It was 2003. You couldn't turn on a radio or walk into a dive bar without hearing that relentless, high-octane riff. The song was "Gay Bar." The band was Electric Six. And the music video? Honestly, it was a fever dream of Abraham Lincoln lookalikes, neon-lit gym equipment, and a level of chaotic energy that shouldn't have worked, but somehow defined an entire era of garage rock.
People still talk about it. They talk about the sheer audacity of Dick Valentine—born Tyler Spencer—marching through a faux White House with a mustache that felt like its own character. It wasn't just a song. It was a cultural hand grenade. While other bands were trying to be the "next" Strokes or White Stripes by acting moody and wearing leather jackets in the rain, Electric Six was busy being absolutely ridiculous. They were from Detroit, a city known for grit and Motown, yet they showed up with a dance-rock anthem that felt like a glitter-covered middle finger to the self-serious indie scene.
Why the Electric Six Gay Bar Video Broke the Internet Before We Used That Term
The music video for "Gay Bar" is a masterpiece of low-budget, high-concept absurdity. Directed by Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire—the duo behind some of the most iconic commercials of the early 2000s—the visuals are a non-stop barrage of "wait, what did I just see?"
You've got the band members dressed as various iterations of Abraham Lincoln. There’s Honest Abe at the gym. Abe in the shower. Abe just... hanging out. It’s a bizarre subversion of American iconography. By placing the 16th President of the United States in a setting titled "Gay Bar," Electric Six leaned into a specific kind of camp humor that felt dangerous to some and hilarious to most.
It was provocative.
In 2003, mainstream media wasn't exactly a bastion of progressive thought, yet this song became a Top 5 hit in the UK. It was catchy. It was stupidly simple. It was basically three chords and a dream. But more than that, it tapped into a specific "midnight movie" energy. You didn't just listen to the Electric Six Gay Bar track; you experienced the visual assault that went with it.
The Censors and the "Nuclear War" Confusion
Interestingly, the version of the song you heard on the radio often sounded a bit... chopped up. If you remember the lyrics, there's a line that goes: "I've got something to put in you / At the gay bar, gay bar, gay bar."
In the music video, there’s a specific edit that people often forget. During the bridge, the lyrics were originally "let's start a war, start a nuclear war." Because the song was released during the early stages of the Iraq War, censors were incredibly twitchy. The "nuclear war" line was often dubbed over or edited in the video to sound like "let's start a... let's start a..." with the word "war" scrubbed out in certain markets.
It's kind of ironic. A song titled "Gay Bar" with heavy homoerotic imagery was mostly fine, but the mention of war was where the line was drawn. That tells you a lot about the cultural landscape of the early 2000s.
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The Detroit Connection: Beyond the Irony
To understand why Electric Six did what they did, you have to look at the Detroit scene they crawled out of. In the late 90s and early 2000s, Detroit was a pressure cooker of talent. You had The White Stripes, The Dirtbombs, and The Von Bondies. It was a "rock city" through and through.
Electric Six—originally called The Wildbunch—didn't fit the mold.
They were louder. They were dumber (on purpose). They were more theatrical. While Jack White was obsessing over red-and-white color schemes and vintage blues, Dick Valentine was screaming about high voltage and disco lights. They were the court jesters of the Detroit garage rock revival.
"Gay Bar" wasn't written to be a political statement. Dick Valentine has said in multiple interviews that the song was literally inspired by a conversation he overheard at a club. It was meant to be catchy and a bit dumb. The genius of the band lies in their ability to play "dumb" while being incredibly tight musicians. If the song didn't rock—if that riff wasn't genuinely heavy—the joke would have worn thin in thirty seconds.
Instead, it’s a track that still fills dance floors at 2:00 AM.
Addressing the Misconceptions: Was it Homophobic or a Tribute?
Looking back at the Electric Six Gay Bar phenomenon through a 2026 lens is fascinating. Some people ask: Is this punching down? Is it mocking gay culture?
The consensus from the LGBTQ+ community over the years has been largely positive. Why? Because the song doesn't make the "Gay Bar" the butt of the joke. The joke is the sheer, overwhelming machismo of the rock genre itself. By using Abraham Lincoln—the ultimate symbol of American "fatherhood" and stoicism—and putting him in that environment, the band was mocking the "tough guy" tropes of rock music.
It’s camp.
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Camp is about taking something serious and making it fabulous, or taking something fabulous and making it serious. Electric Six did both. The song became an anthem in actual gay bars across the world because it was high-energy, unapologetic, and fun. It didn't feel like a parody of a lifestyle; it felt like an invitation to a party where everyone was wearing too much polyester.
The "Nuclear War" Mystery Solved
If you go back and listen to the album Fire, you'll hear the original version. The lyrics are:
- "I've got something to put in you."
- "I'll be the one to thin you out."
- "Let's start a war, start a nuclear war."
The "something to put in you" was actually a reference to a nuclear rod in the context of the song's bizarre internal logic about war and destruction, but because of the title, everyone (rightfully) assumed it was a double entendre. The band leaned into that. They knew exactly what they were doing.
The Legacy of Fire and High Voltage
"Gay Bar" was the second single from their debut album, Fire. The first was "Danger! High Voltage," which featured a guest vocal that sounded suspiciously like Jack White (though he was credited as John S. O'Leary).
That album is a time capsule.
It represents a moment when rock music stopped trying to be "important" for five minutes and decided to be weird again. Electric Six proved that you could be a "joke band" and still have a career spanning over two decades. They’ve released an album almost every year since then. They are one of the hardest-working bands in the business, touring relentlessly and maintaining a cult following that most "serious" bands would kill for.
But "Gay Bar" remains their calling card.
It’s the song that defines them because it’s the perfect distillation of their brand:
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- A monster riff that sticks in your head for days.
- Nonsensical, aggressive lyrics delivered with 100% conviction.
- A visual identity that refuses to be ignored.
Why You Should Still Care About Electric Six Today
It’s easy to dismiss them as a one-hit wonder (or a two-hit wonder, if you count "Danger! High Voltage"). But if you dig into their discography—albums like Señor Smoke or Switzerland—you find a band that actually knows their way around a melody.
They are the ultimate "live band." If you ever get the chance to see them, do it. Dick Valentine is a master of stage presence. He treats every small club like he's playing Wembley Stadium. There is no irony in the performance, even if the lyrics are drenched in it.
The Electric Six Gay Bar era was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. It was a time when a weird band from Detroit could dominate MTV with a video about Abraham Lincoln in a gay bar. It reminded us that rock and roll doesn't always have to be about heartbreak or rebellion. Sometimes, it can just be about starting a nuclear war on the dance floor.
What We Can Learn From the "Gay Bar" Success
There’s a lesson here for creators and musicians.
Don't be afraid to be "too much." In a world of curated aesthetics and carefully managed "brands," there is something deeply refreshing about a band that just goes for it. They didn't test "Gay Bar" in focus groups. They didn't ask if the Lincoln costumes were "on brand." They just did it because it was funny and it rocked.
The best art often comes from a place of "why not?" rather than "why?"
Actionable Insights for Fans and New Listeners
If you’ve only ever seen the video or heard the song on a "2000s Hits" playlist, here is how you actually dive into the world of Electric Six:
- Watch the "Danger! High Voltage" video immediately after. It's the spiritual sibling to "Gay Bar" and features glowing codpieces. It’s essential viewing.
- Listen to the album Fire from start to finish. It’s surprisingly cohesive. It’s not just two hits and filler; it’s a solid 38 minutes of high-energy dance-rock.
- Check out their covers. Electric Six has a knack for covering songs in ways that shouldn't work but do. Their cover of Queen’s "Radio Ga Ga" is a particular highlight, mostly because the video is a shot-for-shot remake of the original, but with Dick Valentine as Freddie Mercury.
- Follow Dick Valentine’s solo work. If you like the lyrical wit, his solo acoustic stuff shows off a different side of his songwriting that is much more intimate but equally bizarre.
- Look for local tour dates. They tour constantly. Tickets are usually cheap, the crowds are energetic, and you will hear "Gay Bar" played with the same intensity as if it were 2003 all over again.
The story of the Electric Six Gay Bar video is a reminder that the best parts of pop culture are often the weirdest. It wasn't designed to be a "classic," yet here we are, decades later, still thinking about Abraham Lincoln in a neon-lit basement.
That’s the power of a good riff and a really, really weird idea.