A People's History of the Village People

By Howard Zinn

In 1977, one year after the 200^th anniversary of America’s incomplete and hypocritical revolution to bring only a modicum of civil liberties to white male property owners, a French immigrant named Jacques Morali sought to manufacture a popular music act that could entertain a nation still reeling from its disastrous and illegal war with Vietnam.

Named for New York’s Bohemian Greenwich Village, the Village People used propulsive, non-agrarian rhythms and urban, post-industrial lyrics to gain a mass following. But it was the vocational make-up of its members that proved most memorable. The group showed a soft-rock-softened nation that the working classes would not be silenced.

Led by a policeman—perhaps the most recognizable of all civil servants—the group’s supporting members were a grand coalition of proletarian archetypes:

• The Construction Worker—likely a skilled tradesman and union member constantly fighting profit-mad capitalists for decent wages and basic workplace safety.
• The Cowboy—a migrant farm worker.
• The Soldier/Sailor—no doubt enlisted or drafted into service to fight the unjust wars of the privileged elite.
• The Leatherman/Biker—a latter-day Thoreau marching to the beat of a different drum machine and conscientiously using all parts of the cow.

And

• The Indigenous Person.

The group’s songs were accessible, used the language of the vernacular and were easy to skate to. “YMCA,” their biggest hit, is a celebration of collectivism at the local level. “Can’t Stop The Music” is a call to resistance. And “Macho Man” exhorts men to “live a life of freedom” and to “go man go” thus defining masculinity in terms of liberation.

Today, the Village People’s prominence has waned and its membership has changed since its founding over three decades ago. But it continues to give voice and hope to the exploited—and sexually fluid--masses at state fairs and local PBS affiliate pledge drives.