Fifty years after Stonewall, Felipe Rose—“The Indian” om the Village People—remembers New York Cy’s Greenwich Village as the gay rights movement took hold.
Contents:
- THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM
- A GAY IN REMEMBERS LIFE THE VILLAGE, AND THE VILLAGE PEOPLE
- VILLAGE PEOPLE GIV TMP OK TO PLAY GAY ANTHEMS 'YMCA,' 'MACHO MAN' AT RALLI
THE REAL STORY OF THE YMCA THAT INSPIRED THE VILLAGE PEOPLE'S GAY ANTHEM
The Village People are part of New York Cy history, formed by nizens of the Big Apple's thrivg, unrground gay club scene of the 1970s. Hugh' look was one of the group's many nods to New York's gay muny, which flew right over the heads of lns of fans the 70s, when homosexualy was not wily acknowledged, discsed, or accepted.
He saw Felipe Rose dancg tradnal Native Amerin clothg at a New York club and cid to form a group around him, placg newspaper ads seekg "gay sgers and dancers, very good-lookg and wh mtach.
A GAY IN REMEMBERS LIFE THE VILLAGE, AND THE VILLAGE PEOPLE
" As this was the relatively more nservative 1970s, homosexualy wasn't much discsed or acknowledged. Morali built a group out of New York's gay muny and club scene and wrote and produced songs laced wh gay issu that lns of naive listeners at the time didn't even notice. Where young gay men uld secretly uple up.
"We were keen of dog somethg for [LGBT culture] bee Jacqu was gay, and I was feelg that an jtice was done to the gay muny, " he told Red Bull Mic Amy. In the 40 years sce the Village People released “YMCA, ” the song has bee a cultural touchstone: a gay anthem famo for s nuendos and double entendr about young, f men “havg a good time, ” as well as a staple at Yanke gam and bar song has also immortalized the Young Men's Christian Associatn pop culture.
Yet former rints of the McBurney Y Chelsea — the buildg that spired the song, and which was featured the vio released late 1978 — say the realy of stays at the YMCA those days was more plited than the lyrics portray, wh gay culture and workg-class workouts existg a sgle munal space. “There was certaly a party aspect to their vio and that time was the height of all the gay clubs Chelsea, ” rells Davidson Garrett, who lived at the McBurney Y om 1978 through 2000.
VILLAGE PEOPLE GIV TMP OK TO PLAY GAY ANTHEMS 'YMCA,' 'MACHO MAN' AT RALLI
“[The YMCA] did have some overlappg of gay cisg. Garrett adds unrgraduate stunts and disabled men to the mix of ethnilly and racially diverse renters, about half of whom he timat were gay.
Often gay and their 20s or 30s, the weekend guts ed the YMCA “as a drsg room, ” and as a place to discreetly hook up, Garrett says. Meanwhile, hoekeepers me not jt to offer towels and change your sheets, but to keep an eye on you, Kangappadan of the song’s charm, of urse, is s petg terpretatns: It n be read equally well as a celebratn of gay culture or of the workg man.
And as a Sp oral history revealed on the song's 30th anniversary ten years ago, even the group self didn't agree on the proper Hodo (“the nstctn worker”) sisted to Sp that Jacqu Morali, the French producer who helped create the group and -wrote the song wh lead sger Victor Willis (“the p”), certaly had the gay muny md when he me up wh the song. There’s nothg gay about them.