The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

In 1982, Paul Shaffer, the bald guy on Letterman, and Paul Jabara, of Hairspray and Jesus Christ Superstar fame, wrote "It's Raining Men" and had it snubbed by some of the biggest names in the biz until The Weather Girls, Martha Wash and Izora Armstead, recorded it. The song quickly became a gay phenomenon, which is really strange considering how aggressively heterosexual the lyrics are. It's been recorded several times, and I compiled the big-budget performances and music videos here for your listening pleasure. If you really need more, go to YouTube to find a bunch of kids singing it in their bedrooms.

The original music video from 1982:

RuPaul and Martha Walsh did the sequel in 1998:

Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice), when she went solo, did it for the Bridget Jones' Diary soundtrack in 2001:

The Australian pop group Young Divas recorded it for their self-titled album in 2006 but didn't make a video for it. Here's a live performance:

Here's French pop star Priscilla of Kim Possible fame singing it live (notice how she can't say the "h" in history, yet says it before "amen" - totally like my old French students):

And just so I don't get labeled a complete AI snob, here's Kelly Clarkson's performance for that show:

A single of "It's Raining Men" was also released by the strage British pop foursome West End in 1996, but it was recalled several days later. I can't find any recording of that to share on the internets, although it was also included in a Queer as Folk soundtrack.