The Village People

I will start this thread with a bit of self disclosure. I'm 24 soon to be 25 and was born in 84. I'm not old enough to remember The Village People being REALLY popular. However, I've seen footage over the years, done the dances (YMCA) and all of that, but was this stuff ever popular like day-after-day on the radio popular? Did they tour? Do they stay in their "themed" outfits for the whole show or just for those select songs?


I don't mean this thread to be disrespectful to the boys in the band, I'm just honestly sitting here trying to wrap my mind around my questions/thoughts above.

Vanilli said:

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

They were very popular during the disco era. I don't know if they toured or how they toured because I was too young at the time. But they do still make television appearances to this very day and yes, they still wear the outfits.

A lot of people shit on The Village People these days and a lot of those same people were Village People fans back when they were popular. A lot of it has to do with them turning against them once they found out what their concept was which was dressing in gay stereotypes. I personally thought it was a great concept and ahead of it's time.

Oh yeah, they were mainsteam popstars for a few years in the late '70s. Top 10 hits, gold and platinum records, a double live album, even a big-budget motion picture 'Can't Stop The Music' (that came out 6 months too late for anyone to give damn). They were hot shit for a minute. But then the 1980s came and all things disco had to be eradicated.

'Can't Stop The Music' is truly one of the worst movies I've ever seen I'm one of those people who likes musicals that are often considered cheesy by the mainstream ('Xanadu',for example...I like that film),but 'Can't Stop The Music' is horrible beyond belief.

The main problem is that the Village People weren't interesting enough to carry a movie.Sure,it might have been fun to see them on TV in the late-70s,lip-syncing their hits on 'American Bandstand'.But in a motion picture? Uh-uh.

I used to LOVE the village people as a kid! I think they might have been the first no maybe Andy Gibb.. but pretty close to the first "one hit wonderish" gimmick kinda music I remember.

I had no clue really into the late 80's/90's they had gay undertones It never crossed my mind the joke. Then when I did, it made them even funnier and better! Just imagine going into a gay bar and seeing well them! The clothes, the lyrics to the songs. Pure genius!

fun funny group. Only the 1970's could pull something like this off and be suddle about it.

The first Village People album "Village People" was sort of a political, but danceable statement on gay rights at the time. It was produced by Jacques Morali using studio musicians (Victor Willis sang the lead - at the time he and his wife Phylicia Allen, of the Cosby Show, were labelmates on Casablanca Records). The headlines at the time (76 and 77) were Anita Bryant, who was leading an anti-gay crusade in the USA and Leonard Matlovich (who had been kicked out of the US military for being gay). So the first VP lp was a call for gays to come out of the shadows, in fact, those are lyrics from the song "Village People". The lp is 4 songs long, San Francisco (You've got me),In Hollywood (Everybody is a star),Fire Island and Village People. Morali also produced similar work with Patrick Juvet ("I Love America"), but the gay tones were subtle...unlike the makeup Juvet was wearing on the lp cover. It wasn't until the VP follow up album which included "Macho Man" that they went campy, only to confuse their new hetero audience. I believe Morali went on to produce Phylicia Allen's lp which had a really great cover of Josephine Baker's "Jai Deux Amour (Two Loves Have I)".

I quite enjoyed 'Can't Stop The Music'. I first stumbled upon it on TV one late night back in the early 1990s. I still watch it on occasion. It was just over-the-top campy fun. It's nowhere near as dreadful as Nocturna...or Glitter.

therevolutionwillnotbe said:

Glen Hughes( Letherman) Passed away some years ago I got to know him very well. He was a good guy and we would talk about music alot.

IAintTheOne said:

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

Vanilli said:

And then there is THIS awesomely bad video:


Sex Over The Phone was The VP's only minor hit in the 80's.
[Edited 9/4/09 22:45pm]

TonyVanDam said:

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

PDogz said:

IAintTheOne said:

Glen Hughes( Letherman) Passed away some years ago I got to know him very well. He was a good guy and we would talk about music alot.

How cool that you got to know him.

IAintTheOne said:

PDogz said:

How cool that you got to know him.

I knew all of them actually Felipe used to crack me the fuck up

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."