Village People Singer Denies "Y.M.C.A." Is a "Gay Anthem" As He Defends Trump's Use of Song (Consequence Sound)

[Wiz Imp]

14. From "The Library of Congress" blog: HAPPY PRIDE! How "Y.M.C.A." Became a Gay Anthem!

https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2021/06/happy-pride-how-y-m-c-a-became-a-gay-anthem/

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Nineteen seventy-seven’s eponymous “Village People” album was a collection of just four songs–a slim 22 minutes, recorded by a group of studio musicians and an unknown singer. The songs targeted a niche record buying audience: gay discotheques and their patrons. The titles were self-explanatory: “Fire Island” (the East Coast’s gay summer retreat); “San Francisco (You’ve Got Me)” (the West coast’s premier gay destination); “Village People” (a look at the inhabitants of New York City’s largely gay Greenwich Village); and “In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star),” the promise of artistic accomplishment in the word’s entertainment capital.

Village People consisted of six members, each of whom personified a popular gay archetype. Twenty-one year-old Victor Willis, who was African American and heterosexual, was the soulful voice of the group. Costumed, as he eventually would be, as a Police Officer/Naval officer (he started out as a well-dressed “disco man”), Willis would go on to co-write several of the group’s hits. Twenty-six year-old Alexander Briley, who was also African American (and heterosexual), took the role of enlisted GI/Sailor (he started out as a suspenders-wearing, boom box-toting “street kid”). Nineteen year-old Felipe Rose, who was Lakota Sioux/Puerto Rican, presented as the “Indian,” a bespangled, war bonnet and loin cloth-wearing Native American, and 31-year old David Hodo was the helmeted, mirror sunglass-wearing Construction Worker. Rounding things out were 27-year old Glenn Hughes as the heavily-mustached Biker/Leather Man, and 25-year old Randy Jones as the ten-gallon hat and chaps wearing Cowboy. Only Willis and Rose participated on the “Village People” LP–with Rose indecorously credited as “Felipe ‘Indian From the Anvil’“ (the Anvil was a gay NYC sex club). Willis had brought Briley onboard, while Hodo, Hughes and Jones came by way of a no-nonsense trade ad: “Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance and Have a Mustache.” They did.

“We looked out at the audience and every guy had on that white polyester John Travolta suit, and every girl had Farrah Fawcett’s feathered hairdo,” remembered Randy Jones later. Regardless, they were a hit. The gay messaging in their songs, the gay fantasy stripper-costumes, the gay dancing and faux macho posturing seemed to go over the heads of the audience–or they just didn’t care. It took just a single live performance for everyone; Casablanca Records, producers Morali and Belolo, and the Village People themselves, to realize that they were in possession of a winning formula.

The album “Macho Man” was a calculated continuation of the inroads made by the “Village People” album. This time a little longer, six songs rather than four, the song titles continued to appeal to a targeted demographic. “Key West” (a gay resort destination), “Just a Gigolo,” “I Am What I Am” (a gay declaration), and “Sodom and Gomorrah” reached their core audience–but the single “Macho Man” reached further. An energetic chant song whose lyrics extoled the male form, exercise and gym culture, “Macho Man” was heard by straight audiences as less gay and more sports/athletics/cool-dude fun music. The result was dance floor dynamite and a #25 showing on the “Billboard” pop charts.
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