, "Did he just say 'Last night I swore I'd drink your piss?'" Indeed he did. How about that champagne toast now?

The Hidden Cameras' "He Is the Boss of Me"
Thinking about wedding vows? Trying to decide if the phrase "love, honor and obey" is a remnant of fascist paternal society or, hmm, kind of erotic? Ask the Hidden Cameras, who penned this ode to subordination, blubber eating and other secret pleasures.

The Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men"
This gay anthem by The Weather Girls (also known as Two Tons Of Fun because of their excessive weight) was co-written and produced by Letterman sidekick Paul Shaffer. We're not sure these two had marriage in mind when they predicted intermittent (and masculine) precipitation. Still, for same-sex couples looking for extra kitchen gear, it doesn't hurt to hint a little about how much you'd appreciate a shower.

The Strokes' "Barely Legal"
Okay, you can get married in San Francisco. No, wait, you can't. It's legal in Massachusetts. No, hold up, other states don't have to recognize those marriages. You can't have same sex marriage in New Paltz, but that's gender discrimination, so fuck it, no one's getting married there. The laws are so confusing... kind of like trying to make out what Julian's going on about in this anthem to (probably) hetero but (definitely) underaged sex.

Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
If you were born into any repressive Midwestern community at any time in the 1960s, Freddie Mercury was probably the first overtly gay mainstream entertainer you were made aware of (and tragically, one of the first to die of AIDS). Personally, I remember the hissed confidence "Why do you think they call it Queen?", coming home from some nerdy school event on a bus with a boy who, I found out years later, was gay himself. I wish he could have told me. I hope he's happy now. I hope he's found what this song is all about.

The Smiths' "Hand In Glove"
The Smiths' first single pitted a lonely gay couple against the world in 1983, but not much has changed. Same sex couples, married or not, will identify with the chorus -- "And if the people stare / Then the people stare / I really don't know / And I really don't care."

Pete Shelley's "Homosapien"
Shelley's first post-Buzzcocks single married a synthy disco beat to BBC-banned lyrics about gay sex (the line everyone objected to was "homo superior / in my interior"). But the real message was that he was "homosapien like you", and if he or anyone else wants to get married, who are we to stop him?

Pansy Division's "Boyfriend Wanted"
The perfect precursor to any gay marriage. Jon G. and the Pansies cry out for love like every other lonely person on the planet -- but this time, they're looking for same sex companionship. First comes love, then comes marriage, right? (AM)

The Frogs' "Adam and Steve"
The Frogs think that maybe the Bible got it wrong. As the simple, but substantial lyrics go, "Adam and Eve, Adam and Steve / Which is wrong and which is right?" Besides pissing off the conservative right, The Frogs get bonus marks for playing queercore before people really knew what to do with it. (AM)

The Homosexuals' "Hearts in Exile"
As far as we know, none of these long-lost Pistols-era punks were gay, or married, but Christ, this is a monumental track, all guitar crash and dead punk stops and Barret-ish lyrics about lions, Kenya and Zion, and "bloodshoot eyes advertising isolation." If your heart's ever been in exile or if you just like old-school punk, get a copy of the reissue, out now on Morphius.

Weezer's "Pink Triangle"
Maybe these conservative politicians are up in arms about gay marriage because they were dumped by their high school/college lesbian girlfriend. Either that or they really are fascist bastards. (CC)

The Gay's "Fidelity"
Yes, another Canadian pop supergroup singing tight pop harmonies, this time about the joys and sorrows of commitment. Kind of dull, you say...well, that's the point, isn't it?

The Pet Shop Boys' "Being Boring"
Because being with one person for life is kind of boring, but it's a good, safe, loving boring that most of us ultimately want from life. Maybe Neil Tennant was never "being boring" but he knows what he's missing when he writes, "Now I sit with different faces / In rented rooms and foreign places / All the people I was kissing / Some are here and some are missing / In the nineteen-nineties / I never dreamt that I would get to be / The creature that I always meant to be / But I thought in spite of dreams / You'd be sitting somewhere here with me."

Two Nice Girls' "I Spent My Last $10.00 (On Birth Control and Beer)"
Assuming that society gets the stick out of its ass and gay marriage eventually becomes an accepted, or at least tolerated, part of modern life, new challenges will come along. Remember, the mere fact that your union is "official" won't keep it together. You have to work. You have to commit to your commitment. Otherwise your relationship will eventually fall prey to temptation -- no matter which "team" the tempter/temptress plays for.