HAPPY PRIDE! How “Y.M.C.A.” Beme a Gay Anthem! | Now See Hear!

Contents:

• HAPPY PRIDE! HOW “Y.M.C.A.” BEME A GAY ANTHEM!
• TMP EXPLAS HIS LOVE OF ‘Y.M.C.A.,’ WHICH HE CLAIMS IS THE ‘GAY NATNAL ANTHEM’

HAPPY PRIDE! HOW “Y.M.C.A.” BEME A GAY ANTHEM!

” Though, today, you’ll hear the track at everythg om a school dance to a 50th anniversary party, has also been adopted by the gay muny as one of s unofficial anthems. The songs targeted a niche rerd buyg dience: gay disthequ and their patrons.

The tl were self-explanatory: “Fire Island” (the East Coast’s gay summer retreat); “San Francis (You’ve Got Me)” (the Wt ast’s premier gay statn); “Village People” (a look at the habants of New York Cy’s largely gay Greenwich Village); and “In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star), ” the promise of artistic acplishment the word’s entertament pal. Village People nsisted of six members, each of whom personified a popular gay archetype. Only Willis and Rose participated on the “Village People” LP–wh Rose roly creded as “Felipe ‘Indian From the Anvil’“ (the Anvil was a gay NYC sex club).

The gay msagg their songs, the gay fantasy stripper-stum, the gay dancg and fx macho posturg seemed to go over the heads of the dience–or they jt didn’t re.

TMP EXPLAS HIS LOVE OF ‘Y.M.C.A.,’ WHICH HE CLAIMS IS THE ‘GAY NATNAL ANTHEM’

“Key Wt” (a gay rort statn), “Jt a Gigolo, ” “I Am What I Am” (a gay claratn), and “Sodom and Gomorrah” reached their re dience–but the sgle “Macho Man” reached further. An energetic chant song whose lyrics extoled the male form, exercise and gym culture, “Macho Man” was heard by straight dienc as ls gay and more sports/athletics/ol-du fun mic.