The Intro
An unmistakeable blast of brass from an enduring classic heralds the start of one of the best years for number 1s the UK has ever seen.
Before
Village People sprang from an idea formed in the heads of French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo. As Can’t Stop Productions, they had enjoyed a few hits in Europe in the mid-70s. Getting a taste for success they decided to set their sights on the US.
Moving to New York City in 1977, the duo were working on music when Morali was handed a demo tape by an actor and singer called Victor Willis, who had starred in the original Broadway production of The Wiz. Apparently Morali said to Willis ‘I had a dream that you sang lead vocals on my album and it went very, very big’. Willis agreed to be lead on the 1977 album Village People, which featured songs by Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead to backing by the studio band Gypsy Lane.
The name ‘Village People’ was used to pay tribute to Greenwich Village, an area of Manhattan famous for its large gay population. Morali was gay and had attended a costume ball there. He greatly admired the outlandish outfits used to portray American male stereotypes. Perhaps he and Morali could do similar with Willis and their new group?
Morali’s first recruit was Felipe Rose. He claimed indigenous American descent so he was chosen to dress as a Native American. Willis picked Alex Briley, who eventually settled on a GI uniform. Others chosen were Mark Mussler (construction worker), Dave Forrest (cowboy) and Lee Mouton (biker). Joined by Whitehead, they were used to promote the first Village People hit San Franciso (You Got Me).
Morali and Belolo decided they needed a more permanent line-up to promote the next album Macho Man, released in 1978. They took out ads in New York theatre trade magazines which read ‘Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance and Have a Moustache’. Randy Jones replaced Forrest, Glenn Hughes was the new leather biker and David Hodo replaced Mussler. The classic line-up was formed, and they enjoyed their first hit with the title track of their second album.
What does YMCA stand for? While working on the third LP Cruisin’, Morali apparently asked Willis. The Young Men’s Christian Association had been founded in 1844 with the aim of putting Christian principles into place by promoting a healthy body, mind and spirit. In the US of the 1970s, typical YMCA residents were often homeless or people with other life issues. In the gay community, the YMCA was a popular cruising spot.
Willis could see Morali thought it would be a great idea for a Village People track. However, Willis has also since claimed he wrote the song and it was totally innocent and not intended as a gay anthem, but rather a promotion of a place black young men could enjoy sport.
Review
It’s interesting to note that Boney M, a manufactured disco group, were toppled in 1979 by another manufactured disco group. However, where Boney M were soulless and tacky, Village People’s number 1 has some fire in its belly. Willis really belts it out, turning the YMCA into a religious experience. The backing music is lively – there’s the brass, of course, but it’s the disco bass I like most.
How do you review a song like Y.M.C.A. though? It’s one of those cheesy anthems that’s played to death, almost too famous to clinically dissect. It’s also now lost of its original meaning, played at every party, wedding, any event where an instant floorfiller is needed. And you just know the floor will be full of people who can’t dance, doing the embarrassing spelling out of the chorus.
Apparently the dance originated on an episode of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand on the day it reached number 1 in the UK. After they performed the song, Clark showed the group the audience spelling the initials out and they decided to use it. Jones commented years later that it may have sprung from a misunderstanding – the Village People used to raise their hands above their heads and clap to the chorus but the crowd may have thought they were spelling ‘Y’.
The memorable video was filmed in July 1978. Featuring the group miming and dancing around New York City, it’s a pretty fascinating look at the city during pretty gritty times.
After
Y.M.C.A. went to the top pretty much everywhere, though stalled at two in the US. They followed it up with In the Navy, which is pretty much the same song but simply swaps one institution for another. It’s good though, and Willis is in fine form again. It reached number 1 across Europe but peaked at two here. Then came Go West, later a number two smash for Pet Shop Boys but only a number 15 hit for the Village People in 1979.
It was the last single to feature Willis, who left during the pre-production of the group’s doomed loose biopic Can’t Stop the Music, co-written and co-produced by Allan Carr, one of the men behind the smash-hit Grease. Willis was replaced by Ray Simpson, brother of Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson fame.
In 1980 the title track of the movie climbed to 15 in the UK, but it was their last hit. Disco was on the wane and the Village People were starting to look like a fad. The movie was a critical and commercial flop. By the end of the year Forrest had left, replaced by Jeff Olson. The following year Morali and Belolo had taken notes that new wave was more popular and they made the Village People ditch their outfits and make them look more like a Spandau Ballet support act. Nobody was interested in a new-look Village People and their album Renaissance.
Willis rejoined briefly to work on the next album Fox on the Box, released in 1982. The outfits returned but Hodo and Simpson left and were replaced by Mark Lee and Miles Jaye. Their last proper album for 33 years was Sex Over the Phone, released in 1985.
There was a resurgence of interest in the Village People as the 90s began, but Morali died of AIDS-related complications in 1991. Three years later they recorded Far Away in America with the German national football team for their World Cup campaign. Hughes left in 1995 and was replaced by Eric Anzalone. The biker from the classic line-up died of lung cancer in 2001.
Willis was arrested in 2007 on drugs and weapons-related charges but his life picked up when he married that same year. He also began to perform live for the first time in 28 years and 2012 he won a landmark case, recapturing writing credits and a 33% share in the Village People’s Y.M.C.A, In the Navy, Go West and Magic Night. Eventually he also managed to get Belolo’s name removed from the credits. Then in 2017 he won the license for the name of the group and the characters, returning as their lead singer and with a brand new line-up behind him. The following year the festive album A Village People Christmas was released. A year later, Belolo died.
The Outro
The Village People remain much-loved, a beacon of light during the Winter of Discontent and a happy reminder of disco and, despite their comical appearance, were actually good for the gay movement. Y.M.C.A. is their biggest legacy and has been used time and again and spoofed just as much, in the media. Weirdly, its history took a dark turn when, for reasons unknown, US president and all-round evil Nazi bastard Donald Trump began using it at rallies when trying to be re-elected in 2020. Initially Willis was fine with this but then relented and demanded he stop. Whether it was his own decision or he felt the understandable pressure from the Black Lives Matter movement, we don’t know, but he was happy enough for Trump to use it at first, unfortunately.
Luckily for the whole world, this story has a happy ending as Y.M.C.A. is now remembered as the soundtrack to Trump finally fucking off as he left the White House in January 2021.
The Info
Written by
Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo & Victor Willis
Producer
Jacques Morali
Weeks at number 1
3 (6-26 January)
The Info
Births
20 January: Singer Will Young
21 January: Journalist Johann Hair
Deaths
16 January: Actor Peter Butterworth
23 January: Liberal MP Frank Owen
Meanwhile…
Prime Minister Jim Callaghan made the Winter of Discontent 10 times worse when he returned from an international summit to the industrial unrest. The Sun newspaper reported him as saying: ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’. He didn’t actually say it but many think this the beginning of the end for Labour.
15 January: Rail workers began a 24-hour strike.
22 January: Tens of thousands of public-workers, including hospital workers, rubbish collectors, school caretakers, gravediggers and airport staff, began the biggest mass strike since 1926.