The Village People

I remember when Merv Griffin did a special show promoting the release of Can't Stop the Music and the Village People performed a couple songs on the show. He went down the line introducing the group members, and when he got to the leather man, he cooed, "My, my aren't you a macho thing!"

Even as a little kid, I knew it was gay. I just didn't know the word for it yet.

Believe it or not - they were seen as very family friendly as a novelty act. 99% of America had NO FUCKING CLUE they were gay - most people found out about it in the 90's.

r2 I believe the US navy wanted to use their song as a recruiting tool for TV ads. I don't know whether or not they did, then pulled them, or it never got that far. (It was before my time). I believe that's the reason they allowed them to film on a carrier for the video.

The Village People were actually just Victor Willis (the lead singer) and a bunch of hot guys/dancers/guys around the scene. IIRC, he was the only musician. They were a manufactured band.

I know it was the dark days for the community in the country, but the time before AIDS in NYC is something I wish I would've been around to experience. It seemed like cool fun.

When I first moved to Ft Lauderdale someone in our group of friends dated the Glenn the leather guy for a while. We would all hang out at the beach ever so often. Nice guy.

r4 I thought he (and the cowboy) passed from AIDS?

[quote]Believe it or not - they were seen as very family friendly as a novelty act. 99% of America had NO FUCKING CLUE they were gay - most people found out about it in the 90's.

Gosh - nobody could read between the lines of songs like "YMCA," "Go West," or "Macho Man"? Or my favorite, "I Am What I Am"? Talk about a more innocent time...

I wonder what the SJWs would have to say about that Native American headdress - Wiki says Felipe Rose is 1/2 Sioux and 1/2 Puerto Rican, so is he "allowed"? Not that it matters when he's worn it for close to 4 decades already. Would probably make their little heads explode.

Most people then just wanted to have a good time and Dance dance DANCE. Considering the economic doldrums of the 70's people desired this type of escape.

Everyone just thought they were "fun", and that was all!

R5 the Ft Lauderdale beach days were around 1979.

I saw a video on Youtube from their heyday, and apparently they were introduced as just "Village People" back then without "The" before it. Was the "The" added later?

IIRC, many, many straight people were flabbergasted to hear they were gay.

I love the fact that Batman and Robin had to be given girlfriends because people protested about the "gay subtext" of the comics, but "YMCA" and "In the Navy" were wholesome fun for the whole family.

I was surprised when I found out they were gay. Then again, for a long time I thought I was the only gay on the planet.

According to David Hodo, the construction worker, the public started picking up on the gay subtext after an SNL skit.

I was a kid when the Village People first appeared. I recall people saying the guys swung both ways and AC DC 10,000 volts (or something like that). Of course, they actually only swung one way....gay. Claiming bisexuality back in the Dark Ages must've been a mechanism for people to think such people were half OK.

[delurking] I'm a straight woman, but the very first time I saw the Village People on TV, I gasped. "Oh-My-God! They're GAY!" But then I lived in San Francisco at the time, and I'm sure that most of straight America was oblivious.

What do you mean "Gay?"

Out in the Suburban Hell where I was raised, they got no respect. Everyone in my town agreed that "Disco Sucks", and a synthetic disco boy-band was regarded as a joke by almost everyone; why, that far before the boy-band era the every idea of costumed singer-dancers who didn't compose songs or play instruments was seen as ludicrous!

I know a lot of Dataloungers are very nostalgic about the Disco Era, but remember to most of the country the whole disco movement was a party to which they weren't invited. The people around me loved real rock, or classical music, or Pink Floyd, or funk, or whatever, and they didn't regard bands like the Village People as real musicians. Really, most disco music sucked as much as most "dance" music sucks today, it took me a long time to appreciate the good music of that era, such as it is.

Randy Jones, the original Cowboy with the Village People, is alive and well.

Village People was a studio group, when their debut release started gaining popularity, the group was formed. I believe they are all gay, except the original lead singer Victor Willis.

R18 must have grown up in the town where [italic]Footloose[/italic] took place.

I remember watching The Village People on some show ( Bandstand? Solid Gold?) with my dad, who was taking a beer and smoke break from doing yard work. He looked at me and said "Please...promise me. Don't end up like.............THAT!" I was already a little flamer but my dad pleading me with me to not be like " ! THAT !" made me tone it down a notch.

Everyone loved them!!! Amongst my family and friends people may have thought possibly they are gay but no one fucking cared. We loved the music, the dancing, the costumes. The music was big on the Bar Mitzvah scene as well. It was a good way to get everyone dance at a group at that awkward age

I'm just curious, but I keep hearing that Freddie Mercury, was influenced by the leather biker guy, to grow his mustache. Is this true, or it the other way round.

R2, Of course everyone knew they were gay. No big deal because Elton John had already fought that battle and won because he was so talented. Besides everyone knew those in the world of entertainment didn't have a traditional lifestyle. They were artistic and free; part of being rebellious. They're not Gospel singers.

You should have seen young kids to great grandmas dance to YMCA at all kinds of parties, Bar Mitzvahs, graduations, you name it. The music was fun and upbeat. Took a long time for everyone to really figure out what the songs actually meant. Do you really think racists wouldn't listen to Macarena when it came on mainstream radio? The song was in Spanish too. It's like anti-Semites who listened to Barbara Streisand or saw one of her movies.

How many of the original members are still alive and also how many members have there been?

[quote]They were a manufactured band.

A gay person would never be in a manufactured band

r2 Well, that's a lie. I remember everyone in my high school in 1978 was talking about "The Village People" being gay. People knew well they were gay well before the 90s, but they chose to ignore it even then.

Gawd, this music still reduces me to a blubbering fool.

It was a very different time back then. Disco was very infectious. Men were wearing silk shirts and platform shoes. People liked the beat of their music. And homosexuality wasn't on everyone's minds like it is today. When you saw a music group, you didn't automatically think "What's their sexual preference?" Many singers were wearing costumes. Kiss, Elton John, Alice Cooper. Plus Sha-Na-Na started a tv variety show and they all wore costumes as well. So the wearing of the costumes didn't really signify anything to mainstream America.

No one knew they were gay in my small town. Not even me!

r31 Was your village in Eastern Europe?

R30 is correct. Also, the internet did not exist. All of the Gay "codes" were still very underground. Most Americans did not get the message. Also, as someone up thread mentioned, disco was not mainstream for most of the USA. It was very much a urban music form. I was definitely the weird kid in school for listen to it. Absolutely no one else at my school listened to it, if they were even aware of it.

In NYC at the time, *everyone* knew they were meant to be gay, from the visuals alone. Im sure that was the case in every major American city.

What was less known was the high gayness clearly being telegraphed in the lyrics of their songs. Most straight people had no idea . But all gay men did.

r34 Most straight people had no idea . But all gay men did.

This is not the entire truth. Everyone in New Jersey (say what you must but we're way ahead of the pack in street smarts and way ahead of the curve when it comes to urban life in the U.S.), was talking about them being gay by 1978. My friend's eight year old charge, who she was babysitting, told her "Those guys are gay." when they were appearing on TV and this was 1978.

They did not know they were gay. Because Jews will not live with non Jews in real life,

[quote]Believe it or not - they were seen as very family friendly as a novelty act. 99% of America had NO FUCKING CLUE they were gay - most people found out about it in the 90's.

I've heard this from people who were around back then, and it just blows my mind. Amazing that the mainstream public could be so clueless about something that was so blatantly gay gay gay!

[37] think Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly.

r36 Ummmm, I have a stalker from another site. My first one. I'm wearing my pink, see though negligee just for you. Are you getting wet?

I knew, but I was at the height of my gayness in 1978.

[quote]Amazing that the mainstream public could be so clueless about something that was so blatantly gay gay gay!

As someone mentioned above, gays were thought of as limp wristed ferries (ie Paul Lynde) or weirdos like female impersonators (Beverly LaSalle on All In The Family). Unless you lived in NYC or San Francisco, a macho gay man was unknown. The tv show Family did address a "normal" gay man in 1976, but I don't remember a lot of people in my community watching Family. It was more of an adult drama that kids my age didn't bother with.

Village People was another disco act along the lines of ABBA. Teenagers reading Tiger Beat weren't told that Village People were made up of gay men. And by 1980 when their movie bombed, disco was on its way out.

[quote]limp wristed ferries

Oh, my.

Most normals were clueless that it was a gay act. My granny liked them, thought they were good fun with their costumes.

Limp-wristed ferries? As opposed to the 'roll-on, roll-off' or 'roro' ferries?

DL certainly has plenty of the latter.

Funny how disco haters are still willing to make excuses for how many truly bad rock musicians have been foisted upon us in the last 60 years.

"San Francisco" is my favorite, it's a damn catchy song.

Everyone knew they were gay stereotypes.

That's like asking, "Did they know Olivia Newton-John and Stockard Channing were supposed to be teens"

Of course they knew but the public ignored it.

Do you think any of them ever sucked off Victor Willis?

I grew up in the the Midwest, about 2 hours from Minneapolis. The Village People were seen as a novelty, and radio stations played their songs a lot. Their clothes/uniforms were just seen as costumes. I'm sure somebody knew they were gay, but most people didn't - the overall appearance, the music, the lyrics really did seem to go over the majority's head, which seems insane now.

Damn, Victor Willis is hot in the San Francisco video.

Willis is still alive (age 64). He was married to none other than Phylicia Allen (Rashad). Married a second time in 2007. No kids according to Wiki. I've always wanted him to be an out gay man given his role in the band and the fact I really found him attractive, but either he's simply not gay, or even if he is, doesn't look like he's gonna be out anytime soon.

Village People were so, so big in French nightclubs during the mid-90s. Absolutely huge. every single party, everywhere. And they meant FUN. By then everybody knew they were gay, and only the very homophobic would turn away. Everybody else just went along, it was infectious.

I was in a gay bar in the 1980's in Asbury Park, NJ where The Village People were playing. The bar was raided that night. It felt like pre-Stonewall days.

R52 = Bruce Springsteen

Boy, the choreography in that San Francisco video is TERRIBLE. And executed just as badly...

I like the tune, though.

There have been rumors about K.C. of the Sunshine Band .

IIRC, they never initially did the YMCA dance moves when performing the song until audiences began doing them and the VP realized "Hey! Those gestures actually spell out the letter Y-M-C-A!" Also, Dick Clark was one of the first people to praise them and the disco movement.

Yes people knew they were "gay" but it was all very tongue in cheek. Hard to describe today, but in those days you could appear culturally gay or even display overt signals of gay sensibility (the leatherman for instance), but unless you were being outspoken about gay rights or displaying open homosexuality (two men kissing for instance), people just nodded and winked along.

Notice they never touched or acted sexual towards each other. Performers onstage often dance and sing in suggestive manners towards each other, even two straight men. The Village People performed in a line-up, facing the audience. You never saw the Indian leer at the Cowboy or the Cop grind on the Leatherman. Their getups were outrageous and their songs dripped with innuendo, but their performances and personas were strictly g-rated. They were like cartoon characters.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVED them and still do.

Yes it's quite the toe-tapper, R46.

That bitch Muriel has created an 'Elder Gay' tag.

Muriel. You BITCH!

I love the Pet Shop Boys version of Go West that is explicitly about East/West Germany.

That San Francisco video is interesting. I recognize very few of the backup dancers and their seem to be more than the usual five.

When I was a little kid, I couldn't figure out why my conservative dad always chuckled at Village People, Elton John, Paul Lynde, Charles Nelson Reilly, etc. Dad even let me buy "YMCA" on 45 when I was a kid. The funny/novelty gay wasn't threatening to people so no one noticed or minded.

A few years later, Dad was apoplectic when I got "Purple Rain" as a gift. Prince was threatening; Village People were not.

Because Prince was overtly sexual and the Village People were not.

Pretty much, yeah.

As a young child my mother restricted TV (no Westerns,, too violent) except for re-runs of old musicals. Family G-rated favorites were Gene Kelley in Singing in the Rain, and Danny Kaye in almost anything but especially dancing as a chimney sweep. Did we see pics of these super talented stars in way too obviously fake bearding arrangements? Like the wide variety of entertainers on "The Ed Sullivan Show" that Middle America watched every Sun night sexuality wasn't discussed at all by anyone. Not until Boy George and Elton John were very upfront.

The Village People in interviews did discuss dating women on Talk Shows upon being asked. They then quickly added their schedules were way too busy for relationships, and described their typical weekend of rehearsals, promotional tours, and time spent in the gym. I'm sure those in the know figured out what the references to working out in the gym for a long time actually meant. All answers were obviously scripted and rehearsed in advance by the actors.

Looking back I'm sure there were those in big Liberal cities laughing at the naive in Conservative USA and their TV viewing and music listening habits. Was told years later that a number of very popular songs had double or hidden meanings for some. So what year did "Yummy, yummy yummy, I've got love in my tummy" hit the mainstream music charts?

I remember my 13, 11 and 8 year old sisters telling me in 1979 Chicago (I was 5) that they were gay, so it couldn't have been too well hidden if a bunch of primary school kids from the Midwest knew.

Racism was still a much more controversial topic when the Village People came out as a mixed race group of performers. Can't tell you how many times I heard, "Yeah, but the Black guy is the only one who has any real talent. He's doing all of the singing. He's a better dancer too." Also "Is that Indian wearing the headdress White or is he actually part Indian?" Then people went on to the question if any of the performers actually helped to write any of the songs. It was suspected that "The Black Guy" must have had real input as he's the one really performing."

I'm sure those of you who didn't grow up in a Conservative, Republican, very pro-military town where most older relatives were former GI's et al you wouldn't think the same way. Either way "In The Navy" was a brilliant marketing gimmick which encouraged widespread acceptance. "

Everybody liked them. They were "fun", just like now. It's odd, but true!

How naive I was in the 70s. As a ten year old I just thought the indian

an was an indian, a construction worker was a construction worker and I don't know what I thought the leather guy was.

People knew but they didn't care. My dad certainly knew. Back then pop stars popped up on your Tv screen, danced and sang and got off stage. You knew about them what they wanted you to know. You couldn't google them. So if some gay guys came out and sang YMCA while your young kids danced in front of the tv no one bat an eye lid, it's not like they were making out with each other. Boy George got way more of a reaction a few years later then the village people ever did.

That's true, George caused quite a stink when he made his first appearance on the UK's Top of the Pops. Kids loved him, a lot of parents were really shocked. He made the front pages, with headlines demanding 'Is it a boy or is it a girl?'

Everyone thinks Victor Willis was the singer on their records.

NONE of them sang. Not even as back-up singers.

Jacques Morali created The Village People, starting with hand-picking each one of them, to fit the look of the characters he'd imagined.

My late best friend was an associate of the guy who really sang the vocals on the recordings. He had the Village People gold records in his apartment in NYC.

In about 1980 an acquaintance of mine kicked Phillipe Rose's (the "Indian"/"Native American"SNORT!) ass for fucking his boyfriend.

I got a very oogie feeling when someone up-thread mentioned Willis being married to (BYE!) Fellicia (?) Rashad!!!!

I have been completely freaked/creeped/grossed-out by her since always!

One more thing. Check out Jacques Morali's Wikipedia page. Fascinating.

This is how I remember it - first no one noticed (how they didn't notice with the leather guy escapes me but I was just a kid) - then it was a parody of gays but none of them really were - the the Indian was spotted dancing with another guy.

So, how many were completely gay in real life? Meaning were out at the time or eventually came out in their lives.

Really, Victor Willis didn't sing? The black man voice of the songs matches his particular black man look, lol. I guess that's the point.

If no one sang, did anyone make any money?

I ask about Willis specifically, because he actually had a singing background, including musicals.

R73, R74, I'm also surprised.

R71, Was the real lead singer Black? So you're saying it's comparable to Milli-Vanilli where older stdio musicians dd the real work and the chosen for their looks actors simply pretended?

Willis' Wiki still says he sang on the early albums before he left. Very interesting. Again, I always thought he was the one legit singer.

R76, Willis sued and won 50% of the 13 songs he wrote and performed.

Claims Willis was the only straight performer of the group. He was hired 1st because of his strong voice. Originally they used backup singers .

The village people's songs alluded to being gay, but weren't overtly sexual. It was ok for a famous celebrity to be gay, but it wasn't mentioned and that person's sexuality was to remain private and out of sight, like the post above said, think Paul Linde.

And yes, EVERYONE knew. I was a kid at the time and I knew, no one around me didn't know.

I still lust after David Hodo, the Construction Worker. I have no idea what he looks like today--hell, he's probably pushing 70--but I'd fuck him just in memory of the gallons of cum I spent on him while jacking off and looking at his picture. I LOVE YOU DAVID!!

"Ready For the 80s." Of course who could have known what the 80s had in store?

To answer an upthread question, I believe all but the leather man are alive. The Leather man died of non-AIDS related cancer sometime back (make of that what you will.)

I read a dishy article written by Randy Jones' (the Cowboy) replacement some time back. Among the tidbits: The Indian and The leather man HATEd each other (exacerbated by coke use among the group), one of the group's producers (Jacques Morali?) was into scat and the replacement had to "perform" to keep his spot in the group.

Also, during the filming of "Can't Stop The Music" director Nancy Walker treated Alex Briley (the soldier) terribly. Briley was a nice but shy person and took her treatment to heart.

I feel like a Ryan Murphy miniseries is in the air.

Actually, a Ryan Murphy miniseries about the disco era is a pretty good idea.

All sexuality aside, they had some fun songs.

r55 KC is gay gay gay. He dated a friend of mine back in the 90's. Flew him around the country to meet up with him when he was on tour.

A friend of my family used to live across the street from KC. They said he was very private and not very friendly. Never heard any rumors regarding his sexuality though.

So did Village People lip-synch even in live performances?

Not all of them were gay. Most were straights.

Ray Simpson and Miles Jaye couldn't be gay.

I remember exactly how the "country" reacted. Many people knew they were gay but EVERYONE ignored it, winked about, gave the Village People a total free pass because their songs were fun and catchy. Their novelty was enjoyable by mainstream American without, as others have said, having to really acknowledge that they were gay. It was an inside joke that really wasn't inside. Gay people knew it and thought it was funny that some people (grandma and stupid midwestern Christians and straight people doing the YMCA dance at weddings) were clueless. Those who were clueless, we just thought "Oh, you poor dumb bitch" and made fun of them behind their backs. In short, knowing that the Village People were gay was kind of a litmus test back then for how "gay aware" someone was, how sophisticated someone was, how intelligent someone was.

But do gay guys really dress that way in the Village ?

[quote]Willis sued and won 50% of the 13 songs he wrote and performed.

What choo talkin' bout, Willis?

Was it the same thing with Frankie Goes to Hollywood? I mean, did the public blissfully ignore that when the band sang "Relax, don't do it, when you want to come" and "Shoot it in the right direction," that's exactly what they meant?

Did people spot Rock Hudson ?

R93, "Yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got love in my tummy" is a lot more direct, and yes, many were clueless because they didn't discuss sex let alone oral or anal with anyone until they were older. These were the days before there was a program on cable discussing all of the blatant sexual references in pop songs. How about "Turning Japanese?" There are countless others.

r95, so it's not that they ignored it, they just didn't know any better? That's even sadder.

With Frankie, the majority of adults of course knew that two of the band were gay - that was very up-front, and they were very sexual. Their image was based on sex. There were the two queens, the one who sang and the one who danced. Then there were three Liverpudlian jets who looked like plumbers. One was marketed as a teen heart throb. So the line that had to be trodden for the UK media was this - how do we cover this very popular band who teen girls are dancing to, without mentioning that their songs are about gay sex? . The BBC actually banned Relax because of the lyrics, but actually most teen girls hadn't a clue what the song meant. Then the video cam rout, and it was a gay s&m / leather orgy scene. With golden showers. The BBC banned that, too. But there were a lot of sexual, sleazy acts at that time - like Marc Almond - and somehow Frankie didn't really scare teen girls - they thought they were fun.

Only 3 out of the 5 were gay. ?in the beginning, as someone noted it was a studio group with Victor Willis and studio singers. Felipe Rose was a dancer at the Anvil, feathers and all.

Did we know Freddie Mercury was gay ? Or George Michael ?

Here's the link to the "Turning Japanese" video by The Vapors I mentioned in R95. Note there aren't any women in the video but a cute shirtless Caucasian man, 2 Japanese boxers aggressively fighting, etc. By the end of the video the cartoons get more explicit.

R96, As I was once told by 2 elderly lesbians, gay sex like kinky sex was always around it just wasn't discussed openly in polite society. Instead you whispered about it in private conversations. Had a way older male friend who said he was shocked seeing Demi Moore showing off her pregnant stomach on the cover of Vanity Fair. Right. Pregnancy and the real proof a married couple had had sex once was a very taboo subject back in his day.

So whether or not people were aware of "the real world" depended on where they grew up and in what circles they hung out in. Many parents tried their best to restrict their children's and teens access to knowledge on anything re sexuality, sometimes with disastrous results. One of the reasons pedophilia existed; so many didn't understand it at all. Little girls assumed it wasn't a male relative abusing them in the night but the Devil or that they were possessed.

R97, Just saw the video for "Tainted Love" for the 1st time. Used to be a fav song to dance to in straight discos; love the beat. No, I had no idea until your post Marc Almond was referring to gay sex. Bet many others dancing didn't either. Probably wouldn't have mattered to most anymore than those who eventually found out the original lyrics of "Tutti Frutti" would have stopped listening and dancing to that song.

A couple of years ago, I met a very sweet, but apparently very naive and sheltered woman from Rochester, N.Y. who had NO idea that the Village People were gay. She was genuinely surprised.

When I was in my early grade school years, "Macho Man" and "Y.M.C.A." were staples at school roller skating parties and classmates would run around chanting "They want you, they want you, they want you as a new recruit" at recess.

I saw them at a free concert six or seven years ago. It was cheesy, but a lot of fun.

R97, Here's the originally banned video of "Relax." Don't think most teen girls growing up in Conservative, small towns would have understood what was really going on. Any more videos/songs along this line?

They are NOT gay. A few gay members don't make a gay group.

So did "In The Navy" work as an effective military recruiting tool?

Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a one-hit-wonder for the most part. A flash in the pan. They did not have the cultural reach or impact of TVP. Most people associated "Relax" with the thumping bass and memorable instrumental riffs and hooks. A lot of people barely noticed the lyrics, and many of those who did just thought he was just singing about sex and ejaculation, but not necessarily gay sex. There were plenty in the know, but many people didn't take much notice of the lyrics to their one big hit before they faded from popularity.

R101, Marc Almond was so blatantly , sexually gay that it seems odd that people didn't hear in Tainted love that he was singing about a kind of tortured gay relationship. There was a well-known story about him in the eighties, nonsense of course, but very widely-sperad, that he was admitted to hospital to have his stomach pumped because it was full of cum. Everyone knew he was gay and sleazy with it, but as you say, many women and girls didn't hear that in TL.They thought it was romantic I suppose.

Years since I saw that, R101. Thanks for posting.

'many people didn't take much notice of the lyrics to their one big hit '

They had about three very big hits in the UK. Relax, a ballad that came out at Christmas called The Power of Love and another one about nuclear war. They were a very big act for about 2 years, very hip and popular.

When I was a kid I thought Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls" was literally about candy. It wasn't until I was older that I realized Sheena was singing about some guy blowing his load in her pussy.

"Tainted Love" was a cover song that originated in the Northern Soul scene...so there is nothing intentionally gay about the lyrics per se, although the Soft Cell version certainly lends itself to that interpretation. Still a very harmless pop tune compared to "Sex Dwarf," though. I imagine that went down a treat!

Isn't it nice, sugar and spice, luring disco dollies to a life of vice!

Hard-hat wearing, hairy-chested David Hodo was the ONLY reason I paid the slightest bit of attention to The Village People.

David Hodo. Every 70s gaylings dream boat.

I don't understand how Bruce Jenner avoided gay rumors after Can't Stop The Music came out.

Were performances like this designed to deny the fact that they were gay?

This is the oldest picture I could find of David Hodo, says it was uploaded in 2015 not bad for a 68 year old man, well 67 then. Hodo is on the right of course.

R115 - Bruce Jenner was so god damned fine... Man, those were the days - the cutoffs and skin tight jeans, the fucking bulges. In high-school all us guys had highlighted crotches. Somehow, as you wore those jeans, where ever your cock and nuts would normally be would end up getting lighter than the rest of the jeans. It was almost obscene and it was fucking awesome. And the ASSES to see as you walked down the hall... Damn...

Thanks, r117.

Is Hodo gay?

Anyone know him? Had him?

That banned Relax video was interesting. As far as gay pop/dance, I never liked that song though.

The Village People had some really fun songs. Amazing how they and the lyrics were so overtly gay yet they were a mainstream pop act.

R121, A lot of us don't listen very carefully to lyrics. I used to listen to music while dancing, driving in my car, doing something else. Never bought any music and wouldn't know the words to my fav songs let alone what they really meant. No I never watched videos very carefully either. I'll bet you a lot of straights didn't know many of the words to YMCA or really get the deal with mustaches and "macho men." Some thought the Y was about going regularly to a cheap gym to work out regularly and to get away from family obligations. Remember girlfriends repeating the line, "you can hang out with all the boys," and saying essentially WTF?

Then again my next-door-neighbor and art professor at SDSU loved Sally Jesse Raphael. One day home from UCLA she told me about an episode of her talk show featuring transvestites. Trying to be somewhat open-minded this Conservative Republican, DAR, WASP, always dissing the Democrats next door who were neither (meaning my large family) asked me to keep the trans where I lived in Los Angeles. Couldn't tell her there was a GSU table of info daily on Bruin Walk signing up gay students. Small town life where you never have to lock your doors due to lots of nosy neighbors.

The Village People stayed in the glass closet.

Directed by Nancy Walker of all people.

Does anyone recall exactly when the ultimate Wheaties cereal box icon, "breakfast of champions," and widely promoted media advertising star post his truly incredible Olympic performance, became known as not 100% straight? I remember the "red blooded American male's" divorce from his perfect blond, airline stewardess wife. The non-stop adulation cooled as he was reported to have "gone Hollywood" and dumped the woman who supported his rise to fame through athletics.

I think it just eased out after a few years. A new Olympics was on its way, a new face for Wheaties.

I was a child when TVP were at their peak popularity and barely remember them from then. My husband – who is older than I – remembered them well. He used to own the very first VP album, which was a studio product . When I pulled it out of his vinyl collection years ago, I asked him about it (by that time I definitely knew who TVP were). The singing was performed by Victor Willis and session singers. Although a poster upthread indicated that his friend did lead vocals rather than Willis (whom the poster indicated didn’t sing at all), my understanding has always been that Willis’ vocals were used on lead and that he co-wrote many of the songs from the very beginning until he was replaced after TVP had become successful. The album cover was a black & photo of a mixed group of guys in the village – none of whom were part of the lineup or did the session recordings.

The video at R46 was an early promo for the group and the song SAN FRANCISCO. There were more than the final six featured because the concept hadn’t been fine tuned. Just look at the early versions of the costumes. That’s also why the choreography and performances are lacking and why most of the guys in back barely seem to know the lyrics they’re lip-syncing. They were just pulled into it. Of those in that video, Willis (future cop) on lead, Alex Briley (in the overalls and future military man), and Felipe Rose (Indian) are the only guys who made the final line up.

I read a DETAILS article in the late 90s about TVP. Reportedly, Willis (and his replacement, whose name escapes me) and Briley were the only straight guys in the group and all three were extremely cool about that with no homophobia whatsoever. That struck me, as I had assumed that every VP member was gay.

Randy Jones (the original cowboy) left the group after he was aggressively outed (he was living in FL at the time and it made the TV news). Initially, he denied being gay and slammed his closet door shut to the public before emerging from it years later with a husband (long before gay marriage was a thing).

Someone upthread described TVP as being in the “glass closet”, which is a nearly perfect way of capturing what they were. Yes, there were those in the public who knew or assumed, those who were truly clueless, and those who simply didn’t care. TVP played with it in a manner that was evident to anybody who wanted to look.

As for FGTH, they were different from TVP not only because they came years later, but also because they were much more in one’s face with the sexual RELAX, and because lead Holly Johnson and dancer Paul Rutherford were openly gay. The makeup of the group was like an inverse VP: the two frontmen were gay and I believe that the remainder of the band was straight guys.

'I believe that the remainder of the band was straight guys.'

Yes, that's correct. But they were extremely - er, relaxed about being around gay men and gay subculture. You can see that in the Relax video, they seem to being having a good laugh.

Every time I see this thread "Macho Man" starts playing in my head.

I wish we had fun, campy pop acts like the Village People these days.

Ray Simpson, brother of Valerie Simpson, was Victor's replacement.

Everyone knew they were gay, but society was not obsessed by it. It was a more innocent time. Disco was king. Gay and straight, people just wanted to dance.

It was pre-AIDS, pre-Internet, pre-reality show, pre-trans. Gay people were emerging, and there wasn't the homophobia that became prevalent in the 1980s and 90s. And the Village People were not controversial. Yes, they were gay, but there was no scandal of any kind surrounding them. We didn't really know anything about them other than their music and their costumes. We didn't know who they dated or slept with, and they weren't tweeting where they had dinner or sending out photos of themselves on the beach in Fire Island. They just sang and had great music. It was a different and often more fun era.

Alex Briley's brother Jonathan is believed to be "The Falling Man" in the iconic photograph of a man who jumped or fell from the north tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11.

[quote]"Ready For the 80s." Of course who could have known what the 80s had in store?

I was just thinking about this the other day. It's such an optimistic song. So sad.

The beginning of this thread is a bunch of hogwash. I was a kid when VP came out and everyone knew they were gay and yes they were still considered fun and family friendly. Nowadays people seem to forget that in the 70's many many people had no big issue with gays it was just wink wink light in the loafers no threat no big deal. Sorry but I remember it distinctly. It was AIDS and then ACT UP and then a real push for equal rights in the 80's and 90's that really got straights backs up, and made fundamentalists nervous and hateful about gays.

I bought my aunt the "In The Navy" album. She loved it.

I kinda miss when society was more innocent and you could slip things like this past. We're a long way from there now.

They were my very first concert in 1979, senior year in high school. Each of them road in on stage upon a vehicle connected to their character. Lots of couples and teenagers. Some gays. Lots of dancing.

Good times.

BTW, Hodo's teeth in R117 are, bright.

The Village People are just stylish dressers! They're no more gay than my son, Aaron!