They ARE big. It's the VIDEOS that got small....

A brief history of how stars were made, and who made them

Robert W. Richards, the late, great illustrator who also interviewed many porn stars for magazine profiles, recently said “There are no porn stars anymore.” Now, we all have our list of favorite video studs, and many of them have strong followings and make decent money in the age of streaming websites that allow performers to create and control their own content and take the proceeds.

But what Robert meant was that in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was a kind of studio system in the sense of the golden age of Hollywood. Producers would discover and groom (in every sense) performers, and often cast them as exclusives to the company. The porn publicity machine included glossy magazine layouts with professional photos provided to the publishers in exchange for ads for the relevant video. In the days when there were dozens of newsstand porn mags with regular readers, the publicity created demand to see the models in hardcore action and made them stars.

And make no mistake about it, in a day before mainstream actors could venture out of the closet without destroying their careers, porn stars WERE our stars. Walking down Eighth Avenue in Chelsea in the 1990s with Matt Gunther was like walking down Fifth Avenue with Tom Cruise. Everyone recognized him, and reacted to a true star sighting.

Of course, videos cost money to produce and they cost money to buy or rent. Video producers moved to online streaming subscriptions and, one way or another, continue to crank out content, though rarely do we see a video with what would have passed for a plot or concept in the VHS era. Production values are diminished.

Witness Kristen Bjorn’s productions. In the 1990s they were the highest end videos in gay porn, with exotic locations, large casts and elaborate setups. Now, Bjorn’s website features cookie cutter scenes, directed by others, albeit with stunning men, but generally in duos, fucking on tables or sofas.

The internet created a situation where, legally or not, massive amounts of porn can be accessed online for free.

More and more we see self-produced content from the performers, marketed on their OnlyFans and Just4Fans pages, in some cases allegedly raking in impressive money. But however much they make, it’s theirs to keep, in an era when payment from traditional producers is lower than ever. And it was never much to begin with. Most porn performers made most of their money as escorts, with their desirability quotient multiplied as their porn fame increased.

In their own productions, they often seem to be doing something they actually enjoy, with partners they are into, having selected them. And for those of us who agree with the adage “Pulling out is for porn,” we increasingly see tops unloading inside the bottoms, something one associates with recreational rather than professional sex.

Still, while we have stars, it seems the days of porn idols are over. The apparatus to create a Ryan Idol or a Jeff Stryker is no more, though these two represent the sad tendency of gay porn viewers to elevate the status of gay-for-pay stars. Better we should have another Joey Stefano (without the heroin problem) or Kevin Williams, those rarities—the bottom porn superstar—but also actually gay.

But Matt Sterling, perhaps the greatest creator of gay porn stars, is no more. Falcon, perhaps the greatest gay porn studio, is no longer run by its visionary founder, the late Chuck Holmes. William Higgins long ago immigrated to Eastern Europe, where he traded the ultimate in California beach boy porn models for forgettable Eurostuds in forgettable scenes. Colt was bought and deteriorated badly.

Too often, in today’s selfie porn culture, the action is recorded on one or more cameras of various quality, stationary or held by one of the performers, neither situation designed to provide the best views of the action. Often the performers remain faceless, whether as the result of POV camera work or hesitation to reveal the identity of a wannabe porn star.

So, here we are, all us little people out there in the dark, once in a porn theatre, now at home with our computer screens, stroking to stand-alone scenes recorded on iPhones. We'll leave it to you to decide if this is progress.

In the days of VHS, there were multiple magazines that published features about and reviews of gay porn. Now, we have mainly stand-alone scenes, and an increasing number of performers (every exhibitionist with a phone thinks the world is waiting to watch him suck cock). So, it’s more or less impossible to review videos (however memorable some of the single scenes may be). Therefore, we will include here a review of some of the studs who use their juices, creative and otherwise, to get us off.

This is a completely subjective list of notable porn stars. We’ve concentrated on guys working now, rather than listing all-time favorites or notable studs of the past. No doubt, anyone reading our list will immediately say, “But what about…?” Like we said, subjective. Feel free to use the contact link above to remind us of who we missed or omitted (maybe by oversight, maybe because they just don’t get our cocks hard).

Robert W. Richards portrait of Max Grand, Matt Gunther twice as nice, Bjorn studs, Kevin Williams, Ryan Idol

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