Man Parrish revealed as mystery porn soundtrack composer Forbidden Overture
Long debated mystery finally solved – and now released
Man Parrish, the electro pioneer who helped shape the early 80s hip-hop and gay scenes in New York. has been revealed as the porn soundtrack composer Forbidden Overture.
Feverish speculation had surrounded the true identity of the musician lurking behind the Forbidden Overture moniker because of the exceptional soundtrack to the 1982 queer bath house fantasy ‘Turned On’. When a few of the more astute observers of the 1986 women-in-prison exploitation flick ‘Bad Girls Dormitory’ spotted some overlapping use of the same music from ‘Turned On’, it was revealed that Forbidden Overture was in fact US electro pioneer Man Parrish.
Now the long admired Turned On soundtrack, previously only available on a long discontinued cassette, is being released on Dark Entries on vinyl on November 4.
The album contains just two lengthy pieces, one the 27 minute epic ‘Primal Overture’ and the more wry and playful ‘Strictly Forbidden’. The film’s director Steve Scott is reported to have commented: “It took us about two weeks to find the right piece for the jockstrap scene. But it’s like anything else – you know when it’s right.”
Parrish, most famous for his early hip-hop/electro anthem ‘Hip Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop)’ actually gained his first break in the music industry when a DJ from gay club The Anvil in New York transferred his music from a porn film from Betamax onto an acetate and started including it in his sets. In 2018, the Museum of Modern Art’s in New York City’s permanent collection added his film scores for Behive, (a modern dance film) and indie art house film The Jones’s, along with his 1983 music video for ‘Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don’t Stop)’.