The Village People and the hit that won't stop giving
When the Village People went mainstream with "Y.M.C.A.," it may not have felt like a song for the ages. But here we are.
It’s doubtful many critics reached for “timeless” as an adjective in reviewing the Village People's followup to "Macho Man," a horn-driven party on vinyl in which the costumed disco icons took great glee in spelling out the name of a popular cruising destination, the Y.M.C.A.
Released in 1978, at the height of the disco craze, the single topped the charts in several countries, hitting No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 in the States. But in the 37 years since that initial run of chart success, "Y.M.C.A." has become something more than the novelty hit it seemed destined to be, selling 10 million copies around the world.
It's part of the cultural fabric, a mainstay at wedding receptions and sporting events, where people from all walks of life join together in making the shapes of the letters with their arms, a "dance" that was born on "American Bandstand" when the Village People appeared the first weekend of 1979 to sing "Y.M.C.A." and the studio audience started making those familiar letters.
"American Bandstand" host Dick Clark brought the dance to the attention of the group's lead singer, Victor Willis, who quickly picked up on the gestures and joined in the fun.
Thirty years after that "Bandstand" appearance, the song made the Guinness Book of World Records when a crowd of more than 44,000 did that dance as the Village People sang "Y.M.C.A" at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. And that's after having started the millennium at No. 7 on VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Dance Songs of the 20th Century.
Willis, a founding member of the Village People who dressed as both a "hot cop" and a naval officer, co-wrote "Y.M.C.A." with French producer Jacques Morali.
Morali and Henri Belolo, with whom he'd previously found success as the brains behind the Ritchie Family (of "The Best Disco in Town" fame), dreamed up the idea of the Village People as a way to target gay disco fans.
In an interview with disco-disco.com, as reprinted in Spin, Belolo recalled the day inspiration turned up in an Indian costume on the streets of Greenwich Village, New York, as he and Morali were taking a walk.
"I remember clearly it was down in the Village, and we saw an Indian walking down the street and heard the bells on his feet," Belolo said. "We followed him into a bar. He was a bartender — he was serving and also dancing on the bar. And while we were watching him dancing and sipping our beer, we saw a cowboy watching him dance. And Jacques and I suddenly had the same idea. We said, 'My God, look at those characters.' So we started to fantasize about what were the characters of America. The mix, you know, of the American man… And we named it the Village People."
The original lineup featured Willis as a cop with David Hodo as a construction worker, Glenn Hughes as a leather biker, Alex Briley as a sailor, Felipe Rose as an Indian and Randy Jones as a cowboy. The Village People hit the streets with "San Francisco (You've Got Me)," their first single, in 1977.
The following year, they took their disco hooks and winking sexual innuendo to the mainstream — first with "Macho Man," then with "Y.M.C.A." In 1979, they went Top 5 with "In the Navy." And their saturation of the culture got a huge boost from the way those goofy costumes played on television, earning high-profile exposure on "The Merv Griffin Show," "Midnight Special," a Dick Clark special called "Le Disco" and a guest spot on "The Love Boat." They even entertained the troops with Bob Hope.
But "In the Navy" proved their final fling with mainstream pop success.
Not that additional hits would have made a difference with "Y.M.C.A." as their calling card. It's one of disco's most beloved moments, making it possible for the Village People to tour with original members Rose and Briley still on board while giving sports fans of the world a reason to get up and dance.
I remember the first time I had a reason to suspect the Village People's greatest hit would probably outlive us all. It was the early '90s and I was watching a show in an Ohio rock club by the Deli Bandits, who had a crowd-pleasing habit of fleshing out their originals, which I loved, with goofy cover songs, from Spinal Tap to "Play that Funky Music." The first time I saw them do "Y.M.C.A.," it felt like that entire bar scene was theirs for the taking, everyone doing that dance while grinning ear to ear and singing the chorus. It was great.
But the New York Yankees may have played a bigger role in the revival when, during a snow storm in 1996, as the groundskeepers walked out to clean the infield, the DJ dropped the needle on the Village People hit and the groundskeepers started to dance. As Juan Gonzalez reported in his column in the New York Daily News, "We all cheered and applauded, and for a moment we all felt a little warmer inside."
A tradition was born that day at Yankee Stadium, going west as the Village People once suggested in the followup to "In the Navy." Soon, teams were hosting Village People nights and the single's original gay disco subtext was completely lost in translation, with only smiles and silly hand gestures remaining.
After all, as the Village People sing going into the chorus of "Y.M.C.A.," there are "many ways to have a good time."
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Twitter.com/EdMasley
The Village People
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30.
Where: Wild Horse Pass Casino, 5594 W. Wild Horse Pass Blvd., Gila River Reservation.
Admission: $28-$69.
Details: 602-225-0100, wildhorsepass.com.