The Vietnam War was over and America seemed in the midst of a nationwide party. The self-proclaimed 'Me' generation was flocking to discotheques, recreational drug use was high, and sexual taboos were being shattered. When The Village People appeared on the music scene in the late 1970s, they struck a cultural nerve and fueled a craze that had the crew playing from Studio 54 to sold-out crowds at Madison Square Garden. Never before had gay sexuality been as up-front and in the face of American audiences. The Village People were featured on the cover of "Rolling Stone" and in "People" magazine, and spotlighted on Don Kirshner's "Rock Concert", the top music television show of the era.Even today - more than 30 years after the group's 45 Gold and Platinum albums first appeared - The Village People still have a large cult following and few adults could not at least hum the tunes to 'Y.M.C.A.' and 'Macho Man'. Randy Jones, the original cowboy in the band, takes us inside the time period, the discos, and the new musical style that was in many ways unprecedented in giving a voice to a previously closeted gay culture.
Assisted by Mark Bego, one of the most popular and prolific pop culture authors working today, Jones shows how the fast-lane rise, fall, and rebirth of this novel band paralleled activities across the last 40 years within the gay culture and gay rights movement. The work concludes with a 'gayography' - a listing of openly gay musicians and performers in the United States before and since The Village People - along with a discography and filmography.
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