After 35 years of beltg out YMCA and In the Navy, the Village People are still bothered by one qutn: what’s this gay subtext that people keep mentng?They have been scribed as “the first" name="scriptn
Contents:
- THE GAY ECSTASY OF THE VILLAGE PEOPLE
- WE ARE NOT A GAY ACT, VILLAGE PEOPLE SAY (WH A STRAIGHT FACE)
- THE VILLAGE PEOPLE’S RANDY JON SPEAKS ON GAY MARRIAGE
THE GAY ECSTASY OF THE VILLAGE PEOPLE
* are all the village people gay *
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.
WE ARE NOT A GAY ACT, VILLAGE PEOPLE SAY (WH A STRAIGHT FACE)
Village People are a ncept dis group nsistg of gay stereotyp formed the late 1970s. The group is well known for their on-stage stum as for their tchy tun and suggtive lyrics. The origal members were: police officer (Victor Willis), Amerin Indian chief (Felipe Rose), wboy (Randy Jon), nstctn worker (David Hodo), leatherman (Glenn Hugh) and Milary man (Alex Briley). For the release of "In the Navy", both Willis and Briley appeared temporarily as sailors. Origally created to target dis's primarily gay fan base by featurg stereotypil gay fantasy personas, the band's populary quickly brought them to mastream. The group is seen by some mic crics as ls ser for their mp style, appearance and mil choic. * are all the village people gay *
" 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.
"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. I don't know enough about the people or their mic to know whether people jt lled them gay based on those stum or if there was more to . Felipe, who was disvered at a New York gay bar lled Anvil, claims to have actual Native Amerin anctry, but we’ve been unable to verify this claim.
In 2004, before gay marriage was legally regnized, he held a marriage ceremony wh his boyiend of 20 years, Will Grega, at a nightclub New York Cy. However, be this memory real or simulacm, strik me as hilar given what the Village People are universally known for: tongue--cheek gay nuendo, sparsely vered by a flimsy veneer of hyper-macho drag. However the service’s tomatic n-on feature clearly disagreed and cid that, when Cowley’s sensual, gay bathhoe-ready rhythms end, ‘Macho Man’ would be a great follow-up.
THE VILLAGE PEOPLE’S RANDY JON SPEAKS ON GAY MARRIAGE
And I was fascated by the empowerment I felt om Village People, the tle track on their eponymo but album, and an unambiguo ll for gay liberatn that sounds more ak to a prott chant than a chart topper. Said first three albums (and pecially the first two) rry a surprisgly polil energy; the more popular tracks, such as the eponymo Macho Man, might be vacuo but others – take I Am What I Am, a fiant chant that suggts exactly what you’d expect to suggt – envisn a world which male bodi uld be ee to e together whout Francis was one of the gay mecs the Village People celebrated on their visnary but album (Cred: Alamy)As far as evokg same-sex love go, there was a precent – om dis’s genis, queered sexual posivy was the life blood of the genre, as Peter Shapiro intifi Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Dis.
“As the cultural adjunct of the gay pri movement, dis was the embodiment of the pleasure-is-polics ethos of a new generatn of gay culture, a generatn fed up wh police raids, dranian laws and the darkns of the closet, ” he wr.