YMMV / Village People

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• Applicability: According to the writer of "Y.M.C.A.", the inspiration for the song was actually about the YMCA being a popular and safe space for urban black youths to hang out. However, he knew his audience and liked Double Entendre, so he encouraged the "gay sex" interpretation as well as his intended one.
• Audience-Alienating Era: Renaissance, in which the band ditched their Camp Gay aesthetic in favor of New Wave Music attire. It didn't go over well with their fans and they eventually returned to what made them popular. Although the track "Food Fight" has its fans.
• Covered Up: Many people know the Pet Shop Boys version of "Go West" better than the original.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The song "Ready For The 80s", especially the line "The 80s promise ev'rything is just gonna be great" considering that disco became a Dead Horse Genre before The '80s even began.
  • Related to the above, a characteristically Camp Gay music act singing about how great the 80s would be. The decade started with an ultraconservative revolution in both America and Europe, which both coincided with and exacerbated the AIDS crisis, making the 80s a historically awful time for the LGBTQ+ community.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Can't Stop the Music has Caitlyn Jenner in a leading role in a piece of LGBT media three decades before she came out as trans.
• LGBT Fanbase: Well, duh. The band is notable in that they had a pretty big one while also appealing to straight audiences who missed a lot of the gay subtext in their music, which is a notable accomplishment considering that views of homosexuals at the time were much less tolerant than they would become decades later.
• Memetic Mutation
  • The "Y.M.C.A." dance. Technically an Ascended Meme, since the group didn't come up with it and only incorporated it into the act when they saw concertgoers do it.
  • If ever you call out "Hey!" to someone of a certain age, be prepared for them to respond with "Hey! Hey! Hey! Macho, macho man!"
  • Another "Y.M.C.A." meme that's popped up in the past several years is messing with the song's lyrics to do a variety of things, all set to the song's tune and rhythm.
• Misaimed Fandom: While the songs aren't critical of their subjects, the Homoerotic Subtext was missed on a lot of people at the time, leading to things like the Navy using "In the Navy" for advertising in an era when they probably wouldn't have if they understood what it was about. (The YMCA, on the other hand, used "Y.M.C.A." on their website long after everyone knew.) It also helps that songs like "Y.M.C.A." and "In The Navy" work fairly well out-of-context so both interpretations are correct in a way if you didn't know what to listen for. ^note "Join the Navy and serve your country, go on adventures, learn new trades and (subtext) meet a lot of hot sailors to bang."/"Join the YMCA! Cheap room and board and food if you're down and out, lots of exercise and (subtext) hookups with hot guys!"
• Narm Charm: Yes, their songs are often incredibly campy and absurd, but they're well-written, well-sung and overally just so gosh darn fun.
• Newer Than They Think: The group did not create the Y.M.C.A dance. The audience started doing that during their performances on their own, and they eventually adopted it.
• Signature Song: "Y.M.C.A." first, "Macho Man" second.

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