Worth Another Listen • Village People

The tales and rumors about the 6-man group known as Village People are many, to be sure. As legend has it, French music producer Jacques Morali was in a gay club in Greenwich Village and became fascinated by dancer Felipe Rose, a go-go boy wearing a Native American costume. This was 1977, the height of Disco, the year Saturday Night Fever was released. Jacques brought an idea to business associate Henri Belolo, with the idea to make a group. One of the first on board was lead singer, Victor Willis, who adopted the police officer costume. Willis was a straight singer/songwriter who had previously worked with Morali. He was married to Phylicia Ayers-Allen, who played Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show. There was also Felipe, who was the Native American, Randy Jones who played the cowboy, Glenn Hughes who was so convincing as the biker, David Hodo with his construction worker costume, and Alex Briley, the G.I. The idea of the group was to capitalize on the Disco movement that had it's roots in the gay clubs, and put together a group of men wearing archetypal masculine images, often the objects of fantasies of the gay men. Actually, recording began before the costing was complete, and in the early appearances of Village People, the construction worker, cowboy and biker were played by others. But soon the group was together, and making music together.


Top: The originals. Bottom: The replacement cast.

The music was filled with innuendo and double-entendre, sure to make many smile, and to allow those who prefer to be in the dark, stay there. Well, after a couple of club hits, which was the intent of the group, they released the single Macho Man in 1978. This is really the first time I remember hearing of the group, which was actually getting mainstream play with the song. In fact, Macho Man made it to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.



While many believed the success of Macho Man was just a blip, the group released YMCA next, and it astoundingly made it to #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Slick and coy, the song is all but an advertisement for gay sex in the showers of the YMCA. And, it should be noted that over 30 years later, when the opening bars of the song is played at a wedding reception or a sporting event, people of all ages get up to dance and spell it out.



On the heels of those hits, they released the album Go West in 1979. The first single followed the route of the others, finding it's way up the Billboard chart. It wasn't long before In The Navy was #2 on the chart, and a new video featuring the boys, the US Navy and a battleship were in the mix.



As the furor about Disco music came to a head in 1979/1980, with the screams of "Disco Sucks" and the crushing of Disco albums by angry white men at a sporting event, producers readied a movie about the group called Can't Stop The Music. Before that started, Victor Willis left the group, and was replaced by Ray Simpson, brother of successful songwriter/Pop singer Valerie Simpson. There is the ironic factor that the guy how originally played the police officer later has quite the record with the authorities. The soundtrack featured the song Can't Stop The Music, which made it to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, despite the film's ultimate failure.



The failure of the film was a clear signal of the end of an era. The term 'Disco' was put away, and Dance music was the new term. At the end of 1980, Randy Jones left the group, pursuing his own projects. Than includes a 2007 solo project of dance music that found it's way into my collection. He also married his partner in 2004, which while illegal then, can now be made legal. In 1996, Biker Glenn Hughes retired from performing, and passed away in 2001. Although rumors were rife about his passing, it was after a battle with lung cancer. Rose, Hodo and Briley remain with the group today, often performing at fundraisers and nostalgia events. The music is still popular, and played all the time. And it could be argued that the music is some of the first 'gay' music by gay men to be accepted by the mainstream. To learn more about Village People, check out their official website here.

Friday Night Party Mix - Dressin' Up

Clockwise from Top Left: The Village People, Dead Or Alive, Oingo Boingo and Culture Club.

Back in the day, you couldn't imagine having a hit song without a really good frock. Yes, I am speaking back in the 70s and 80s, when some of the costumes were a source of campy humor, or a statement to a world that might have just been ready to think about what the performers had to say. Take, for instance, The Village People. The Cop. The Cowboy. The Indian. The Biker. The Construction Worker. The Marine. Given this information, you might guess them to be rough and tumble me, ready for a brawl. But that wasn't the case, as it was a powerhouse disco group of the 70s and 80s, The Village People. This is their hit, YMCA.



Frontman Pete Burns put it all out there when he was performing with Dead Or Alive. He took the gender-bender craze to a different level when the stunning and provocative singer announced he was not a drag queen, but transgender and was starting to transition from man to woman. But that came after they had their big hit, You Spin Me Round.



Boy George certainly didn't shy away from the gender-bending issue, with a high-style make-up and long dreads. He certainly made a statement from the first time Culture Club was noticed and has never looked back. Here they are performing a dance hit, War.



Danny Elfman put together a band that was high on theater, but every bit as high on musical freedom. Oingo Boingo might have had a big hit with Weird Science, but the perfect Halloween song was Dead Man's Party. This was a bunch of str8 men who could rock a costume!



There you have it, four different bands whose costumes were at home on the stage, but could be equally inspiring at any Halloween parade. Hope you enjoyed!