Village People were a novelty disco band of the late 1970s. The gay-themed group were as well known for their outrageous on-stage costumes (the members dressing up as a police officer, an American Indian chief, a construction worker, a soldier, a leatherman ( biker), and a cowboy) as for their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics. The gay innuendo present in these lyrics was apparently sufficiently subtle to be missed by some at the time.
The band was assembled (in 1977) and managed by two French musicians, Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo ( see picture), specifically to showcase and perform their disco music creations. Much like Frank Farian's Boney M or The Spice Girls, the group was manufactured. Despite the French song writers, the songs were all in English.
The band's name references a well-known gay area of New York City, Greenwich Village. Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo got the inspiration for creating an assembly of American man archetypes based on the gay men of The Village who frequently dressed in various fantasy ways.
The United States Navy considered using the Village People hit " In the Navy" in a recruiting advertising campaign on television and radio. They contacted Belolo, who decided to give the rights for free on the condition that the Navy help them shoot the music video. Less than a month later, Village People arrived at the San Diego Naval base. The Navy provided them with a war ship, several airplanes, and hundreds of Navy men. When the video started showing and the Navy started the planned ad campaign, some newspapers protested using taxpayer money to fund music videos (especially for a group considered by some to be "morally dubious"). The Navy quickly cancelled the campaign. The scandal tremendously boosted the popularity of the song.
