this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2024
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So, technically, the song is not intended to be a low-key gay song. Victor Willis, the Village People founder, lead singer, and the one who wrote the song, has said that the lyrics are not meant to be suggestive of a gay message as he is not gay. Rather, the song was meant to evoke a hopeful message to people like himself who grew up an urban youth and needed community as well as being open to all others. He did not intend the suggestive message that the gay community interpreted from it, but he was also happy they love the song.
So, the song occupies a sort of weird mixed space. It is whole-heartedly embraced by the gay community as an anthem for the LGBT and projects a positive welcoming message for young confused or lonely gay men, which was unintended but welcomed by the writer. It is also widely embraced by straight people as a fun poppy song with a kitschy dance that everyone knows. They play it in grade schools, they play it at weddings, they play it at roller rinks.
So the gay association is only one facet of the song. For those who have a problem with things associated with the gay community, that means they either amplify that association and vilify it, or they downplay or ignore the association and just think of it as the catchy song with the easy dance. Or people accept that associate as well and just enjoy the song and dance.
That being said, Trump might be the kind of idiot that actually is completely oblivious to the association with the gay community altogether. Who knows.
The band had a very macho-gay theme. I'm a little surprised the lead singer isn't gay, I assumed everyone in the band was gay. Gay clubs were also super into disco. Even if the lyrics aren't about being gay, it has lots of gay associations.
For sure. I was also surprised. They had a variety of band members/backup dancers and singers come and go, with only Victor being the one consistent member as the lead. But of the original line up, the ones that were featured in the music video for the YMCA, apparently only 2 of the 6 were openly gay, the ones dressed as the Indian and the cowboy. Apparently even the leather daddy biker with the horseshoe mustache was either straight or not open, which was the most surprising for me.
Except that's not the whole story.
The song was co-written by Victor Willis (the lead singer) and Jacques Morali (their producer). Originally, executive producer Henry Belolo was also credited, but his name was later removed after lawsuits.
Willis is straight (as far as I can tell publicly in any case) and has indeed claimed that the song is simply about the YMCA and has nothing to do with gay culture.
However, Morali is gay. He was essentially the founder of the group and has been quite explicit that the group was created to because he "[wanted to do something only for the gay market"](wanted to do something only for the gay market). The name "Village People" is a reference to Greenwich Village, a gay community.
So we have 2 writers credited. One of whom was the singer who was hired on and later left while the group continued in without him, who claims the song was not about gay people at all. The other was gay, was basically the founder, and has been explicit about how the whole project was intended to target gay people all along.
So I suppose every listener needs to judge for themselves. But my own conclusion is that it's 100% about gay culture, just like most of the rest of their catalog. I could only speculate as to why Willis wants to distance himself from that.
Maybe he never expected to become a gay icon and was never comfortable with it. Maybe he's trying to to make sure that the song appeals to the largest market possible for the sake of getting more royalties. Or maybe there's something else going on.