January 6, 1979: The Village People Introduce "Y.M.C.A."

Top: Felipe Rose.

Middle row, left to right: Randy Jones, David Hodo,

Glenn Hughes and Alex Briley.

Front: Victor Willis.

January 6, 1979: The ABC music show American Bandstand -- having long since left its five-days-a-week format and its Philadelphia studio for Saturdays only and Los Angeles -- has The Village People as guests. It includes the debut of the hand gestures from their song "Y.M.C.A."

The Village People, named after New York's Greenwich Village, were:

* Victor Willis, 27, from San Francisco, the lead singer, who dressed in a police uniform, except when they sang "In the Navy," when he wore the uniform of a U.S. Navy Admiral.

* Alex Briley, 31, from New York, who dressed as a soldier, and was called "The G.I.," except when they sang "In the Navy," when he wore the uniform of an old-time enlisted-man sailor.

* David Hodo, 31, from Sacramento, who dressed as a construction worker.

* Glenn Hughes, 28, from New York, who wore a leather suit, making him look like a member of a motorcycle gang.

* Randy Jones, 26, from Raleigh, North Carolina, who dressed as a cowboy. No relation to the star major league pitcher of the same name at that time.

* Felipe Rose, 24, from New York, who dressed as a Native American.

The song had been released as a single on October 17, 1978, a few hours before the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series. But, up until January 6, 1979, the song had only been heard, not seen. Although music videos were already a thing, no one thought to make a video of this song before the Bandstand appearance.

What is the song about? Funny you should ask. It sounds like a representative of the YMCA, the Young Men's Christian Association, is offering his organization's help to a young man who needs it. This did reflect real life, somewhat: The YMCA had run single room occupancy facilities to house people looking for work in cities. By the 1970s, most YMCA residents were homeless people and troubled youth.

Willis had said that he wrote the song as a reflection of the fun activities that urban black youth experienced at YMCAs, such as basketball and swimming. That's what he meant -- or said he meant -- by, "They have everything for young men to enjoy. You can hang out with all the boys."

Except the song was implicitly understood as celebrating YMCAs' reputation as popular sports for gay cruising and hookups, particularly for the younger men to whom it was addressed. The fact that disco music had already become a big part of gay culture didn't help the song's reputation. Homophobes had long accused gay people of preying on underage boys, and this song made that perception worse.

Furthermore, half the members of the Village people were gay not just in character, but in real life: Hughes, Jones and Rose. So was Jacques Morali, the French-Morrocan music producer who created the group and wrote most of their songs. Willis was not only straight, he was the 1st husband of actress Phylicia Rashad, before she divorced him and married football player-turned-sportscaster Ahmad Rashad.

I mentioned the Yankees. Starting in 1996, when they dragged the infield between the 5th and 6th innings, the Yankee Stadium groundskeeping crew came out with "Y.M.C.A." playing over the loudspeakers, and, when the song got to spelling it out, they dropped their various implements, faced home plate, and formed the letters with their arms, like the group. And the fans, many of them unaware of what the song was about, sang along.

Since the Yankees won the World Series again that year -- for the 1st time since literally the day the song was released, 18 years earlier -- the bit caught on, and, ever since, the grounds crew have done it, and the fans along with them. Everyone ignored the predatory aspect of it, and considered it good, clean fun.

But a more sinister side to it developed. The Bleachers at Yankee Stadium were, by this point, pretty much the only cheap seats left, so it was a blue-collar section. The "Bleacher Creatures" were mainly locals, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans from The Bronx, and Italian guys from over the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey. This meant that they were Catholics, and this often carries anti-gay prejudice.

So when they saw someone in the Bleachers wearing an opposing team's gear, they would wait for "Y.M.C.A." to be cued up, and then they would surround him. They wouldn't lay a finger on him, so he couldn't say he was harmed; but neither could he escape until the song was over and they dispersed. And the Creatures had their own lyrics for the song, implying that anybody who would wear an opposing team's cap or jersey into these Bleachers must also be gay. Instead of "Y.M.C.A.," it was "Why are you gay?" And the lyrics got really raunchy. In 2010, a full year after the move to the new Yankee Stadium, stadium security finally decided enough was enough, and began throwing fans doing it out of the Stadium.

Donald Trump also likes to "dance" along to the song at his political rallies. He doesn't have a clue as to what the song is about, either. (He doesn't have a clue about a lot of things.) One would think that, if he were going to dance to a Village People song, it would be "Macho Man" -- ignoring the gay subtext of that song as well. Or maybe "In the Navy," with its refrain of "We want you! We want you! We want you as a new recruit!" to gain recruits for his cause. This, of course, ignores the fact that Trump has called America's military men and veterans "losers" and "suckers."

He also seems to have forgotten the words

"No man does it all by himself.
I say, Young man, put your pride on the shelf."

In 1979, Saturday Night Live did a parody of disco: Garrett Morris was the Cop, John Belushi the Indian, Dan Aykroyd the Leatherman, Bill Murray the Construction Worker, his brother Brian Doyle-Murray the Sailor, and Don Novello (better known as Father Guido Sarducci) the Cowboy. Together, to parody Chuck Berry's 1956 hit "Roll Over Beethoven," which mocked the classical music of anti-rock parents, they sang, "Bend over, Chuck Berry, disco is here to stay!" And, since it was late on Saturday night, they got away with it.

But the tide was turning. On July 12, 1979, "Disco Demolition Night" was held at Comiskey Park in Chicago, and it turned into an anti-disco riot. A few days later, the Village People were being filmed for a disco-themed movie, when Willis left the group. He was replaced by one of the group's backup singers, Ray Simpson, brother of songwriting legend Valerie Simpson. The film was released in 1980, as Can't Stop the Music. Not only did it tank at the box office, it got some of the worst reviews in movie history.

To people born in the 21st Century, "Y.M.C.A." and its gestures must seem like something we made up years after the fact, to parody the Silly Seventies. Surely, like Elvis Presley with "Hound Dog," the Beatles with "She Loves You" and its chorus of "Yeah, yeah, yeah!", the Jefferson Airplane with "White Rabbit" symbolizing hippiedom and psychedelia, the Human League with "Don't You Want Me" symbolizing early 1980s synth-pop, and Nirvana with Kurt Cobain's indecipherable lyrics on "Smells Like Teen Spirit" symbolizing grunge, such things were made up after the fact, to stand in as symbols of the respective genres, and to make them look silly. But, no: In each case, these people, and these songs, actually existed at the time.

Group creator and producer Jacques Morali died of AIDS in 1991, at age 44. Glenn Hughes, the Leatherman, died of lung cancer in 2001, at 50. As of January 6, 2022, the other members are still alive.

UPDATE: Victor Willis died in 2026, just before what would have been his 75th birthday.

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January 6, 1979 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between rounds of the Playoffs. There were 8 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs, 108-105 at Madison Square Garden. Bob McAdoo scored 38 points for the Knicks, leading all scorers on the day.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 143-139 in overtime at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Bullets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 106-102 at The Omni in Atlanta.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Jazz, 105-94 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-112 in overtime at The Summit in Houston. (The arena is now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the San Diego Clippers, 104-93 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. (It's now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.)

* The Kansas City Kings beat the Indiana Pacers, 120-99 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat the Boston Celtics, 127-98 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

There were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Islanders beat the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-1 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-0 at the Montreal Forum.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota North Stars, 5-2 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-1 at the Checkerdome, as the St. Louis Arena was then known.

* And the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres and the Atlanta Flames were not scheduled.

There was 1 game in the World Hockey Association. With several teams having gone bankrupt, the league made deals with a team of Soviet All-Stars and the national team of Czechoslovakia to play 1 game each against each of the remaining WHA teams. On this day, the Czechs beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 4-1 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati.

And in English soccer, among the games played in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup, Arsenal, the North London team I would eventually come to support, went to Yorkshire, and played Sheffield Wednesday to a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.

They would have a replay at Highbury in North London on January 9, and this would also end 1-1. They played again on January 15, on neutral ground in Leicester in the Midlands, and it ended 2-2. They had a 3rd replay, on January 17, also at Leicester, and it ended 3-3. Finally, on January 22, also at Leicester, Arsenal won, 2-0. Yes, having 4 replays was unusual, even then. Now, if a 2nd replay ends level, extra time is held; if still, then penalty kicks.

Ever since, to the tune of "Pomp and Circumstance," Arsenal fans have sung, "We all follow The Arsenal, over land and sea -- and Leicester!" Arsenal went on to win the Cup.