There are no gay men in the US Marines. At least, that’s what the Marine Corps wanted to believe in the 1990s.
Except, as hit Netflix series Boots and the book it’s based on, ex-leatherneck Greg Cope White’s memoir The Pink Marine, both show, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Boots follows skinny teenager Cameron Cope (13 Reasons Why’s Miles Heizer), a young, gay recruit who heads to South Carolina’s infamous Marine boot camp Parris Island in 1990 with his straight best friend, Ray (Liam Oh). Once there, Camerone is forced to keep his sexuality under wraps, enduring the shouty instruction of Sgt. Sullivan (English actor Max Parker) and survive a range of endurance tests that should be far beyond his physical capabilities.
It’s also a darkly funny, unsparing and hard-hitting eight-part show that takes the ‘summer camp’ coming-of-age clichés and subjects them to assault courses, violent hazing rituals and the occasional tear-gassing – the unlikely midway point between Full Metal Jacket and Heartstopper.
It’s also got an ingeniously curated soundtrack of queer anthems, grungey deep cuts and sugary pop bangers, complemented by composer’s Jongnic Bontemps score.
Here’s the Boots playlist in full:
EPISODE 1
The Go-Go's – We Got The Beat
Wilson Phillips – Hold On
Marine Corps. Commercial (music)
Queen – I Want to Break Free
Bananarama – Venus
Suzanne Vega, DNA – Tom's Diner (7" remix)
Oingo Boingo – Run Away (The Escape Song)
EPISODE 2
Gang of Four – What We All Want
L7 – Fast and Frightening (Remastered)
New Order – Blue Monday '88 (7" Version)
The Pandoras – You're All Talk
EPISODE 3
Badische Staatskapelle – Also Sprach Zarathustra
Marcia Ball – What's a Girl To Do
Ramones – Little Bit O' Soul
Queen – Princes of the Universe
Jim Pankey – Marine Corps. Hymn
ABBA – Fernando
EPISODE 4
Little David Wilkins – Yesterday, Tomorrow And Today
The Charlatans – Then
World Party – When the Rainbow Comes
EPISODE 5
Talking Heads – Wild Wild Life
Depeche Mode – Waiting For The Night
Original Motion Picture Score Ghostbusters II – Sucked In
EPISODE 6
Sade – The Sweetest Taboo
Jane's Addiction – Stop
David Kauffman & Eric Caboor – Angel Of Mercy
Dick Flood & The Pathfinders – Jammin' The Blues
Johnny Smith Congregation – A Better Way
Queen – We Are the Champions
New Order – Elegia
Underground Solution – Luv Dancin’ (feat. Jasmine) (Radio Edit)
EPISODE 7
Sullivan singing (Max Parker) / Here And Now
MC Hammer / U Can't Touch This
Alannah Myles / Black Velvet
Iggy Pop / The Passenger
Love and Rockets / No Big Deal
EPISODE 8
Hicks singing karaoke (Angus O'Brien) / Changes – karaoke
The Clash / Know Your Rights
Wilson Phillips / Hold On
Queen & David Bowie / Under Pressure
When is Boots streaming?
All eight episodes are on Netflix now.
House of Guinness soundtrack: the full track list for the Netflix period drama by episode.