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Village People is a concept disco group formed in the late 1970s. The group is as well known for its outrageous on-stage costumes as for its catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics. The members each dress as a police officer, an American Indian chief, a construction worker, a member of the military, a leatherman (biker), and a cowboy; after the release of In the Navy, both Victor Willis and Alex Briley appeared temporarily as sailors. Each of the members were basically dressed as forms of masculinity to emphasize their song lyrics that hid homosexually-charged innuendo. Many of the gay stereotypes originally appear in erotic art by Tom of Finland.

Village People scored a number of disco and dance hits, including their trademark "Macho Man", "Go West", the classic club medley of "San Francisco (You've got me) / In Hollywood (Everybody is a star)", "In the Navy", "Can't Stop the Music", "Sex Over The Phone" and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A.". Almost thirty years later, a dance that involves forming the latter four letters with the dancer's arms is still popular at summer camps, office functions, wedding receptions, school dances, sporting events and B'nai Mitzvot. At the end of the fifth inning of each baseball game at Yankee Stadium, the grounds crew take an on-field break from grooming the infield to dance as "YMCA" is played, typically to enthusiastic cheers from the fans of all ages.

Collectively the Village People have sold 85 million albums and singles.

History

1977-1979

The band was assembled in 1977 by Quintin Donoghue and Raymond Good (see picture), specifically to showcase and perform their disco music creations. The original ad for recruiting the group was "Macho Types Wanted: Must Have Moustache" and was placed by Jacques Morali in 1976. Much like Frank Farian's Boney M or The Spice Girls, the group was manufactured. Despite the French songwriters, the songs were all in English.

The band's name references New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood, at the time known for having a substantial gay population. Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo got the inspiration for creating an assembly of American man archetypes based on the gay men of The Village who frequently dressed in various fantasy ways.

Their 1978 song Y.M.C.A. made them one of the most successful disco groups.

In 1979, the United States Navy considered using In the Navy, another Village People hit, in a recruiting advertising campaign on television and radio. They contacted Belolo, who decided to give the rights for free on the condition that the Navy help them shoot the music video. Less than a month later, Village People arrived at the San Diego Naval base. The Navy provided them with a war ship, several aircraft, and hundreds of Navy men. When the video started showing and the Navy started the planned ad campaign, some newspapers protested using taxpayers' money to fund music videos (especially for a group considered by some to be "morally dubious" ^{[citation needed]}). The Navy quickly cancelled the campaign. The scandal tremendously boosted the popularity of the song.

Their fame reached its peak in spring 1979, shortly before disco's death. The Village People was featured on the cover of The Rolling Stone, Vol. 289, April 19, 1979.

Victor Willis left the group at the end of 1979, and the group's downfall began. It is debated why he left, but officially he was fired because of his drug addiction.

1980-1989

The group also appeared in its 1980 feature film Can't Stop the Music, directed by Nancy Walker, written by Allan Carr and Bronte Woodard, music and lyrics by Jacques Morali and starring Steve Guttenberg, Valerie Perrine, Bruce Jenner, and the Village People. The movie "won" the Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay prizes at the 1980 Golden Raspberry Awards in March 1981 and was nominated in almost all the other categories. Despite that, the song, "Can't Stop The Music" became a Club Play chart hit and moderate radio hit. The soundtrack also featured the talents of "David London," who under his real name Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen went on to become the future lead singer of Toto and one of the main contributors to the Village People's next album.

In 1981, with the popularity of disco waning and New Wave music on the rise, Village People replaced its on-stage costumes with a new look inspired by the New Romantic movement, and released the New Wave album Renaissance; it was a minor success.

Victor Willis returned to the group again in late 1981 for the albums Fox On The Box and In the Street.

Althought their 1985 dance/Hi-NRG release, "Sex Over The Phone" was not a huge commercial success, it fared better in sales and club play than their "Renaissance" album. A now rare remix album of their 1970's & early 1980's hits followed in 1989.

1990 to present

In 1994, Village People joined the German national football team to sing its official World Cup '94 theme, "Far Away in America."
From July 18 to July 20 2004, Village People performed in Berlin for three shows as an opening act for the German punk band Die Ärzte.
In 1994, the indie punk rock label Go Kart Records wanted the Village People to release an all Sex Pistols cover album. The group declined. Instead, The Cowboy from the group sang Greg Brady's part on a punk cover of The Brady Bunch classic 'Time To Change'.
Starting in 2004, Village People performed as the opening act for Cher on her Farewell Tour until it ended in April 2005. It was a highly successful tour for both artists.
On June 6 2006 Village People were scheduled to be the headline act at Asbury Park's famous Gay Pride parade and festival.
On June 20 2006, Victor Willis, original lead singer, makes his first direct statement to the media in over 25 years indicating that the "nightmare of drug abuse" is being lifted from his life and that he looked forward to being released into a residential drug treatment program. Moreover, he apologized to Village People fans for refusing to perform live concerts since leaving Village People. In that same press statement, Victor Willis revealed that a book based on his life as lead singer of Village People is due for release in 2007 and that he plans to return to the stage in the summer of 2007. On September 5 2006, Victor Willis was ordered released from custody and into the Betty Ford Center. He was given 3 years probation and ordered to abstain from further use of drugs. The sentence was part of a plea bargain struck in July of 2006. This officially resolved all of Victor's legal troubles, as long as he does not violate the terms of his probation.
On July 4 2006 Village People opened for Los Lonely Boys at the Chevy Freedom Over Texas Fourth of July extravaganza.
On September 04, 2006, Village People performed at The 2006 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.
On September 30, 2006, Village People performed at Hard Rock Cafe in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Cultural references and Facts

U2 pays an ironic homage to Village People by dressing up in similar costumes in the video for "Discothèque".

Although most people think of the Village People as the first gay, all male music group, they were the second; the first all gay male music group was the vocal pop group, Gotham (band) which started in the early 1970's.^{[citation needed]}

In the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in Club Malibu five men dressed in similar costumes to the ones Village People dance in on the stage. Interestingly, if the player starts breaking the law, the cop on the stage does nothing, and the whole troupe carry on dancing even if you kill all but one of them.

Additionally, in Grand Theft Auto III, one of the construction workers says these lyrics from the song, YMCA:"Call the YMCA" "Young Man" "there's a place you can go" and "There's no need to feel down.", as well as "In the Navy".

In the early 1990s, British pop group Pet Shop Boys released a successful cover of Village People's Go West and the song has now become a popular anthem at English football games.

There is a parody in the movie Wayne's World 2 where Wayne, Garth, and two friends Patrick Cummins and Neil Gentles dress up like Village People and sing YMCA.

A parody of Village People (the "Small Town Binomes") made an appearance in the animated series ReBoot, performing a YMCA-style song called BS&P.

In the television show "8 Simple Rules"(For Dating My Teenage Daughter), the episode 'Halloween' (Season 3), C.J. has a recurring bad memory of a Halloween party where he was dressed as a cowboy, and seen standing with other kids dressed up in costumes such as a police officer, etc. and is made fun of (quote: "Look! It's the Village People!"). Also, C.J. (now in the present) was hired as a security guard at Bridget, Kerry, and Rory Hennessy's Halloween dance. He was tricked into going on-stage (dressed as a police man) along with four other men who were dressed in the Village People costumes. Rory then loudly announces "Look! It's the Village People!".

In the Mel Brooks musical movie "The Producers," residents of Roger Debris' home, dressed as the Village People join in the dancing during the song "Keep It Gay"

In the musical "Spamalot" the lyrics and gay culture association of the song "YMCA" are parodied in the song "His Name is Lancelot" "You can all find him/pumping at the gym/ at the Camelot YMCA!" and "He can finally/come out and say/ that he is GAY...MCA!"

In an episode of "The Simpsons" entitled 'Simpson Tide', Homer and his friends (Lenny Leonard,Carl Carlson,Billy Dzomba,and Barney Gumble) join the United States Navy. When the submarine they're assigned to first leaves port, the Village People's "In the Navy" is played. Additionally, the Village People themselves are seen dancing on the submarine's deck in a similar fashion to the video clip of the song. As an additional joke, Waylon Smithers is shown dancing beside them, a reference to the fact that Smithers, like the members of the group, is a homosexual. The song comes to an abrupt end when the submarine dives and the Village People apparently drown.

On "Johnny Bravo", Johnny ends up on "The Island of Beautiful Men" all the residences are muscular, good looking men wearing black speedos. Several members of the Village People can be seen among them.

In a "You Can Learn a Lot from a Dummy" PSA from the 1990s, Vince and Larry are driving at night and run into a cardboard cutouts of things like a deer, but also the Village People.

In the movie "Down Periscope" starring Kelsey Grammar and Lauren Holly as part of a misfit submarine crew, the Village People appear singing "In The Navy" during the closing credits.

In "Never Been Kissed", several students are seen dressed as the Village People at the prom.

In the movie, Elvira's Haunted Hills, a character tells Elvira that "The village people say this castle is evil.", to which Elvira responds "Eh, who listens to the Village People anymore?".

In an episode of the BBC British comedy The Vicar of Dibley, everyone is gathered to commemmorate a loss of someone, and in one instance they all stand up from the pews singing and doing the actions to "Y.M.C.A.".

Discography

Village People (1977)
Macho Man (1978)
Cruisin' (1978)
Go West (1979)
Live and Sleazy (1979)
Can't Stop the Music (1980)
Renaissance (1981)
Fox On The Box (1982)
In the Street (1983)
Sex Over the Phone (1985)
Greatest Hits (1988)
Greatest Hits '89 Remixes (1989)
The Best Of Village People (1994)
The Very Best Of (1998)
20th Century Masters, The Millennium Collection...The Best Of Village People (2001)

Original 'People'

Alex Briley - the member of the military
David "Scar" Hodo - the construction worker
Felipe Rose - the Indian
Glenn Hughes - the leatherman/biker. Hughes died of lung cancer on March 4, 2001. (Not to be confused with Glenn Hughes, the former Deep Purple bassist and vocalist.)
Randy Jones - the cowboy until 1980, and then from 1985 until 1987.
Victor Willis (the police officer original lead singer/writer- until late 1979). He returned to the group again however in late 1981 for the 1982 album, Fox On The Box. He wrote the lyrics to all of the group's major hits, including "In the Navy", "YMCA", "Macho Man", and "Go West". In addition, he wrote the lyrics for the songs "Milk Shake" and "Magic Night." from the Can't Stop the Music movie soundtrack. Also of interest is that he was briefly married to actress Phylicia Rashad - better known as Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show.

Replacement 'People'

Eric Anzalone - the leatherman/biker, replacement, since 1995
G. Jeff Olson - the cowboy, replacement
Ray Simpson - the police officer, replacement, 1979-1981; 1993-present. He was the lead vocalist for Can't Stop the Music and its soundtrack, Renaissance, and select tracks on Live and Sleazy and Fox On The Box / In the Street.
Miles Jaye Davis - the police officer, replacement, 1982-1984. He was the lead vocalist on the In the Street bonus track "America".
Ray Stephens- the police officer, replacement, 1985-1990. He was the lead vocalist on Sex Over The Phone. He died in 1990.
Mark Lee - Construction worker, 1982-1989. On the albums Fox On The Box, In the Street and Sex Over The Phone

External links

@@ Line 91: / Line 91: @@
 *In the movie, ''[[Elvira's Haunted Hills]]'', a character tells [[Elvira]] that "The village people say this castle is evil.", to which Elvira responds "Eh, who listens to the Village People anymore?".
-*In an episode of the British comedy ''The Vicar of Dibley'', everyone is gathered to commemmorate a loss of someone, and in one instance they all stand up from the pews singing and doing the actions to "Y.M.C.A.".
+*In an episode of the BBC British comedy ''The Vicar of Dibley'', everyone is gathered to commemmorate a loss of someone, and in one instance they all stand up from the pews singing and doing the actions to "Y.M.C.A.".
 ==Discography==