Group Reveals Origin Of 'Y.M.C.A.' Dance

[The Straight Story]

Group Reveals Origin Of 'Y.M.C.A.' Dance
Village People Members Say Dance Started On 'Bandstand'

NEW YORK -- Everyone from grandmas to little kids know how to do the dance to The Village People's hit "Y.M.C.A." -- but not everybody knows where it came from.

You can thank cheerleaders and "American Bandstand" for that, said Randy Jones and David Hodo of The Village People -- aka the Cowboy and the Construction Worker.

Jones told Spin magazine that The Village People appeared on "Bandstand" in 1979 and a bunch of kids from a cheerleading camp were in the audience.

When the group got to the chorus of "Y.M.C.A.," Jones said, the band clapped their hands over their heads -- but the kids thought it looked like a "Y."

http://www.local6.com/spotlight/16402570/detail.html

[Virginia Dare]

1. I will add that to my vast memory bank of useless information..

it's handy at cocktail parties..

[arcos]

17. LOL!! nt

[nichomachus]

33. May not be useless if you're ever on Jeopardy

[ThatsMyBarack]

2. Isn't this Lounge material?

Just asking. :shrug:

[The Straight Story]

3. If were about any other band yes, but village people and chuck norris are gd

:)

[uppityperson]

5. Chuck Norris doesn't have to spell YMCA when he dances..

YMCA spells Chuck Norris when it dances

[undeterred]

23. Not even up to Lounge standards.

[Captain Angry]

4. I love tidbits like that.

Geddy Lee's name is really Gary. But his grandmother pronounced it Geddy, so he went with it.

(For those who don't know, Geddy Lee is the lead singer for Rush.)

[Catch22Dem]

6. For those who don't know?

What kind of people would those be??? ;)

[Captain Angry]

9. Deprived people.

That's who. :-)

[Virginia Dare]

20. Anybody born after about 1975?...n/t

[Berry Cool]

7. A Canadian told me that about Geddy once.

And I remember that the "YMCA" thing started with American Bandstand. The bits and pieces of things I know...

What I do wonder about is two other things:

1. How a similar "hand motion spell out" thing began in Ohio for "Hang On Sloopy." I assume this started at Ohio State at some point while the band was playing the song, because they have played it for so many years (and it's now the state's "official rock song"), but I'm wondering when it became tradition for fans to sing "Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on O-H-I-O" while spelling out the letters (arms bent and hands pointing together overhead for the O's, arms straight out for the H, hands and arms pressed together overhead for the I). I'm also wondering when it became a tradition for this to be done at every single sporting event in the entire state. It wasn't a tradition when I was growing up, nor when I moved away in 1986, but by the time I returned in 2004, it was fully entrenched.

2. The REAL mystery, and an even older one: Who started the apparently universal tradition that every time "Mony Mony" is played, the crowd must chant...well, you know? I've been trying to Google that, and there seems to be no consensus as to where and when it started or who started it. All I know is, I was in nightclubs full of people doing it in the late '80s.

(I also remember that "The Rodeo Song" by Gary Lee and the Showdown was very popular at any college dance or at any club, and usually got played once a night, and that it was traditional to scream the chorus as loudly as possible, if not to sing along with the whole song, just because the lyrics were so refreshingly nasty.)

[Wizard777]

12. Rush has a band? It's bad enough he has a radio show!

:rofl: I'm just messin' with ya. I may be 76. But I know good music when I hear it.

[Nikki Stone1]

8. OK, but how did "Play That Funky Music, White Boy" become a wedding reception song?

Hah!

[Berry Cool]

10. If I knew that, I'd know why "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" made it too.

Nothing more romantic than a song about a crook who finally gets the crap beaten out of him when he tries to hit on another man's wife. Sure puts me in a cozy mood.

[MilesColtrane]

15. The same way "Brick House", "Brown-eyed Girl", and "We Are Family" became reception standards...

Satan

[mitchum]

22. I won't be happy until "Me And Mrs Jones" is a wedding reception standard

[dysfunctional press]

26. my wife and i had our first dance to "what's love got to do with it?" by tina turner...

i wanted it to be "hey joe" by jimi hendrix, but she wouldn't have any part of it- so we compromised with tina turner.

[Virginia Dare]

21. White people trying to dance, it fits...n/t

[bbernardini]

28. Easy to dance to, along with the others mentioned.

I've played all but "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" at wedding receptions.

[YOY]

32. I heard "Stagger Lee" once at a wedding

That amazed me.

[JackBeck]

11. What's even more funny

Is how clueless most people are over what the song's really about.

[libnnc]

13. tee hee

hetero people were so cute back then ;)

no clue at all :evilgrin:

[JackBeck]

14. I still giggle each time I see

the masses dance and sing along, whether at a baseball game or wedding reception.

:toast:

[MilesColtrane]

16. You haven't lived till you've seen an entire country bar full of pickup driving...

...gun rack owning Bubbas line dancing to it.

Irony is not dead.

[taterguy]

18. Some heteros like to exercise

Sure some of them are overweight but that's no reason to make such a gross generalization

[Javaman]

29. Living in Texas and having a side job of video taping weddings...

I'm always amused when I have the bemused pleasure of video taping right wing morons dancing to YMCA. Kind of makes the whole night for me worth it! LOL

[Holly_Hobby]

19. Wrong.

Jesus was first.

[crispini]

31. Ahahahahah! Awesome pic. nt

[xchrom]

24. recommend!

[AngryAmish]

25. If you don't recommend this you hate America

[Finn Polke]

27. I recommended this story

Sometimes, a story that you might think is Lounge material, isn't. And, The Straight Story obviously has the wisdom to know this. Bravo!

[crispini]

30. Hee

Hodo said that when he first saw the movements, he thought, "Wow, that is so stupid." Then when everyone in the United States was doing it, he thought, "Wow, that is so brilliant."

:rofl:

[tridim]

34. I'm just glad the Macarena finally died.

I can deal with the Village People, but not the macarena. If I hear it at a wedding I have to excuse myself.

[eppur_se_muova]

35. But it's FUN to make your cat do the Macarena!

(There must be video of this *somewhere* ...)