Village People: Disco Beats, Cultural Shifts, and Gay Icons

In this episode of the Compendium, we’re exploring the origin story of the Village People, the iconic band that brought us unforgettable disco music hits like "Y.M.C.A.," "Macho Man," and "In the Navy." From their creation by Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo to their rise to fame, come with us as we dive into their history and cultural impact they had on the disco era and the LGBTQ community.

We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:

1. “The Village People's“ - Official website
2. “Henri Belolo & Jacques Morali” - Disco Disco
3. “The gay ecstasy of the Village People” - BBC
4. “Can't Stop the Music Movie” - Wikipedia
5. “Golden Raspberry Awards story” - Wikipedia

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Credits:

• Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
• Intro and Outro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin
• All the Latest Things Intro: Clowns by Giulio Fazio

Chapters

• 0:00 Sneak peak
• 1:34 Welcome to The Compendium
• 7:32 All the latest things
• 15:43 Topic of the week
• 1:08:04 Listner Mail
• 1:12:12 Outro

Transcript

[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: but also. I had to look really closely at the video and I can confirm that the big YMCA hand gestures that are so synonymous with this anthem did not actually feature in that song at all.

[00:00:13] Adam Cox: in the video. 

[00:00:13] Kyle Risi: Nope. 

[00:00:14] The only semblance of that gesture was maybe the Y which they would do during the opening bars of the song. and It wasn't. really a Y at all it was just them walking out with their hands in the air that's what that was. 

[00:00:27] It was actually the fans in the audience who birthed the gestures and I guess they mistook them for walking out with their hands up in the air as spelling out the first letters of the YMCA and it just took off from there. 

[00:00:39] And the village people they then would see people doing this movement in the audience and they just thought to themselves Wow. This is stupid. 

[00:00:47] And then everyone in America started doing it. And then they were like, wow, this is so cool. 

[00:00:52] Adam Cox: So them thinking that's stupid whilst they're dressed as a cowboy. I'm just chaps [00:01:00] with a with their butt cheeks out. It's like, yeah, you lonely up there on your pedestal.

[00:01:09] Kyle Risi: Welcome to the compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. We're a weekly variety podcast where each week I tell Adam Cox all about a topic I think you'll find both fascinating and intriguing. We dive into stories pulled from the darker corners of true crime, the annuls of your old unread history books, and the who's who of extraordinary people.

[00:01:54] We give you just enough information to stand your ground at any social gathering. I'm [00:02:00] Kyle Recy, 

[00:02:01] Adam Cox: And I'm Adam Cox.

[00:02:02] Kyle Risi: and in today's episode of the compendium, we're diving into an assembly of ways to channel your inner macho man while working out at the YMCA before cruising into the Navy aboard a Disco Bonanza.

[00:02:15] Adam Cox: Okay, I think for like, one of the first times, I think I know what you're talking about.

[00:02:20] Kyle Risi: Well, I mean, I would hope so because, you had three very solid clues in that one intro. So if you didn't get it, I'd be like, where the hell have you been living for the last years? 

[00:02:32] Adam Cox: You better bleep that out.

[00:02:33] Kyle Risi: I will.

[00:02:34] So who are 

[00:02:34] we covering today?

[00:02:35] Adam Cox: obviously, it's Madonna.

[00:02:38] Kyle Risi: Oh God.

[00:02:39] Adam Cox: It's the Village People.

[00:02:41] Kyle Risi: And you would be correct.

[00:02:43] Adam Cox: I got one.

[00:02:44] Kyle Risi: So. Adam, I've got a question for you. When you hear the name Village People, what is the first thing that pops into your mind?

[00:02:51] Adam Cox: some great stylish outfits, of

[00:02:53] Kyle Risi: course, 

[00:02:54] uh,

[00:02:54] Adam Cox: some catchy tunes, ready for some disco.and, kinda gay.[00:03:00]

[00:03:00] Kyle Risi: That's really interesting that you bring that up, actually, because we're going to cover about whether or not they were a gay group or not

[00:03:05] Adam Cox: What? Because it's fascinating

[00:03:07] Kyle Risi: it's fascinating and intriguing.

[00:03:09] Adam Cox: Oh, they're saying that. I guess they're really popular, so that would be, for the 70s, for a gay group to be popular. Hmm. I don't actually know.

[00:03:19] Kyle Risi: Anything else come to mind? 

[00:03:20]

[00:03:21] Adam Cox: the dance routines, although that's the only one I can think of. YMCA, didn't the Navy have one?

[00:03:25] Kyle Risi: They did. Of course they did. Yeah. They got the whole clapping and they kind of like the flag movements and yeah. Iconic, but obviously not as famous as the YMCA

[00:03:36] Adam Cox: yeah, yeah.

[00:03:38] Kyle Risi: But when I was researching the show and I was writing this bit, I bet you're shiny disco balls. 

[00:03:45] Adam Cox: that 

[00:03:45] Kyle Risi: you would mention obviously the costumes and that infectious energy of the YMCA. And maybe even a fleeting memory or two, but you didn't seem to have any memories that came flooding back when we introduced this

[00:03:59] for [00:04:00] me, I had the fleeting memory of a builder's costume complete with hard hat and my sister's Barbie securely stuffed into the tool belt while I was rocking out to the YMCA growing up. And the thing is though, growing up, I think the influence of the village people was far more widespread than we realize.

[00:04:20] I have countless hazy memories of running around my backyard dressed as various characters from the group. Not necessarily intentionally, but when you think about some of the outfits that we wore growing up they were typically costumes that you would see in the village people.

[00:04:36] I definitely had a Native American costume. and a cowboy costume too and i would get a brand new pistol almost every year for christmas without fail and i'd run around the backyard firing the pistol with those snap strips that you would get that you put into the guns firing at my sister and she would just be screaming blue murder running away from me.

[00:04:54] Adam Cox: me. 

[00:04:55] Kyle Risi: But I also remember I had a policeman outfit with my little kind of handcuffs as [00:05:00] well. 

[00:05:00] Adam Cox: What were you doing with them?

[00:05:01] Kyle Risi: Well, I mean the downside was that they were far too flimsy to be used for anything like serious, you know? The only outfit I didn't have was the leather guy with his leather jacket and his chaps.

[00:05:13] But that's not to say that I didn't have chaps. Because I had assless chaps that came with my cowboy outfit for sure. And I wore them, not necessarily without any trousers 

[00:05:24] underneath. Maybe 

[00:05:25] I had like these little shorts on them. But I had assless chaps from my cowboy costume.

[00:05:29] Adam Cox: And your mum had no idea.

[00:05:31] Kyle Risi: That's the thing. And I vividly remember loving the music of the village people too.

[00:05:36] And when I was doing research for today's episode, I kept getting these flashbacks of me putting on a show for my parents and their friends doing the YMCA dance. And I would also just walk around the house just randomly singing Macho Man. It's any wonder that my parents had no clue.

[00:05:52] Adam Cox: Are we actually learning about the YMCA today, or is this some deep dive into your, I don't know, upbringing?

[00:05:57] Kyle Risi: Well, I mean, it says a lot, especially [00:06:00] when you've suppressed a lot of these memories over all these years and they just come fleeting back it's starting to answer a few questions. So yeah, today we are talking about the village people.

[00:06:10] And to be honest, I didn't actually set out to do this episode. It was just never on my radar. But after listening to Stuff You Should Know, the memories of how much I just loved this group growing up just came flooding back to me. And so after listening to Chuck and Josh, I had no idea how incredible their origin story was as a disco group.

[00:06:29] And also, the impact that they had at normalizing gayness amongst the mainstream. So it got me really motivated to tell you this story and you know, I hope this lays down the foundation for us to tie in other stories about the gay liberation movement, which I know is something that we've talked a bunch about in the past. 

[00:06:48] Adam Cox: that. But at the end of the day, our listeners, they want to hear our

[00:06:58] Kyle Risi: add [00:07:00] to it, but, you know, it's something that's still on my radar. That probably want to know about this stuff, so I think it's definitely worth it. Now, I'd love to lean into that a bit more. By the way, it's village people, not the village people. But with that said, I doubt I'm going to remember that throughout this episode, so I'm just going to call them the village people. 

[00:07:24] They're 

[00:07:24] Adam Cox: So they're not the village people?

[00:07:26] Kyle Risi: they're not the village people, they are village people.

[00:07:31] Adam Cox: that's weird.

[00:07:32] Kyle Risi: we kick off, should we do all the latest things? 

[00:07:35] Let's do it. 

[00:07:42] This is a segment of our show where we catch up on all the week's happenings and share a quick tidbit, strange fact, or laugh at a bit of weird news from the past week. So Adam, what have you got for us today?

[00:07:52] Adam Cox: So Kyle, You know when you're online and you have to verify whether you're a human or not and you have to check a little [00:08:00] box and it's usually like CAPTCHA or

[00:08:02] Kyle Risi: have to check a little box, and it's usually like CAPTCHA or something.

[00:08:11] Check a

[00:08:12] Adam Cox: Check a checkbox or sometimes, you're then led on to like a bunch of pictures that you have to put in the right order or whatever traffic lights or 

[00:08:18] bus it 

[00:08:19] Kyle Risi: all the cycles in this picture. Yeah. Mhm.

[00:08:22] Adam Cox: Yeah. But. You would think just that checkbox that you're saying that I'm a human, that is you verifying that you're a human, and the website then goes, great, you can proceed to log in or do whatever you need to do.

[00:08:34] Well, actually, what you're doing when you're checking that checkbox is you're giving the website permission to then check your browser history. To then verify that you're a human. 

[00:08:47] Kyle Risi: They're looking for normal activity essentially from a human being.

[00:08:51] Adam Cox: Yeah, I didn't realize that's what was actually happening. I thought it was just a checkbox. 

[00:08:55] Kyle Risi: It's, yeah, you're completely spot on it's the action of you clicking [00:09:00] That checkbox. Yes, they also check your cookie data and all that metadata in the background But it's the action as well of you dragging your mouse up to that checkbox because if it was a machine doing it would travel in the precisest line up and then around. So that's how they can also tell.

[00:09:17] Adam Cox: weird, But also, um, sometimes it doesn't always work, because you can obviously check that box and just say that you're not, or you are a

[00:09:25] Kyle Risi: a human. 

[00:09:27] Adam Cox: and then you still get shown a bunch of pictures that you have to then like, just decipher or whatever it is. And apparently that's where the AI or whatever it is within this tool, then looks at your history and goes, something's not quite right. And so it runs those check those images and stuff

[00:09:43] Kyle Risi: like that. Oh, right. So is this it just trying to buy some time? 

[00:09:47] Yeah, Keep you occupied. 

[00:09:48] I think 

[00:09:49] Adam Cox: just to try to double check to get some of your history doesn't look quite legitimate. Let me just have a look at some of, you know, now you've got to prove it by telling me what's a cat. Um, so yeah, I was just [00:10:00] really shocked about that.

[00:10:00] So, and I don't think anyone really knows that that's what you're doing when you're giving it permission. You know, are you giving it permission to check your history? 

[00:10:07] Kyle Risi: I guess it's going through Google, right? So it's going through Chrome. So it's a plugin that you would buy access to. They're just using Google's protocol, to get Google to verify that you're real.

[00:10:17] Adam Cox: yeah. I wonder if I can actually read exactly what you've looked at, but maybe it signals, I don't know, and it's anonymized. Yeah.because usually like personal data, it's, it's very, you know, there's a lot of security around that, but yeah, that just shocked me this week.

[00:10:29] Kyle Risi: but also with you checking how many cycles or how many motorcycles or crosswalks or buses are in those images, that is training data for image recognition. They're getting humans to verify some difficult images to then train an AI so there's also use for that as well.

[00:10:48]

[00:10:48] Adam Cox: like, we're like monkeys.

[00:10:50] Kyle Risi: huh. technically.

[00:10:52] Adam Cox: Yeah. so yeah, strange, very weird.

[00:10:55] Kyle Risi: Interesting. So my, all the latest things for this week is that, did [00:11:00] you know that you can get kicked off of a flight for refusing to help passengers in an emergency?

[00:11:05] Adam Cox: What happens if you're in the emergency at that point in time?

[00:11:09] Kyle Risi: And you just go, this, every man for

[00:11:11] Adam Cox: And they're like, well, can you get off?

[00:11:12] I'm like, well, aren't we all getting off?

[00:11:14] Kyle Risi: Well, let me explain. So you know when we always buy tickets on a flight, right? The number one thing that you value the most when flying economy is what? Exactly, and to get that extra legroom, what are the seats that you normally 

[00:11:29] go for?

[00:11:29] So sometimes you can get them at the front or you can get them in that sort of emergency exit aisle that I think that's usually where the two sort of

[00:11:38] Kyle Risi: aisle, but I think that's kind of the usual way to choose your places. And if you refuse, you could be moved to another seat, or worse, 

[00:11:54] Adam Cox: escorted

[00:11:55] Kyle Risi: off the plane and arrested. And that Yes.

[00:11:58] Adam Cox: So I know when you [00:12:00] sit in that seat, the steward will come up and she'll say Hey, this is an emergency exit. don't put any bags in front. Um, and do you mind, helping if we're going to give,

[00:12:08] Kyle Risi: Exactly! 

[00:12:08] Adam Cox: But you get kicked off if you say no?

[00:12:10] Kyle Risi: Well, so it turns out, if you're sitting in that row, it means that you are expected to assist with opening the door in the case of an emergency. You're required to communicate well with cabin crew.

[00:12:21] So when they ask you, would you be willing to do all these things? You have to give a verbal yes. And that yes is an indication that you are of sound understanding and that you can communicate well. And the idea is that you're expected to also listen and watch the entire safety briefing without any distraction not allowed to have your headphones in or anything like that in that particular row because you are required To assist in the case of an emergency And the cabin crew like I said, well, they all approach you and they'll ask you if you agree And they have to hear this verbal.

[00:12:51] Yes from you. So this woman boarded a flight to Houston and when she got on she was asked if she would agree to the responsibilities of the exit [00:13:00] row and she just flat out refused saying oh no i'm not gonna save anybody if something happens i'm gonna save myself and she basically just refused to give the cabin crew that verbal yes and as a result they kicked off the plane after they tried and failed to move her to another seat,

[00:13:15] Adam Cox: Oh,

[00:13:16] Kyle Risi: yeah, so this entire exchange was caught on TikTok by another passenger and even after she said eventually that she was kidding, the cabin crew said this is far too late and the pilot even got involved, the airport security was called, she was then escorted off the plane and then arrested.

[00:13:33] Adam Cox: just because she refused to move to a different seat as well.

[00:13:36] Kyle Risi: I mean she was a bit sassy. But yes she did, she did, she refused. And the thing is though that If you are sitting in their seat and you don't know about this agreement and they ask you and you say no They can just kick you off the plane and even after they explain it to you. Like oh, by the way, it's your responsibility to do this It sounds like she disagreed and then they explained it to her then she agreed [00:14:00] and they were like it's too late You need to really, you need to get off.

[00:14:03] Adam Cox: were there no other seats, or she just refused to sit? Because I

[00:14:05] Kyle Risi: she, she refused to move to another seat because she valued the leg room

[00:14:09] Adam Cox: Ah, right, so yeah, because I guess there was nowhere else for her perhaps to sit, if that was a full fly, and so therefore, well, you have no choice but to Get off them.

[00:14:17] Kyle Risi: Yeah. 

[00:14:18]

[00:14:18] Adam Cox: I know that people under the age of 18 can't sit in or 16 can't sit in

[00:14:23] Kyle Risi: Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'cause I guess you are required to help out in the case of an emergency.

[00:14:28] Adam Cox: but I didn't realize you get kicked off

[00:14:30] Kyle Risi: That's what happened to this woman and Yeah. Isn't that crazy? 

[00:14:34] Wow.

[00:14:35] Adam Cox: Yeah, it's quite a big responsibility if, like, if you did go down, you've got to, try and help people off the plane.

[00:14:41] Kyle Risi: But also the thing is though, in that moment you'll be like, yeah sure I'll help people.

[00:14:45] But when a plane is going through an emergency. Yeah. You might act completely different.

[00:14:50] Adam Cox: I'd be like, just let me out of here. Get me out,

[00:14:53] Kyle Risi: me out, get me out. So yeah, that's all my latest things for this week. But before we. kick off. I [00:15:00] just wanted to quickly mention that last week we got a request from one of our certified freaks, a person called MiniHendu, miniHendu, 

[00:15:10] and I just want to issue a correction.

[00:15:11] It's not MiniHendu, it's MiniHendo, so I just need to correct that. I guess, how do you spell Hendoo when you go into Hendoo? 

[00:15:21]

[00:15:21] Adam Cox: H E N D O Yeah. But that's two separate words.

[00:15:26] Kyle Risi: Exactly, so this, because this was one word I guess I just mispronounced So sorry, sorry

[00:15:32] Adam Cox: you write in 

[00:15:33] Kyle Risi: No, but I heard on the grapevine that she's very angry

[00:15:35] Adam Cox: Oh.

[00:15:36] Kyle Risi: And you don't want to mess with her, she's the teacher So, like, you don't want to mess with

[00:15:39] Adam Cox: will tell you off.

[00:15:40] Kyle Risi: you'll get detention,

[00:15:41] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:15:42] Kyle Risi: So, yeah, that's all the latest things for this week

[00:15:44] so Adam,

[00:15:48] to set the scene, let's rewind to the very genesis of this iconic 

[00:15:52] Adam Cox: group. 

[00:15:53] Kyle Risi: The Village People weren't your average band organically coming together. They were manufactured and they were the [00:16:00] brainchild of Jack S. Morali and Henry Belolo.

[00:16:03] and Morelli were Moroccan born French guys who got into the music industry through their own grit and determination.

[00:16:10] Belolo was the brains, the producer type, while Morali, he was also a producer, but more of the hands on creative type. And so, when these two finally came together, Sparks flew even before the village people became a thing. They met in the early 1970s when Belolo decided that he wanted to do something completely different from what he was currently doing.

[00:16:31] Which was predominantly working in jazz and classical music. And so after being influenced by various friends in the American music scene and visiting clubs in and around Philadelphia, he experienced what they called the Philly sound. And it was this that inspired him to start dabbling in American music. 

[00:16:48] Now, Philly sound is characterized by its smooth and lush arrangements featuring kind of orchestral instruments, like strings and horns combined with kind of soulful vocals.

[00:16:58] So it wasn't [00:17:00] really a million miles away from the music that he was already accustomed to, but it was still different enough and fresh enough for him to be intrigued by 

[00:17:07] Adam Cox: it. 

[00:17:07] Kyle Risi: So following this in 1973 back in France, Belolo decided that he was going to set up his own record company, and he was going to call this Can't Stop Productions, and his goal was to eventually return back to America when he was confident that he had settled on his big idea that would help him break into the American music scene.

[00:17:28] But this idea wouldn't come for another two years after a young composer named Jacques Murali walked into his office offering his services as a producer slash composer. Murali was enthusiastic and always dreamt about going to America but Belolo told him that if he could go away and come back with an idea to break into the American market then he would take Murali to 

[00:17:52] Adam Cox: America.

[00:17:53] Nice. Um, you said, uh, Jarkes?

[00:17:57] Kyle Risi: How, so, 

[00:17:58] ooh, um. [00:18:00] J A C Q U E 

[00:18:02] Adam Cox: E S.

[00:18:02] I'm pretty 

[00:18:02] sure that's just 

[00:18:03] Kyle Risi: Jack.

[00:18:03] Oh, okay! 

[00:18:04] Adam Cox: he's probably French, right?

[00:18:08] Kyle Risi: Yeah! 

[00:18:10] Adam Cox: Because I thought you were saying, like, Jackass

[00:18:12] or 

[00:18:12] something. 

[00:18:12] Jackass! 

[00:18:12] Kyle Risi: Okay, 

[00:18:14]

[00:18:14] Adam Cox: so it's 

[00:18:14] Jack. Thanks, 

[00:18:15] Kyle Risi: thanks Adam. 

[00:18:15] Adam Cox: You can

[00:18:16] say it with like a slight French inflection, if you

[00:18:18] want. I think Jack 

[00:18:19] Kyle Risi: to

[00:18:19] be fine. 

[00:18:20] Yeah. So initially Skepsko, Morali goes off and a short while later he comes back to Bololo's office with his big idea and he suggests that they take the song Brazil from the 1930s musical sung by Carmen Miranda and re record it for the discotheques. 

[00:18:37] Now, it's important to point out at this point That when Morali pitched this idea, disco wasn't even a thing yet. It didn't really exist as a genre. So the idea to remaster the song within this kind of radical new sound was really out there. And it meant that if they could pull this off, it would be really pioneering. [00:19:00] In fact, it would be one of the very first disco songs ever.

[00:19:04] Adam Cox: So when did disco get popular then? So this is like 1975, is 

[00:19:08] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so this is 1973. 1975, this all kind of kicks off. And yeah, so in that era, like mid 70s.

[00:19:16] Adam Cox: That's when it kind of comes around.

[00:19:17] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so it might have still been flavours of it, really super inspired by other things like the Philly sound and things like that. It would have been underground, disco was born from the kind of the, the ballrooms and the Latin american 

[00:19:31] Adam Cox: and Studio 64 or is it, is it 64?

[00:19:34] Uh, 54 I think it is.. Yeah, 54. They played there. 

[00:19:38] Kyle Risi: So off they went and they updated the song Brazil from the movie of the same name, sung by Carmen Miranda. By the way, if you don't know who Carmen is, Carmen Miranda was a Portuguese born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress who became this iconic iconic figure in the 1940s and the 1950s. And you'll probably remember her, from her flamboyant and colorful kind of Mardi [00:20:00] Gras outfits with ruffles and satin fabrics. And they often reference her on RuPaul's Drag Race. Particularly, she was known for her iconic fruit hats dressed with bananas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits. If you see an image of her, you'll know straight away. 

[00:20:15] Adam Cox: I feel like, although maybe I've just seen too many drag queens in like fruit hats, but I feel like I know you're talking about. 

[00:20:21] Kyle Risi: The thing is though, Adam, if you see a drag queen with a fruit hat, it's going to be inspired by carmen miranda. Yeah. Yeah. Probably. And others like

[00:20:29] And so they updated the song with a female trio called The Richie Family, and they turned it into one of the early disco classics, even before disco officially existed. And in doing so, they laid the early foundations for for disco.

[00:20:44] Adam Cox: So if it's not called disco yet, what is it called?

[00:20:47] Kyle Risi: It's not called anything yet. . It's a new sound. Yeah, like this new, weird, disco y, I don't know, sound, 

[00:20:55] and so the song is a hit, and it was even nominated for the 1976 [00:21:00] Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

[00:21:02] Although they didn't win, that title actually went to The Hustle. But this catapulted the two of them to a whole new level, and it brings disco out from the underground and pushes it into into the mainstream. 

[00:21:14] So it's incredible to think how silly and fun we remember the village people being when we were growing up, that we completely under appreciate how seriously pioneering they were as a result of their founders helping to define an entire genre of music.

[00:21:31] It's pretty special and it gives me a new appreciation for the band. 

[00:21:35] Following this Can't Stop Productions was taking off and as a way to continue to stay relevant they were actively looking for their next big thing. So in 1977 Belolo and Morali were hanging out in Greenwich Village in New York. If you don't know this is a super gay friendly community in lower Manhattan and an iconic place for gay men living in New York at the time. 

[00:21:57] Adam Cox: We did go, they've got a rainbow road. [00:22:00] Yeah, yeah. Pretty sure they had a gay ice 

[00:22:02] Kyle Risi: gay ice cream as well. 

[00:22:05] So it's worth mentioning that Morali was gay, but Belolo was not, but either way, they were out in the village and they noticed that many of the men in the clubs were dressed as these exaggerated stereotypes of these macho American men that they had seen so many times before on American TV shows and movies throughout their entire lives growing up. And so, after some back and forth, this inspired them to create a group that represented these different characters of the American male stereotype.

[00:22:32] Adam Cox: Hang on, are you saying they're going out in New York, and they're in a bar or whatever, and they're just looking around, and like casually, there's a builder, and then there's a cowboy, and there's a policeman, and there's a Native American?

[00:22:46] Kyle Risi: Yes, exactly that. In particular, Morali and Bololo took huge inspiration from one specific guy that they kept seeing on the scene, and his name was Felipe Rose, who would often be seen dressed as a Native American. And he , he [00:23:00] actually was Native American, so it wasn't just a costume that he was wearing. 

[00:23:03] So his father was, I'm going to butcher these names, but he was Mascalero Apache, Lakato, and Cherokee, and so he was often seen out in the clubs wearing his traditional dress.

[00:23:16] And the pair also frequented bars like the Mineshaft, which was a pretty intense BDSM gay club in the village at Albuquerque. 8 3 5 Washington Street where they often saw other men dress in various outfits like leather chaps and straps and other various fetish wear. And so all of this helps them to solidify the entire concept of the village people.

[00:23:34] Adam Cox: It's That's bizarre that they're using BDSM as inspiration here.

[00:23:40] Kyle Risi:  but this is the attire of the gay kind kind of underground, 

[00:23:44] Adam Cox: I guess so, but it's so weird to think that they think, oh this is the image, this is what's going to catch on and be like, popular for everyone. 

[00:23:52] Kyle Risi: To them It was a celebration of these aspects of the american male culture at the time something that an american producer [00:24:00] Did not see as an opportunity So it's interesting that it takes an outsider's perspective to give birth to something that is so quintessentially quintessentially american and that is how the village people came to be. 

[00:24:12] So Morali and Bololo introduce themselves to Felipe. That's the 

[00:24:16] Adam Cox: native American 

[00:24:17] Kyle Risi: guy that they see around the village and they get to know him quite well. Now, Felipe, he was kicked out of his house after coming out as gay. So he was working in the various bars that they would hang out in. 

[00:24:26] And so the story goes that Morali starts writing these songs that are directly inspired by Felipe. And at this point, Can't Stop Productions is heavily working with the Ricci family who recorded the cover of Brazil as the disco anthem.

[00:24:41] And they're putting together a new album for the girls and they need some new backup singers Now someone mentions a demo tape from a young african american guy called victor willis Who was currently working on the broadway production of the wiz which of course is the retelling of the wonderful wizard of oz And they think that he might be a great [00:25:00] backup singer.

[00:25:01] So morali reviews victor's demo tape and he says this guy is far too good to be a backup singer He's literally a star. So in 1977, they get Victor Willis into the studio and they sign him to sing on their first disco hit and it's called San Francisco. You got me. 

[00:25:20] And in the video. You see Victor Willis as the lead singer on the record with a bunch of backing singers and dancers all dressed in various stereotypes of macho men.

[00:25:29] But they are not the village people. They are just like studio backup singers and dancers. And amongst the backup singers is a Native American, a cowboy, a leather guy and a construction worker but they're just like actors or extras if you will.

[00:25:43] And the album is called village people and it includes four songs san francisco village people fire island and hollywood everybody's a star and of course san francisco you got me becomes a huge international hit and they are getting [00:26:00] all this interest from different music publications and tv shows

[00:26:04] Adam Cox: So the main singer, doesn't, there's not even a band at this stage then. just these extras that are on, on the front cover.

[00:26:11] Kyle Risi: that's it. Victor Willis is the only member Right. the leash people. They didn't exist. Everyone else was just studio studio artists.

[00:26:19] Adam Cox: And then reading those sort of soundtrack titles, it does sound quite, 

[00:26:24] I guess, you know, Gay. Gay. It does sound gay. Yeah. San 

[00:26:27] Kyle Risi: Francisco, you've got me. Yeah, exactly.

[00:26:30] In particular one of the organizations that's interested in them is American Bandstand They reach out. American Bandstand is like the UK equivalent of Top of the pops at time.

[00:26:39] But technically there is no Village People. It was just Victor Willis. So they can't just send one guy. And so it's at this point that Morali is like, Hmm, I'm going to need me an actual lineup of village people. And so he starts looking for other people to add to the group alongside Victor Willis.

[00:26:58] And the first person that they [00:27:00] recruit is Felipe Rose to join Victor in their lineup. And it's a fitting addition considering that Felipe Rose was unknowingly the entire inspiration behind the village people concept. So it's fascinating that they brought their muse into into the group.

[00:27:16] Adam Cox: So can he even sing or is he just in the background about stepping

[00:27:20] He can sing and he can dance. he is a mover. Interestingly, if you look at the cover of the Village People's debut album, you won't find any of the original line up members. Not even Victor Willis. It's simply just a group of guys in various casual attire, including plaid shirts and a police hat.

[00:27:36] One guy is sporting an American headdress at the back. But that was there, Because Felipe Rose was the direct inspiration for this and when they were visualizing their concept They were like we want an native American in there, but it took them a while for them to realize Well, actually get Felipe Rose in there. No way.

[00:27:55] Kyle Risi: So The iconic village people lineup as we know it today hadn't yet [00:28:00] been assembled. They had the concept But the pieces hadn't kind of fallen together yet. 

[00:28:05] So next they decide that they're going to put an ad in the paper. And I think it was like the village voice and they were looking for gay men, singers and dancers with mustaches to come and audition for the band.

[00:28:18] And they were really explicit about what they were looking for in the ad. You needed to know how to sing. But above all, you needed to be hot and you needed to have a mustache.

[00:28:29] Adam Cox: Why would you need a mustache? Oh, okay. Well, it's just, that's so funny. What happens if you're like a guy who sometimes they can't grow a mustache, 

[00:28:37] but he could be an, he could be an amazing singer, a

[00:28:40] Kyle Risi: Gotta have the whole package.

[00:28:42] Adam Cox: What happens if he has a little glue on mustache? And they're just like hanging off and flapping around.

[00:28:46] In the middle of 

[00:28:46] a set. It's oh no!

[00:28:49] Kyle Risi: Everyone's like, everyone's enjoying it and then it falls off and everyone's 

[00:28:51] Adam Cox: like,

[00:28:51] Ahhhh! The whole

[00:28:53] Kyle Risi: The whole audience just calms down and 

[00:28:55] Adam Cox: like 

[00:28:55] silenced. 

[00:28:55] Kyle Risi: he's 

[00:28:56] just standing there. He's a phony.

[00:28:58] Adam Cox: a 

[00:28:58] phony! So [00:29:00]

[00:29:00] Kyle Risi: So they receive thousands of replies.

[00:29:02] One of the first applicants was a guy called Glenn Hughes Who ended up being selected as the biker and at the time he was working at the brooklyn battery tunnel Just collecting tolls and he sees the ad which said they were seeking singers and dancers Very good looking with mustaches and all of his friends were like this sounds like you and they start pushing him to apply. 

[00:29:22] And so he does, and Glenn Hughes becomes the Village People leatherman. Which really wasn't a stretch for him because he was already really into leather at the time anyway, so basically it would have just been just just a regular day for him. 

[00:29:34] Adam Cox: You just like wake up in leather, goes to up 

[00:29:38] Exactly.

[00:29:39] So the second one to join was Alex Briley, who was actually recommended by Victor Willis. Now, initially Alex was brought in as the athlete stereotype, but it was quickly realized that he would be better suited as a GI. But then later, he would then settle into being kind of a Navy sailor character.

[00:29:58] Kyle Risi: Another guy to apply for the ad was [00:30:00] David Hodo. Now he had just finished up in a musical about the Grand Old Opry and when he auditioned he initially was gunning for the cowboy role but again Morali and his team decided that he'd be better suited as the construction worker and the role of the cowboy ended up going to a guY called Randy Jones.so this meant that the original lineup was Victor Willis as the cop by the way, Felipe Rose, Glenn Hughes, Alex Briley, David Hodo and Randy Jones. And so, they had a team of very hot singing, dancing guys all with moustaches ready to hit the disco scene and completely blow it up.

[00:30:35] Adam Cox: So if you're like auditioning to be the cowboy, is there like a persona that you need to have in order to be the cowboy? Do you have to like use a lasso, ride a horse?

[00:30:46] Kyle Risi: I guess you just have to like have the cowboy swagger, right? The walk, the talk, the sneer. I don't know. 

[00:30:52] Adam Cox: But he's like, no, you're just a traffic cop or whatever, that's all you can do. You can't be a be a cowboy. 

[00:30:57] Kyle Risi: Yeah, you're not a cowboy material. Get [00:31:00] out 

[00:31:01] Adam Cox: Yeah, I don't remember them really like doing their jobs, if that makes sense, when they're dancing, I can't remember them, one dancing like a cowboy and one dancing a native man.

[00:31:09] Kyle Risi: No, they just all dance like gays. Yeah, gyrating and all Yeah, lots of gyrating. Yeah. 

[00:31:15] So I think this is a great time to take a quick break, and when we get back, I'm going to tell you about how they took off.

[00:31:21] Adam Cox: Cool. 

[00:31:25] Kyle Risi: So we're back. 

[00:31:26] Adam, the village people are now assembled. Village people assemble.

[00:31:30] Oh my god, it's like the Avengers!

[00:31:36] So they're assembled now. And the first thing they do was reach back out to American Bandstand who had previously said they wanted the village people to come and perform on the show. So in December 1977, they make their debut on American Bandstand and they perform San Francisco and Hollywood Everybody's a Star.

[00:31:54] And they are an instant hit and the thing that works for the band is the stereotype [00:32:00] characters of the all American male and the fact that they had this new and interesting sound that was disco.

[00:32:07] Adam Cox: Ah, okay.

[00:32:08] So soon after this, Morali and Belolo start producing their second album, which was released in 1977, and this was titled, Macho Man. Of course, featuring the big single of the same name, Macho man. so YMCA was 

[00:32:21] Kyle Risi: not their first 

[00:32:22] Adam Cox: which, no, this is crazy.

[00:32:23] I haven't even heard the San Francisco song.

[00:32:26] Kyle Risi: Um, it's, it's not one of their most popular, but it's very classically disco. 

[00:32:30] Adam Cox: Okay. 

[00:32:30] Kyle Risi: So yeah, they released Macho Man and I still remember walking around the house singing this song, which is mad to me when I thought about it because the lyrics of the song were not the lyrics a parent would expect their five year old singing cavalierly while playing with their dinosaurs. 

[00:32:45] Adam Cox: Dinosaurs. So what are the lyrics?

[00:32:47] Kyle Risi: So I think we should read some out. And. See if people relate to my parents concerns,

[00:32:53] Are you going to sing it? 

[00:32:55] Adam Cox: Um, I mean, I wouldn't even know what tune I'm doing this to. 

[00:32:59] body. [00:33:00] Want to feel my body, baby? 

[00:33:05] Body. Ooh, body. Want to touch my body? 

[00:33:09] Body. It's so hot. My body. 

[00:33:12] Body. Love to pop my body. 

[00:33:14] Body, body. Coming through my body. 

[00:33:17] What the hell?

[00:33:18] Not a lyrical genius. 

[00:33:21] But yeah, you know, to the point. Uh.

[00:33:24] Every man wants to be a macho, macho man. 

[00:33:27] To have the kind of body always in demand. 

[00:33:30] Jogging in the mornings, go man go.

[00:33:32] Workouts in the health spa, 

[00:33:34] muscles grow. 

[00:33:36] You can best believe me, he's a macho man. 

[00:33:38] man You can tell a macho, he has a funky walk. 

[00:33:42] His western shirts and leather always look so boss. 

[00:33:45] Funky with his body, he's a king. 

[00:33:47] Kyle Risi: You've got a very great voice for for this.

[00:33:49] this 

[00:33:49] Adam Cox: Every man ought to be macho, macho man. 

[00:33:53] To live a life of freedom, 

[00:33:54] machos make a stand. 

[00:33:56] Have your own lifestyles and ideals. 

[00:33:58] Possess the strength of [00:34:00] confidence, that's the skill. 

[00:34:01] You can best believe that he's a macho man. 

[00:34:03] Um, yeah, it's interesting. It's very about, like, he's a man. He's doing man things. He's a macho man. There couldn't be a man. 

[00:34:11] And this song, while not controversial, is definitely controversial weird hearing your kids sing it. 

[00:34:16] Yeah, if you're singing to your mum that your body's so hot, ooh, your body, and that you love to pop your body to mum's house, she's like, I need to go home with dinner. dinner

[00:34:28] Although saying that I've just got a flashback to 

[00:34:31] Kyle Risi: um, See? Ah! used to sing in the back of your parents car, I'm 

[00:34:36] Adam Cox: horny. Is that what you were gonna say? Everyone will know the song. About, I'm horny. Horny, horny, horny. So horny. I'm horny tonight. What 

[00:34:46] Kyle Risi: What did your parents even think when you were singing that? 

[00:34:49] Adam Cox: They probably didn't know that I knew what it meant and I didn't know what it meant. did they Do they know what it meant? I don't know, they just thought, wow, he's a sexy kid. Oh god, they [00:35:00] actually 

[00:35:00] Who actually said that? Amazing. It's a little frisky for a four year 

[00:35:05] Kyle Risi: four year old. Yeah, maybe too frisky. Just throw him the thing is, 

[00:35:09] So the thing is though, the song is all about, as you can probably guess, all about body worship and working out, and also it's advocating for gay liberation and coming out.

[00:35:18] Now take the lyrics, like, have your own lifestyle and ideals, possess the strength of confidence. 

[00:35:25] What is so cool is that while the song starts out superficial and vain, it suddenly becomes a shout out for gay liberation. And it's the exact kind of language that spoke to gay men, which I think is really, really really smart.

[00:35:38] Yeah, because I think Stonewall riots were, they were like 1969 or I think something like that. Oh goodness, I think so, yeah.

[00:35:45] Adam Cox: so this is like eight or so years after that. So I guess maybe their attitudes were starting to change, but ever so slightly, 

[00:35:53] Kyle Risi: But still, this is really big because this kind of messaging in a mainstream song was a huge deal, especially [00:36:00] back then. It was a big no no for men to be openly gay, let alone performing on stage, singing about this stuff. So as a piece of gay history, it's important to recognize and remember that this in itself was pioneering.

[00:36:14] Adam Cox: Yeah, I'm still shocked that they even became this popular, considering what it was like to be gay at the the time. 

[00:36:22] Kyle Risi: Yeah, it's crazy. So following the success of Matcha Man, the group hit the road and they go on tour. And Josh, on the episode that I listened to points out that this in itself was really unusual because disco groups weren't really known for touring. Mostly disco was, as they put it, an anonymous type of music. Often you never really saw a picture of the artist behind your favorite song. But the village people, they started touring from the very start of their inception. So again, this is also something that's very different and very unique. What's nuts is that these tour dates weren't without protest or hate from fringe groups. Like people would often come to their gigs [00:37:00] just to verbally and sometimes physically abuse them. 

[00:37:03] It's the most idiotic thing and it highlights just how dumb bigots are because They were still paying 10 to get into the venue, so they were still supporting the band! band! Idiots!

[00:37:15] Adam Cox: That's, that's so stupid. But guess the thing is though, Ango took over them so much, or they hated them so much that they were willing to lose 10 

[00:37:24] Kyle Risi: in order to boycott them! That's the best thing that you can do, right? But thankfully, they were more celebrated than hated, thankfully. But Glenn Hughes, and just to show you how much they were loved, like, Glenn Hughes, who, as I said, he was the leather man, he talks about how he often had to fight women off after gigs because they just wanted to have sex with him, and his excuse was always, Yeah, I have a headache tonight.

[00:37:46] Adam Cox: Oh, so he wasn't gay?

[00:37:47] Kyle Risi: No, he was gay. 

[00:37:51] Adam Cox: I believed it. He had a had headache. Oh, he's get a headache. 

[00:37:55] Kyle Risi: They did play some also pretty impressive events as well. They played at Madison Square Gardens [00:38:00] in New York on the old site of Penn Station. They appeared at the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in 1978, they played at Studio 54, Disco Spectacular, the Alan Carr Extravaganza, and as I mentioned, like American Bandstand, they were literally massive.

[00:38:17] Now here's the phenomenal thing, Their peak only lasted 22 months, so less than two years. And even though they're still going today, their peak fame only lasted for that short amount of time. Uh, Uh, I mean they're getting on a bit, but all of them are pretty much still alive. Mmm.

[00:38:37] Adam Cox: Oh. We'll get on to that. This is brand new information.

[00:38:42] Kyle Risi: so to give you a sense of just how famous they were during that time both Madonna and Michael Jackson opened up for them while They were on tour. Of course, this was before they were both like hit their own peaks But remember Michael Jackson was already famous because he was part of of the Jackson 5 and he was a support act. And he [00:39:00] was, he opened for them when he was going solo.

[00:39:02] So this says quite a lot about just how famous they were in their heyday. Wow, I didn't realize they were that famous. Mate, they were massive. 

[00:39:09] So here's the very big question over the village people. And that is, were they actually a gay group? 

[00:39:15] The facts are that they didn't start out as a gay group at all. And I think that maybe it was a case of rather than them finding their audience, their audience found them. 

[00:39:27] Adam Cox: So they didn't intentionally? No. But then all the style and inspiration, for their costumes and everything came from gay clubs and

[00:39:36] I mean, Morali was gay, and he was the brains behind it, but also don't forget that not everyone in the group was gay. Victor Willis, he was straight. In fact, he was actually married to Felicia Ayers Allen. She was actually the wife on the cosby show.

[00:39:51] Kyle Risi: Yeah. But when you look at some of the songs that they wrote, like titles, especially like Fire Island, San Francisco, Greenwich Village, Key West, they all have [00:40:00] some very clear gay themes.

[00:40:02] Adam Cox: And didn't you say they had like an ad that went out looking for a gay singer?

[00:40:06] Not necessarily gay, they just has to be hunky men with, they could sing and dance, but Randy Jones, he would often get really defensive with journalists who would ask, if they were a gay group, and he would often just reply really angrily saying, doesn't matter, like, we're not a gay group, we're a disco. group. 

[00:40:22] Kyle Risi: But over time, like I said, their audience, they found them. And so they leaned into what their audience wanted, and they essentially became a gay group. And I guess they just realized the impact that they could have as ambassadors for gayness, which is really powerful. And what a great responsibility to have.

[00:40:38] Adam Cox: Yeah.

[00:40:39] Kyle Risi: But the record does show that the group was divided over this question because David Hodo, the construction worker, said that the YMCA was actually written to celebrate gay men at the YMCA. Which leads us right into the Lions den. Should we talk about the YMCA?

[00:40:54] Adam Cox: Yes. Everyone knows the YMCA. That is their iconic stuff. 

[00:40:58] Kyle Risi: It is. Well, to you it [00:41:00] is. Macho Man's always gonna have a soft spot in my heart and also in the Navy. Don't forget about indy 

[00:41:04] Adam Cox: Yeah, I'm not saying that, but YMCA. you hear those beats. 

[00:41:08] Kyle Risi: It's the one that's played the most, right? 

[00:41:09] Adam Cox: Yeah, you know exactly what's coming when that happens. 

[00:41:11] Kyle Risi: So I think it's time to take a quick little break and when we get back, I'm gonna you all about it.

[00:41:15] Adam Cox: Cool.

[00:41:16] Kyle Risi: So Adam, we're back. 

[00:41:21] What do you remember about the YMCA? Other than, of course, the famous lyrics YMCA. Do you remember any other to the song? 

[00:41:29] Adam Cox: Yeah it's a place to get yourself clean where you can hang out with all the boys and yeah have a good time I think.

[00:41:37] Kyle Risi: What else you do you reckon? Have a good time yeah? there? 

[00:41:40] Adam Cox: Well they do suggest you can 

[00:41:42] Kyle Risi: Well, that's exactly it. So the inspiration for the song came from Randy Jones, that's the cowboy. And the story goes that when Randy first moved to New York in 1975, he joined the YMCA on West 23rd Street in manhattan. 

[00:41:56] After which, one day he invited Morali to come work out with him and some of his [00:42:00] buddies who are all gay porn stars. 

[00:42:02] Adam Cox: I don't know if this is a workout it was a workout this out. bouncing Wow. Wow. 

[00:42:08] Kyle Risi: And Morali was amazed that a place like the YMCA even existed, to him, it was kind of like this hidden kind of gay oasis, just existing in plain sight in one of the biggest cities in the world, and nobody seemed to bat an eyelid, especially in a world where being gay was still not widely accepted. 

[00:42:25] So this experience inspired Morali, along with Victor Willis, to write a song about it. And the whole idea behind the YMCA was that it was an ode to the gay experience at the YMCA. And the song, when you read the lyrics, comes with a really powerful reassuring message for other gay men. 

[00:42:45] Saying that if you ever feel down or out of place, there is hope and support there for you. And the YMCA is a place where you can get it, where you can find happiness, where you can find community. 

[00:42:56] And what I love is that the overarching message is that through the [00:43:00] YMCA, the world in turn can be a pretty amazing place too. And I can so resonate with that as well, especially when you're new and you live in a world where your entire community is ostracized, where you can go and you can find other community members. That's really powerful. powerful. 

[00:43:16] Adam Cox: Yeah. Have you ever yMCA? 

[00:43:18] Kyle Risi: No, we have one in norwich, don't we?

[00:43:19] Adam Cox: Yeah, I think most towns must have a YMCA or like a Salvation Army or something that. 

[00:43:25] Kyle Risi: Do you know what the YMCA stands

[00:43:27] Adam Cox: for? You? I think it's Young Man's Christian Association.

[00:43:33] Kyle Risi: Yeah. And what's brilliant is that the original music video is filmed in New York and it shows close ups of the original McBarney YMCA branch that inspired the entire song. And as for the infamous YMCA hand gestures, well, actually, before we do that, let me just see you pull the gestures real quick, because apparently a lot of people get it wrong.

[00:43:54] Adam Cox: Really? how can you get it wrong you're just making shapes

[00:43:58] Kyle Risi: So, let's go for it. So, [00:44:00] give me a why 

[00:44:01] Adam Cox: Well, I'm sticking my hands up in Y shape. And then the M, I'm bringing my elbows down and touching my head with, let's make it M.

[00:44:08] Kyle Risi: Mm hmm. Well, that's wrong. So you've done like little bear ears. It's actually across the chest. 

[00:44:15] Adam Cox: Oh, really? 

[00:44:15] Kyle Risi: Yeah, you bring your arms like you're holding them straight and then you just bring the hands down to form An M. So that's the m

[00:44:21] Adam Cox: I've never done that, 

[00:44:22] Kyle Risi: That that's that's from the village people itself. I've got a lesson from them on how to do it

[00:44:29] Adam Cox: Okay, so that's an M, and then a C goes out to make a C, but am I making you a C, or am making UAC? a C? 

[00:44:34] Kyle Risi: What way is your C going? Left Left or right? 

[00:44:37] Adam Cox: To the, the to the right. 

[00:44:38] Kyle Risi: It goes to the left. Yeah. YMCA and then the a? Um, just a little teepee. So that's it. So a lot of people actually get that wrong

[00:44:46] Adam Cox: I can't believe that. This is, this has been a a lesson. 

[00:44:49] Kyle Risi: but also. I had to look really closely at the video and I can confirm that the big YMCA hand gestures that are so synonymous with this anthem did not actually feature in that song [00:45:00] at all when it was first released. It's not in 

[00:45:01] Adam Cox: video? in the video. 

[00:45:02] Kyle Risi: Nope. 

[00:45:03] The only semblance of that gesture was maybe the Y which they would do during the opening bars of the song and then maybe a couple of times during some of the verses. It wasn't. really a Y at all it was just them walking out with their hands in the air that's what that was. 

[00:45:19] It was actually the fans in the audience who birthed the gestures and they were just some kids at American Bandstand and I guess they mistook them for walking out with their hands up in the air as spelling out the first letters of the YMCA with that Y and it just took off from there. 

[00:45:35] And the village people they then would see people doing this movement in the audience and they just thought to themselves Wow. This is stupid. 

[00:45:43] And then everyone in America started doing it. And then they were like, wow, this is so cool. 

[00:45:48] Adam Cox: So them thinking that's stupid whilst they're dressed as a cowboy. I'm just chaps with a with their butt cheeks out. [00:46:00] It's like, yeah, you lonely up there on your pedestal.

[00:46:05] Kyle Risi: So interestingly enough, the actual YMCA, they were initially quite upset about their brand being used without permission and associating them with kind of the gays, because remember like they're the Young Man's Christian Association, so they have an affiliation with the Christian groups. 

[00:46:19] But before it even got round to litigation, they just changed their mind, fearing the negative publicity that might arise from suing the British people for singing about how amazing the YMCA was. So they just just packed it in. 

[00:46:30] Adam Cox: Yeah, to be honest, I don't think I would have known about the YMCA if it wasn't yeah, exactly. Exactly. 

[00:46:38] They might not have been successful. That's great branding. Free well, wait till we get to in the navy. Okay. 

[00:46:45] Kyle Risi: But the thing is though, with the YMCA, even after all these years, it's still a cultural phenomenon. Like since the early 2000s, 2000s, it has been a tradition to play the song at all Yankee baseball games between the bottom and the top of the sixth [00:47:00] inning. While the ground crew, they will just come out and start cleaning the fields, right? 

[00:47:03] And then during the chorus, the ground crew then will just drop their tools or their rakes and stuff and then they'll just do the YMCA yMCA dance with their hands and when the song ends, they then just pick up their rakes again and they just go back to work. And apparently this is now commonplace in loads of stadiums around america.

[00:47:19] Adam Cox: That's way better. Like over here, the only time you see it is at like some wedding and like the aunties get up and and 

[00:47:25] Kyle Risi: And it's, you don't really even see it that often anymore. It's like it's been replaced by other things.

[00:47:30] Adam Cox: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, um, cha cha. Real yeah. And the Macarena used to be commonplace but now that's dying out isn't it? That's sad. 

[00:47:41] Kyle Risi: So macho Man and the YMCA, they were huge hits. But what other hits come to mind when you think about think about the Village People?

[00:47:48] Adam Cox: Well, we've already sort of spoken about In the Navy the Navy. 

[00:47:51] Kyle Risi: In. The. Navy. 

[00:47:53] Adam Cox: I feel like that's their second biggest song.

[00:47:55] Kyle Risi: Do you reckon? 

[00:47:56] Well, In The Navy was The Village People's last big hit, yeah, and [00:48:00] that was released in 1979 before that 22 month flame started to settle down. It didn't completely teeter out because, as I said before, The Village People are still around today.

[00:48:09] Although, not as obviously the original line up, which we'll get onto, but they are still around. And this record was on their third album, titled Cruisin And don't tell me they weren't a gay group,

[00:48:21] Adam Cox: I mean, everything everything that. I've seen and heard heard is literally Like like flaming homosexuals. Flaming homosexuals, exactly. Gay is a big old tangerine. 

[00:48:32] Yeah, um, the 

[00:48:36] Kyle Risi: What other things are really gay? Gay is a row of I guess there's campers, a row of tents. as a day is long. Gay as a day is long. long. Oh my god. So what do you remember about this record specifically? What thoughts spring to Mind?

[00:48:55] Adam Cox: They're talking about being in the Navy and sailing the seven [00:49:00] seas In the the Navy. Yeah. I don't know, something on your knees?

[00:49:04] Kyle Risi: On your knees. . Okay. That's the gay coming through I also love the song growing up and after listening to it again after all these years is obviously very campy, but it's impressive how they're able to bring that into a disco song, which is not really something that we ever saw from disco.

[00:49:21] Most disco songs were all about love and relationships, good times and celebrations, obviously dancing and the nightlife, but very few were. Ever this camp and according to a new music express article they were experts at balancing. What was deft and what was daft daft so here are some of my favorite lyrics. Do you want to read them out again?

[00:49:42] Adam Cox: Okay. 

[00:49:43] Where can you find pleasure? Oh dear. I mean, do I, can I read the rest of these out? 

[00:49:50] You can. 

[00:49:51] Search the world for treasure. 

[00:49:53] Learn science technology. 

[00:49:55] Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true? 

[00:49:58] On the land or on the [00:50:00] sea? 

[00:50:00] Where can you learn to fly, 

[00:50:02] play in the sports, and skin dive? 

[00:50:05] Study oceanography, 

[00:50:06] sign up for the big band, 

[00:50:08] or sit in the grandstand? 

[00:50:10] What? What are they talking about? If you sang it, then it would make a lot more sense. But these are, these are like, kind of things that you can do in the navy.

[00:50:18] Okay, fine. All right. I'll get to, I'll get to the chorus.

[00:50:20] Yeah. 

[00:50:21] When your team and others meet, 

[00:50:23] in the Navy. 

[00:50:24] Yes, you can sail the seven seas, 

[00:50:25] in the Navy. 

[00:50:27] Yes, you can put your your mind at ease. 

[00:50:29] In the Navy.

[00:50:30] Come on now, people, make a stand. 

[00:50:32] In the navy.

[00:50:34] Can't you see we need a hand? 

[00:50:37] Okay. Come on, protect the motherland. 

[00:50:39] Come and join your fellow man. Okay, is this like a recruiting type song for 

[00:50:43] Kyle Risi: for the navy? Yes! Exactly! Carry 

[00:50:47] Adam Cox: on.

[00:50:47] Oh.

[00:50:48] They want you, 

[00:50:49] they want you, 

[00:50:50] they want you as a new recruit.

[00:50:52] Exactly. There you go. You just you just so ended it perfectly. So did, did the Navy speak to the what, the village people to say 

[00:50:59] Kyle Risi: no? [00:51:00] no? they didn't. But you're absolutely right. You get the sense that In The Navy is a recruitment song. In fact, while it might not have originally been intended that way, it did eventually get endorsed by the Navy. There's a line at the end of the lyrics that you just read out about protecting the motherland. 

[00:51:15] And the story goes that after the song was released the navy liked it so much they wanted to use it to help recruit new seamen.

[00:51:22] So the navy reached out to the group and they offered them the opportunity to film their music video on the USS Reasoner with full participation of Navy seamen. 

[00:51:37] Adam Cox: I like, I managed to like, not laugh the first time you said that. 

[00:51:41] Kyle Risi: And yeah, so it supposedly worked out, because the number of new recruits increased after the song was released. But, the fact that you laughed when you read some of the lyrics, right? The thing is though, the Navy was interested because at the time, none of the lyrics seemed to have any obvious gay innuendo. Even though the song has since become [00:52:00] synonymous with those gay undertones.

[00:52:02] Adam Cox: Wait, so did, was the Navy gay before the village people or did it become gay the village people? think it was. anywhere you have men in close quarters working together with no woman, no girls allowed. They have the proverbial sign on the door that says no girls allowed.

[00:52:16] Mm-Hmm 

[00:52:17] Kyle Risi: So yeah, you're gonna have lots of gay men there. And it's a kind of way of getting away. Getting away from I dunno, just being alone with other men and it being okay and it being okay. 

[00:52:26] But the thing is though, like none of those lyrics are controversial when you read them, right? Like you put the meaning. on Hey, they said they wanted a helping hand. And they asked where they can find pleasure. They knew what It's 

[00:52:42] Adam Cox: doing. It's no, all you women, you can stay on land. All us boys, we're going off on a little 

[00:52:48] Kyle Risi: can stay Yes. covered on all the latest things

[00:52:53] where that wife was like, my husband goes away on these fishing trips and he never comes home with any fish. So one day she hid [00:53:00] his, like fishing rods or crossbow or something, maybe he was going hunting.

[00:53:03] And he left and he never texted to say, Oh, I don't have my fishing rod in the car. So she was like really suspicious. So the next time he went out, she put like a tracker in his car. She tracks him all the way to a hotel, gets to the hotel, sees in the car park, her friends, car in the car park. 

[00:53:20] And she's like oh my god my husband's having an affair she goes up to the car she sees the wife sitting in the car no husband and she knocks on the door and she's like what the hell are you doing here you're having an affair with my husband and she's like no no i followed him here because i thought he was having an affair and they're like oh. 

[00:53:36] They go up to the receptionist they force the front desk , to give them the key to their room, they go up to the room, they swing the door open, and in that room is 11 guys from their neighborhood all having a massive gay orgy.

[00:53:48] Adam Cox: I do I do remember that. That is just wild.

[00:53:53] Kyle Risi: mental! 

[00:53:54] Adam Cox: Do you you know what the wives should have done though? They should have just asked each other, Does [00:54:00] your husband have a Village people album?

[00:54:02] Yeah! And then they're going, yes. And I'm like, mine too. Shit. 

[00:54:05] Kyle Risi: in trouble. It's like Chandler, but to be fair Chandler had loads of like Annie cDs. And he and he wasn't gay.

[00:54:14] Adam Cox: Wasn't he? 

[00:54:14] Kyle Risi: me! 

[00:54:15] Adam Cox: mean,

[00:54:16] Monica's 

[00:54:17] Kyle Risi: believed he did. Probably because of the CDs. She found a Village People album in his 

[00:54:22] Adam Cox: album collection.

[00:54:23] And he loved, Legally Blonde. Or was 

[00:54:25] Kyle Risi: it 

[00:54:25] Village People? 

[00:54:25] Adam Cox: No, Miss Congeniality. Miss Congeniality. that's it. There's 

[00:54:28] Kyle Risi: things he loved. Anyway. So yeah, after the 1976 release of In The Navy, this was their last big hit. 

[00:54:36] Adam Cox: Was it because disco was dying out? Or was it because people went, hang on a second, this is actually really gay. 

[00:54:42] Kyle Risi: A little bit from column little bit from that column. that but they did keep going though. They even released a movie called Can't Stop The Music. And Adam, based on the trailer, I can't even bear to watch it again. It is terrible. 

[00:54:58] Adam Cox: the trailer you can't even watch again? [00:55:00]

[00:55:00] Kyle Risi: my God. It's awful. Go and watch the trailer. We'll link to it in the show notes. It was released in 1980 and it was supposed to be an Americanized musical comedy about Jack Morali. In the film they call Jack Morali. So I should have put those two together. 

[00:55:16] And it's about the village people's origin but the film was a critical and commercial failure even today is considered one of the biggest box office bombs of all time. And I read that it had a budget of 20 million, but they're only only grossed two. 

[00:55:31] Adam Cox: Wow. That is a 

[00:55:33] Kyle Risi: that is major flop. It was so bad. That this film directly inspired the razzies.

[00:55:42] Adam Cox: No way! 

[00:55:42] Kyle Risi: Or to be precise, the Golden Raspberry Awards for the worst films. But as with other really disastrous Movies can't stop the music has since become a really major cult classic 

[00:55:54] Adam Cox: I've I've never seen it. And I'm not sure I want to see it it 

[00:55:59] Kyle Risi: But it's cool [00:56:00] that it inspired the razzies razzies 

[00:56:01] Adam Cox: So, not only did the village people give us yMCA, yMCA they also gave us the razzie.

[00:56:06] Kyle Risi: They gave us the razzie as Isn't that incredible? 

[00:56:09] Adam Cox: Yeah. That is a good fact. Next time you're at a social gathering, that is the fact you with, the one you lead with for sure.

[00:56:17] Kyle Risi: But the thing is though, even though the film was an absolute failure, the soundtrack actually performed better commercially even getting to like top 10 in some countries. 

[00:56:25] What is wild is that even though the film was a flop pretty much everywhere else, it was considered successful in Australia. Where it made kind of the small amount of money that it actually did.

[00:56:35] And that's just so interesting to me because this is the first time that we've seen something derived commercial success in Australia while flopping everywhere else. It's the same with Sixto Rodriguez, right? Where he had a bit of a following in South Africa, but also in Australia, but he flops everywhere else. 

[00:56:54] Maybe Australians appreciate something that the rest of the world don't. I'm starting to starting to think.

[00:56:59] Adam Cox: [00:57:00] Maybe.

[00:57:00] Kyle Risi: Maybe it's because everything kills them out there. And they appreciate something that's just not gonna kill you. It's shit, but it's not gonna kill

[00:57:07] Adam Cox: But isn't like Australia like 10 years behind things anyway? So it probably was like, Oh, this is really cool where the rest of the world's like, uh, no, we've done this this 

[00:57:15] Kyle Risi: Do you know what? I think that maybe at one point that was true, before like the internet and stuff, but I think like globalization and the advent of the internet has brought a lot of things up to date. Because growing up in South Africa, Uh, we would have very popular soap operas like days of our lives and bold and beautiful But they were like literally 15 years behind And fashion and things like that were always notoriously slow to get to south africa But then that could also be a symptom of apartheid. So, I don't know maybe some australians will need to will need to write in and tell us

[00:57:45] Adam Cox: Yeah, I mean this was the 80s, so they probably have been behind then. 

[00:57:49] Kyle Risi: possibly 

[00:57:50] so yeah, that's pretty much the end of their success as a huge band. So Victor Willis ends up leaving [00:58:00] in 1979 and sadly he spiraled downwards for a long time afterwards. He got involved with drugs and frequently found himself getting in trouble with the police for cocaine possession and illegal firearms and even at one point he was even on America's Most Wanted for jumping bail.

[00:58:15] So for those listeners that are in the UK it's kind of the equivalent of a UK a UK crime watch. 

[00:58:21] And so in Victor's place a guy called Ray Simpson stepped in as a lead singer of the group and he's been the lead for over 30 years now and he's still the lead today. And in that time they just continued to tour performing on cruise ships and various events and they still work incredibly incredibly hard sometimes doing up to 280 shows a year.

[00:58:44] Adam Cox: That's like almost one every day. 

[00:58:47] Kyle Risi: Yeah. 

[00:58:47] Isn't that crazy? So they'll normally be like residents on a cruise ship or something like that. So they'll be performing most nights. The important thing to note though is that when Victor Willis was leading the village people, he [00:59:00] wasn't just the singer. He wrote and produced some of their music and he was exceptionally talented.

[00:59:07] However, the financial reward just didn't match his contribution and he received less than two thousand dollars per album from Can't Stop Productions and as for his royalties, he just got a measly 1. 5 percent despite co writing some of their biggest hits. 

[00:59:24] Victor was clearly, clearly taken advantage of and the sad thing is that after 30 years he's been holding onto that grudge ever since, especially since the group continued on without him and continue to do really well and they continue to be kind of rewarded better than he was. So it's really, really sad. 

[00:59:44] So just to give you a sense of how long he held on to this grudge, in 2008, the village people finally received their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and you can watch the ceremony on YouTube, but what you won't see in that video is that [01:00:00] Victor was actually there in the crowd, and he was dressed in his cop uniform yelling and causing a disruption, but apparently all of that was cut out.

[01:00:08] Adam Cox: Oh poor guy.

[01:00:09] Kyle Risi: I feel awful for him. 

[01:00:11] But, eventually, Victor Willis took console productions to court, and amazingly, Adam, he won, and he didn't just win a little, he won big time. They were forced to increase his measly 1. 5 percent royalties to a whopping 50%, 50%.. 

[01:00:27] And it's unclear whether or not they had to back pay those royalties, but if they did, he would have been a billionaire overnight.

[01:00:33] Adam Cox: Wow. I mean, good for him for like, pursuing that and like, finally getting them to agree. But yeah.

[01:00:39] Kyle Risi: you say it's good because they were also forced to hand over full control of the village people and their entire intellectual property rights to Victor. And this is astonishing considering that he hadn't been involved in the group for almost years. years. So

[01:00:55] Adam Cox: So he's like the now? now 

[01:00:58] Kyle Risi: he owns it. He is village people. [01:01:00] He owns everything about the village people. Because remember, at the same time, Murali is now gone. Henry is now gone. They're both died, unfortunately. 

[01:01:09] The first thing that Victor does though, after gaining full control was to sack the entire lineup and bring a whole new set of performers in. And it's a tough break for those who had kept the village people going for almost close to 30 years.

[01:01:21] Right. So I feel really bad for them, but I also can't help to wonder whether or not the reason why they got sacked is because maybe they played a part in messing Victor around when he was at his was at his lowest? yeah. That's the only thing that makes sense to me. 

[01:01:35] Adam Cox: But then equally, maybe he sees, bringing in newer, men, so to speak, can keep the band going and keep interest, whereas it's Do you know what? Possibly. You could be right there. You want like young, attractive moustache men. You don't want aging middle aged men being the village people, I guess.

[01:01:54] But then at the same time, these were the guys that had propped up the village people in Victor's [01:02:00] absence for all these years. True, but they're not going to be able to perform YMCA whilst having a walking stick.

[01:02:05] Kyle Risi: but at the same time, when I think about the village people, I don't want to be seeing stand ins or different kind of band members. I want to see the original.

[01:02:12] Imagine take that, for example. Alright, them going, no we're going to keep Take That but we're just going to get rid of

[01:02:18] Adam Cox: Yeah, but they didn't write the songs. They're just, performing, you 

[01:02:20] Kyle Risi: you know? No, I don't, it has to be the same people for me, it's just disappointing to

[01:02:25] Adam Cox: I see it a bit more like Chippendales. Just, a rotating cast. A 

[01:02:30] Kyle Risi: Possibly. possibly, I guess because the stronger part of their brand is the attractiveness, right? 

[01:02:35] But unfortunately in 2001, Glenn Hughes, that's the leather guy, he dies from lung cancer as I mentioned, uh, Henry Belolo and Jack Morali. They've also passed away since Morali died in 1991 due to AIDS and Belolo in 2019. And the rest of the group though is still active, they're still performing, they're still involved in music in one way or another.

[01:02:57] And they will for an entire [01:03:00] generation stand in as these symbols that birth this disco genre and help drive that gay liberation movement. And I just now have this huge appreciation for who the Village People were, not just these silly guys in these costumes but for what they stood for and how they were able to carve out being ambassadors for gay liberation, which I just think is so special.

[01:03:23] Adam Cox: Mm. Yeah, totally.

[01:03:25] Kyle Risi: And that is the story of the village people. 

[01:03:28] Adam Cox: Do you know what? I didn't really necessarily associate them as disco, to be honest. I don't know why. They don't, it doesn't like, I think of Diana Ross things like that. I just don't think of them as disco. 

[01:03:38] Kyle Risi: I think when you listen to the opening bars of some of their songs, you'll be like, that's disco. Yeah. 

[01:03:44] Duh, duh, duh.

[01:03:49] That's so disco!

[01:03:51] Adam Cox: Yeah, fair, fair enough. 

[01:03:52] Kyle Risi: Yeah, have a little listen, get your groove on, be brilliant. 

[01:03:56] Here's something that I think you'll find a bit morbid but also very interesting. [01:04:00] So alex briley our sailor So he actually lost his brother in 9 In 2001 his brother is thought to be that falling man that famous falling man that you see In that iconic footage,

[01:04:14] Adam Cox: No

[01:04:15] Kyle Risi: isn't that crazy? So when you go onto wikipedia and you look at the famous falling man there'll be like some speculation about who he might be and it's very very much thought that it's uh, it could be him, Alex's brother.

[01:04:26] Adam Cox: Hmm. Has he ever said anything on that? 

[01:04:28] Kyle Risi: Uh, no, as far as I'm aware, I don't know if he said anything, but according to wikipedia, his brother was working, I believe as like a sound engineer, I think. in the towers he suffered really badly from asthma, so he must have been overcome by smoke and more than anyone he needed to just get that fresh air and maybe the only option was for him to just jump, I I guess.

[01:04:49] So that is the Village People. If you like this episode and you want to hear more from our back catalogue, then we've got a couple other episodes that you might find interesting.

[01:04:58] Adam Cox: of my favourite ones that you [01:05:00] did was on Sixto Rodriguez, uh, yeah, the man who inspired a revolution. So he was the guy, um, who inspired, a lot of the people in South Africa during apartheid, but he was pretty much unknown in the s that's it. Yeah. That's one of my favorite episodes. Cause that was dedicated to my mate, Candace, who actually inspired this entire podcast.

[01:05:21] Yeah. 

[01:05:22] Kyle Risi: We also have Dolly Parton, the legend behind the rhinestones. I don't think you were on that episode, were you? That was episode 33. We had a standing lizzie I was on holiday. on sabbatical. But yeah, we dive into her life and her career and we explore her contributions to country music and her influence on popular culture.

[01:05:40] So if you're into kind of music, kind of inspired episodes, then those are a couple of recommendations you should check out. 

[01:05:49] Adam Cox: Oh, what? What was that sound?

[01:05:51] Well, that tiny little bell means that someone's at the door. So a couple weeks ago some of you noticed a new link at the bottom of our show notes to [01:06:00] send in a message to the show and since then we've received some brilliant messages from some of our freaks so we figured we'd start reading a few of them as part of our listener mail at the end of every episode. 

[01:06:12] So this one's from Priya from Leeds. She says, Kyle, your accents are the worst, but in the best way. The Maria Antoinette episode had me hooked. I was laughing from start to finish. Thanks for making my daily walks so much more interesting.

[01:06:27] I do really try hard on the accents. 

[01:06:30] They're they're terrible.

[01:06:32] So Hannah from Dublin says Listening to the Companion Podcast has become a ritual for me and my daughter every Tuesday. It's become our way of bonding. It always has. Is the highlight of our week. Thanks Anna.

[01:06:44] Lucas says, I absolutely love the show. The way you guys delve into these stories is amazing fun. I also agree with that, lucas. It's like, I'm right in the room with you guys. Adam, your questions are exactly what I'm thinking. Keep it up. 

[01:06:58] Well, I am, [01:07:00] I am the the people's voice. you are apparently Yes. Go check him out go check him out on instagram

[01:07:04] Kyle Risi: We've got a message here from Emma, so she says the Miracle of the Andes episode was so moving and heartbreaking, you did a great job keeping it respectful, by far this was far better than the Netflix show, keep those stories coming, Emma.

[01:07:18] Thanks Emma, and I agree it was better than the Netflix show Society of the Snow,

[01:07:24] wow, that is, that is some praise. That is some praise.

[01:07:28] Uh, Megan from Houston says, For the love of God, can we just get rid of all the latest things and get straight to the episode? The main story is what I tune in for every week. Well, Megan,

[01:07:39] Well, Megan,

[01:07:40] Next. Well, do you know what? She might have a point. But, I get it. Because we get so many brand new listeners that have never listened to the compendium before, so they might come in expecting to listen to a story all about the, obviously the topic title, but they have to kind of sit through like 15 minutes of all the latest things.

[01:07:57] So I get it. But if it helps, if [01:08:00] you're not a fan of all the latest things, we've got chapter markers. In the show notes just click onto that and you can just skip all of that and get straight to the topic of the week But if you do, you'll miss out on people smuggling things Yeah, that's true, but people should still give a adam 

[01:08:16] I've got one here from oh denmark So hey guys just wanted to say how much I appreciate the podcast it gets me through the tough work days And always puts me in a better mood best regards from denmark. Nikolai Henriksen, thanks, nikolaj.

[01:08:30] I've got one here from Oliver. He says, Kyle and Adam, your podcast is my new favorite. I just got done listening to the episode on DB Cooper and it was mind blowing. There is no way he survived that jump. The mix of true crime and historical mysteries is 

[01:08:47] just perfect. He definitely got eaten up in that engine didn't he? Sucked in, spat out. Well, or is he out there? He could there Kyle. Well, I mean, where's the money man? Yeah, fair point.

[01:08:58] Hi Compendium team, the [01:09:00] NHS episode was enlightening and surprisingly interesting. My grandfather was a doctor with the NHS in its early days and listening to that episode brought back some memories of some great stories he used to tell us, thanks Emma. 

[01:09:11] Adam Cox: And then my last one is from Sophia from Madrid. She says that she is a big fan and that the Cocaine Queen episode was intense. I never knew Griselda Blanco's story was so wild. Yes, that's one of my favourite ones 

[01:09:26] Kyle Risi: ones. Aw, Thanks, Avi. And then finally, we have Daphne from France. She says, I don't watch a lot of true crime, but I now understand why their motto is, don't talk to the cops ever without a lawyer. And this looks like it's in reference to the Amanda Knox episode. So thanks for that, Daphne. And thanks for going through our back catalog. I can see you being, uh. Been really busy the last couple of weeks. 

[01:09:48] And that's Listener Mail. Keep your messages coming in.

[01:09:52] You can write in by sending us a text via the link in the show notes, or you can reach out to us on Instagram or Patreon. We have a free tier [01:10:00] available so you guys can come along and connect. 

[01:10:02] But yeah, I think, uh, that's it for this week. Shall shall we run the outro?

[01:10:07] Adam Cox: Let's do it.

[01:10:08] Kyle Risi: And so that's another episode of the companion podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please follow us on your favorite podcast app. It really helps us a lot. 

[01:10:17] We now release next week's episode seven days early on Patreon. It's completely free to access, so don't let that subscribe prompt fool you.

[01:10:25] If one episode just isn't enough and you're craving our entire backlog of unreleased episodes, consider subscribing to become a certified follower. Freak. 

[01:10:35] You'll get access to all of our backlog episodes, exclusive posts and what we're up to with sneak peeks on what we're working on next. We'd love you to come and join and have a chat.

[01:10:45] Remember we release new episodes every Tuesday and until then remember whether you're a macho man or just staying at the YMCA, yMCA always dance to the beat of your own disco. 

[01:10:57] Adam Cox: See you next time. 

[01:10:58] ya [01:11:00] [01:12:00]