Joe Talbot
Famous BisJoe Talbot is a British musician best known as the frontman and lead vocalist of the rock band Idles.
Born in Wales but raised in southern England, Talbot had a tumultuous childhood. His parents split when he was just an infant, and as a teenager, his stepfather’s death and his mother’s debilitating stroke forced him into a position of responsibility he wasn’t ready for. He coped with the stress by turning to drugs and alcohol. Playing music, which he’d always loved, was his primary escape.
Talbot met some of the friends who would become his future bandmates while in college, and in 2009, when he was 25, co-founded Idles. The group is characterized by its politically charged lyrics that often address issues such as race, mental health, and aspects of traditional masculinity. Stylistically, Idles has been described as punk or post-punk, but Talbot has rejected most labels. In a 2017 interview, he said:
We’re not a post-punk band. I guess we have that motorik, engine-like drive in the rhythm section that some post-punk bands have, but we have plenty of songs that aren’t like that at all.
Idles has released five studio albums: Brutalism (2017), Joy as an Act of Resistance (2018), Ultra Mono (2020), Crawler (2021), and Tangk (2024), along with two live albums and five extended plays. The group has enjoyed impressive success. Two of their albums, Ultra Mono and Tangk reached the number one spot on the UK charts, their music videos have been watched more than 100 million times on YouTube, and their songs have racked up close to 550 million streams on Spotify. Idles have also garnered five Grammy nominations, three of which in the 2025 Grammys whose results have not yet been revealed.
The band’s 2018 song, “Samaritans” includes the line “I kissed a boy and I liked it”, playing off of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl.” Discussing the line, Talbot said:
I thought it’d be more challenging to […] see what reaction it got and see what discussions it could start. I think it’s a point where male sexuality is quite binary, or it’s perceived as binary, and bisexual men probably still make people feel more uncomfortable than bisexual women do. I think that’s down to strict masculinity within pop culture. The sexualised man is standardised.
Talbot is openly bi. In a 2019 interview with Crack, he discussed the bi experience, stating that it can be difficult “Especially if you don’t have representation in the world that’s projected to you. ‘Cause I’m bisexual as well.” In 2021, he shared more of his thoughts, saying,
From a young age, I was encouraged that sexuality is not a linear thing […] but as I grew up, I realized how many of my friends weren’t comfortable with it. It’s something that I’m now exploring, appreciating, and celebrating.