K.D. Lang believes her music wasn't played on the radio when she started out because she was openly gay.
K.D. Lang
The 57-year-old singer came out as a lesbian after the release of her second solo album 'Ingénue' in 1992 and looking back at her life in the music business she feels as though she was an "anomaly" who wasn't "embraced by the world" at the time, however, she revelled in being a "freak of nature" when people's different sexual preferences weren't as well understood as they are now.
In an interview with the new issue of MOJO magazine, she said: "There was prejudice against my sexuality for sure. And resistance. I never got played on the radio. I still don't get played on the radio, but now it's musical, and back then I'd say it was more about my sexuality. I was an anomaly that they used to modernise country but I wasn't fully embraced. Though in fairness I didn't want to be embraced by the world. I loved being a freak of nature in this really traditional world."
The 'Constant Crying' hitmaker went on to speak about how she came out in lieu of her controversial 'Meat Stinks' advertising campaign - which was one of the reasons decided to step away from her country roots and embark on a pop career - but she believes being open about her sexuality was overall a "positive experience" for her.
She added: "It wasn't the precipice of what made me change genres, but it was certainly one of the impetuses. There were bomb threats to my record company in the States. They would drive tractors to block the entrances of shows. Two years later I came out, and in some ways like you light a fire to put out a fire it extinguished the flames. But coming out was a positive experience to me, I mean publicly. I came out to my mum in my early-mid teens. And all my record company people at Sire were gay pretty much."