Alanson Russell "Lance" Loud (June 26, 1951 – December 22, 2001) was an American television personality, magazine columnist and new wave rock-n-roll performer. Loud is best known for his 1973 appearance in An American Family, a pioneer reality television series that featured his coming out, leading to his status as an icon in the gay community.
Our music spoke to the true misfit class of American teenager. Not the poetic James Dean-type dream outcast, but the real, needy, nobody wants 'em, forgotten teens. You know the type. Too square to be down with the homebodys, too idiotic to be up with the intellectuals, too insecure to be the center of attention, and too impatient to just sit at home and wait until they get to be 21.
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In 1970, television ate my family. The Andy Warhol prophecy of 15 minutes of fame for any and everyone blew up on our doorstep.
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Fact
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Is considered by many media analysts to have been the first "prominent openly gay man" on TV.
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After the series aired, Loud lived in New York for several years and performed in a rock band called the Mumps.
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In 1981, he moved back to California, where he studied journalism. He often wrote articles for the Advocate, Details and Interview. He also had a few small television and film roles.
Lance Loud was part of the cast of the first reality TV show, An American Family, which followed the Louds, father Bill, and mother Pat, their five teenage kids and two poodles. The "typical" American family, living in California, agreed to have their lives filmed, edited, and broadcast. Enormously popular, enormously controversial, and, once over, almost immediately forgotten. Lance came out as gay on the show in 1973. Members of the family tried to spin their celebrity into careers, none found much success.