Gay Bar (song)

According to Spencer/Valentine, the idea for the song came up from incorrectly hearing the lyrics of Devo's "Girl U Want" as "it's just a girl, it's just a girl at a gay bar" while the song was playing in a very loud nightclub. (The actual lyric is "She's just the girl, she's just the girl, the girl you want".)

In the censored version of the song, the words "nuclear" and "war" (in the line "let's start a war, start a nuclear war") are cut out and a whiplash sound is used instead. A radio version in Japan exists in which the same lyrics are replaced with "let's do an edit, do a radio edit".^[4]

The music video, directed by Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire, was recorded in April 2003 at a movie studio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The video depicts a series of Abraham Lincoln look-alikes in the White House, portrayed primarily by the band's lead singer Dick Valentine, but doubles were used for some scenes.^[5]

The song was nominated for the Kerrang! Award for Best Single.^[6] It also won Video of the Year award (2003) from both Kerrang and Q magazine.^[5]

UK, Australian, and New Zealand CD single^[7]

1. "Gay Bar"
2. "Don't Be Afraid of the Robot"
3. "Take Off Your Clothes"

UK 7-inch single^[8]

A. "Gay Bar"

B. "The Living End"

UK DVD single^[9]

1. "Gay Bar" (video)
2. "Gay Bar" (Peaches remix)
3. "Rockshow"