The Village People: Classic or Dud?

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I've never been quite sure what the opinion is of them, whether they've had an abba style critical revival or are still regarded as horrendous cheese fit only to darken very dark corners. whatever, they're highly danceable and I like them. Do you?

― Bill, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Classic. The biggest-selling American disco group, I believe, and not so much a boy band as a man band, if you will. A best-of is a fine thing to have around the house, and Can't Stop the Music is simultaneously one of the worst and best films ever.

"Fame, fortune, platinum records! It's every boy's dream!"

"Anyone who can swallow two Sno-Balls and a Ding-Dong shouldn't have any problem with pride!"

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You want my honest opinion?

THEY ARE THE BEST BAND EVER.

That's all there is to it. I mean, who is better? Iggy Pop? The Beatles? No, they all suck next to the greatness that is the Leather Man. I mean, YMCA gets played at sporting events, total homophobes sing along with it like morons led to the slaughter, I'm all for that kind of subversion. Plus, Go West is the best song ever made.

― Ally, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What Ned and Ally said, of course. I don't know if they were the biggest disco act, but they were certainly the most subversive.

I saw them once at Limelight in the 80s. Unfortunately, it was a few years after their New Romantic makeover. Still, they were great. They were debuting their new single, the very timely at the time "Sex Over the Phone" You know I like it! You know I need it! What a show! And weren't they all straight except Felipe the Indian?

Sadly, Glenn Hughes the Leatherman, died a few months ago. He was buried in full leather regalia.

― Arthur, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

fuck the critical revival, as a four year old, apart from franknfurter, they were the only camp people I had to look up to in my life.

― Geoff, Tuesday, 21 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

As Glenn has been invoked, his introduction in Can't Stop has an absolutely brilliant moment:

GLENN (in full regalia): "I'm a toll collector."

SOME PERSON: "Do all toll collectors look like that?"

GLENN (just campily dismissive enough): "Just the hot ones."

RIP.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Complete Classic.

The Macarana back lash put that song and craze out of its misery while millions of people still try to spell out YMCA.

Without the Village People (or Frankie Goes To Hollywood) karoke would only be half as fun.

― zacko, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

karaoke is fun?????

― gareth, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How To Make Karoke Fun:

1) Get friends really drunk. I mean really pissblind drunk.

2) Convince them that they both a) know and b) can sing any of Immigrant Song, My Ding a Ling, New Orleans Is Sinking, Baby Got Back, Hell Bent For Leather or that annoying One Week song.

3) Get yourself slightly drunk to kill the pain of their singing.

The bar/night I used to go to had every REM single from Radio Free Europe through to E Bow The Letter and the occaisonal oddity like Folk Implosion or Camper Von Bethoven, but no Sloan, sigh.

― zacko, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am dying to go to the one that has Manics kareoke.

― Ally, Wednesday, 22 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

yes there is Manic (Street Preachers) and yes the football (American) high school kids who wish they football hooligans tend to flcok to that. It a Sonics karoeke song that impresed me.

― zacko, Thursday, 23 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

where is this kareoke bar, zacko?

― fritz, Friday, 24 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

five years pass...

http://a.abclocal.go.com/images/kgo/cms_exf_2005/news/amusement/entertainment/032407_victor_willis_275.jpg

Village People's Singing Police Officer Arrested
Mar. 25 - The man who once sang as the police officer in the Village People band was arrested again.

Victor "Macho Man" Willis was taken into custody Friday in University City.

A woman, who described herself as Willis' girlfriend, told police she had been choked and threatened with a knife.

Last year, when Willis was arrested in San Francisco for drug possession, he gave officers a fake name. They didn't know who he was until Willis was fingerprinted.

"Our officers recognized him," says San Diego police Sgt. Jim Schorr. "We knew we had the cop from Village People."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

― chaki, Monday, 26 March 2007 04:34 (nineteen years ago)

They'd have been better if one of them had been a Mountie. ("Hey, they have black hockey players now so why not?" - Billy Altman, CREEM, 1979)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:07 (nineteen years ago)

― john. a resident of chicago., Tuesday, 27 March 2007 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

woops.

― john. a resident of chicago., Tuesday, 27 March 2007 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

nine years pass...

Wow, this is a short thread. How strange for ILM.

― dlp9001, Thursday, 16 June 2016 15:22 (nine years ago)

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