Village People – Sex Over The Phone
#quotefromthe80s
Don't wanna be alone
you just pick up the phone
Sex over the phone
You know I like it
#SexOverThePhone #VillagePeople
At the beginning of February 1985 the charts saw the entry of the last success in the long career of a group that certainly contributed to write the history of pop and costume at the turn between the 70s and 80s: Village People.
I don’t think they need any introduction: we all remember them for three reasons, above all. The first reason is certainly the song that made them famous, Y.M.C.A., and the moves we still use to dance it. A hymn that, starting from the celebration of youth experiences within the Young Men’s Christian Association, connected them directly to their second characterization, that is, the homosexual connotation of the group. Moreover, their very name refers to Greenwich Village in New York, a place frequented by the homosexual community. And this characterization also led them to the third reason why the Village People were so well known and loved: their fabulous stage costumes, still connected to the gay imaginary. And so, we all learned about the policeman, the worker, the Indian, the cowboy, the soldier and the biker.
However, in 1981 there was a turning point. With the release of the album Renaissance the group had taken a direction much closer to the world of the new romantic, the trend of the moment. To give an idea, we are in the days of the release of Planet Earth by Duran Duran. This transformation of the group created by Jacques Morali was evident not only in the sounds, as in the beautiful 5 o ‘Clock In the Morning, but also in the look of the group, which had precisely abandoned the classic roles to turn through a more modern look.
The next two years, however, had not brought great successes, and so we arrive in 1985 at the release of the album and the song Sex Over The Phone. Village People seem to seek a more modern direction, but without denying their history, rather returning to a well-known image. And so the classic costumes are back, even if obviously revisited in a ’80s key. A new singer had also arrived, and the role of the policeman was now played by Ray Stephens who had taken over from Ray Simpson (who will be back in a couple of years anyway). In short, Village People had found a way to renew themselves but returning to their traditions.
The first song from the album was Sex Over The Phone, which told the phenomenon (certainly more widespread in America than in Europe, in those years) of phone calls with erotic content. The hotlines, in short.
There was some discussion about the real meaning of the song. Net of the actual story, which is certainly also ironic, there was the feeling of a more full-bodied message, of an invitation to practice sex without risk (paradoxically, even on the phone), and that this invitation was naturally conditioned by the spread of AIDS in homosexual circles. I don’t know if Village People really had these intentions, they certainly described the phenomenon of virtual sex (especially telephone sex) with humour and irony, for example when they describe the tension between the moment you provide your credit card number, and the moment when you hopefully wait to be called by voice on the phone, because in the end it is always a problem of loneliness.
Sex Over The Phone had moderate success, and marked the last big song by the Village People. Within a few years the news of the death from AIDS of all the members would also spread, but in response they restarted to do tours and concerts, and are still active. The stereotypes that made their fortune in the early years, perhaps in the long term, have probably conditioned the creativity of this great peculiar group.
Village People on Wikipedia
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