3 posts tagged Music

Yes, YES, damnit, I like the Village People!  There, I’ve said it.  

The Village People is one of my guilty pleasures.  It’s not something you want to admit to very readily.  It’s sure to invite all sorts of laughter, mockery, and getting jumped at 3 o’clock.  First, because The Village People was a disco group.  And that alone can be a serious crime for a modern day New Yorker (history lesson: before Rap was the sound of the City, Disco was what they grooved to around here.  So I’m not all that off base!).  Secondly, the band is well known for being “the gay group” of the 70s and early 80s.  But here’s the thing, The Village People were a hell of a group.  I mean, you can’t deny that the opening to Macho Man was hot as hell.  Thumpin rhythm, bleeding with attitude and sas.  And the whole song itself is a pretty good song.  Especially the bridge!  

In a big way I have my mom to blame for this.  When Macho Man came out my mom had that record playing almost constantly.  She loved that song, (she loved that whole album!) and she still loves it even today.  Mention The Village People and she lights up, talking about how she loved the song Macho Man.  Now, my mom also played the hell out of the Bee Gees, yet I never really liked the Bee Gees until much later in my life.  That’s another guilty pleasure I’ll get into some other time.

You can say what you want about The Village People, but the fact is these guys could rock it out, man!  Soul, sas, and grit…it doesn’t get much better than that.  Sure, there was a little glam thrown in there.  But it was disco, what do you expect?  And and if my appreciation for their music makes me somehow less of a man in people’s eyes, then what can I say…they’ve got the problem.  

Hop over to YouTube and look for Macho Man, or even YMCA.  It may be campy on the surface, but when you get beyond that, I’ll bet you come to see the light.  The Village People was a hot group.  A guilty pleasure, but pleasure nevertheless.