Macho Man (song)

"Macho Man" is the second single recorded by the American disco group Village People. It is the title song of the eponymous album (1978).[1][2]

"Macho Man"
French picture sleeve
Single by Village People
from the album Macho Man
B-side"Key West"
ReleasedJune 1978 (1978-06)
Recorded1978
StudioSigma Sound, New York City
GenreDisco
Length
  • 3:30 (7")
  • 5:21 (12")
LabelCasablanca Records
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jacques Morali
Village People singles chronology
"I Am What I Am"
(1978)		 "Macho Man"
(1978)		 "Y.M.C.A."
(1978)
Music video
"Macho Man" on YouTube

The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 on June 24, 1978[3] (when the album had already been charting since March[4]) before picking up more airplay that August. It became the Village People's first charting hit in the United States, peaking on the Hot 100 at number 25 on the week of September 2.[5][6][1]

Billboard Magazine described the song as a "spirited fast paced percussive track highlighted by multi -part harmonies and a rugged lead vocal."[7]

A medley with "I Am What I Am" and "Key West" reached number 4 on Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart.[6] On the survey of Chicago radio superstation WLS-AM, "Macho Man" spent two weeks at number 3.[8]

Background

Martin Aston writes, in his book Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache: A History of How Music Came Out, that Jacques Morali, already having a lead singer with Victor Willis, and after what he calls the "more comical than sexy: unrehearsed" promo video for the song "San Francisco (You've Got Me)", placed the advert "Macho types wanted: must dance and have a moustache" in the trade press.[9] Village People cowboy Randy Jones recalled, "The Monday after Thanksgiving (1977), we signed contracts and the Tuesday after, we were in studio recording "Macho Man," with Victor Willis' handwritten lyrics that were written in the morning with egg stains and coffee rings on it. Everything was happening that quickly."[10]

Music video

Aston writes that it was "back to the gym for 'Macho Man'" and that "[t]he aesthetic of Bob Mizer's Physique Pictorial was now all over national TV in a Village People music video."[9]

Personnel
  • Victor Willis – lead vocals
  • Jimmy Lee – lead guitar
  • Rodger Lee – rhythm guitar
  • Alfonso Carey – bass
  • Russell Dabney – drums
  • Peter Whitehead, Phil Kraus – percussion

Chart performance

A year after the song's release in 1978, it was performed by the Muppets on The Muppet Show in episode 5, with guest star Victor Borge, of their fourth season.[19] Also in 1979, Donald Duck released a parody, with the title "Macho Duck", on the Disney audio release Mickey Mouse Disco.[20] The song was featured in many movies, such as Addams Family Values, In & Out, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Later in 1994, in the episode "Homer Loves Flanders" of the animated sitcom The Simpsons, Homer Simpson sang this song as "Nacho Man",[21] and soon after, in 1995, the song was featured in an Old El Paso commercial, with lyrics changed to "Nacho, nacho, man".[22][23]

In the 1996 episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, titled Witch, Buffy performs the song's chorus while under a spell that leaves her throwing a fellow cheerleader across the gymnasium, the song foreshadows the event by satire.

The song is featured in the 1996 film The Nutty Professor,[24][25] and the race horse, Mucho Macho Man, who won the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic and was third in the 2011 Kentucky Derby, was named after the song.[26]

It was featured in the "lip-sync for your life" segment on season 9, episode 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race.

In 2020, the song was frequently used at rallies for US President Donald Trump. Originally, the band stated that Trump was entitled to use the song, provided it was not used in a way that suggested endorsement[27] however on June 5, Victor Willis issued a statement on Facebook saying that Trump would no longer be welcome to use the song if Trump followed through on his threat to set the military on Black Lives Matter protestors.[28] The song was used at the Trump rally in Warren, Michigan in September 2020.[29] On November 8, Alec Baldwin, in character as Trump, performed a ballad version of "Macho Man" on a Saturday Night Live skit in which Baldwin's Trump played the song as part of a concession speech for losing the 2020 presidential election, echoing SNL's first episode after the 2016 election, which opened with Kate McKinnon, as Hillary Clinton, performing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" while seated at a piano.[30]

References
  1. Brett Ermilio; Josh Levine (2014-11-04). Going Platinum: KISS, Donna Summer, and How Neil Bogart Built Casablanca Records. Lyons Press. pp. 156–. ISBN 978-1-4930-1627-3.
  2. Peter Shapiro (2015-06-23). Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 271–. ISBN 978-1-4668-9412-9.
  3. Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart - Billboard
  4. Top 200 Albums - Billboard
  5. Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart - Billboard
  6. "The Village People Awards". Allmusic. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
  7. "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard. April 29, 1978. p. 80. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  8. "wls102878". Oldiesloon.com. 1978-10-28. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  9. Aston, Martin (2016). Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache: A History of How Music Came Out. Hachette UK. p. 217. ISBN 9781472122452.
  10. E! True Hollywood Story, Village People, 2000
  11. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 329. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  13. "Villiage People - Macho Man (Song)". Charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  14. "Village People: Chart History: Hot 100: Macho Man". Billboard. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  15. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 430. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  16. "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  17. "Top Selling Singles of 1978 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1978-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  18. Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
  19. "The Muppet Show - Season 4 Episode 5". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  20. Bargreen, Melinda (October 2, 1994). "End Of Rap As We Know It? Disney May Bring It On". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  21. Cosoreson, Philip (April 8, 2017). "The Top 10 Songs from The Simpsons". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  22. Mattimore, Bryan W. (2012). Idea Stormers: How to Lead and Inspire Creative Breakthroughs (Book). John Wiley & Sons. p. 108. ISBN 9781118238707.
  23. Brody, Aaron L. (1999). John B. Lord (ed.). Developing New Food Products for a Changing Marketplace (Book). CRC Press. p. 47. ISBN 9781420049084.
  24. Witt, Doris (1999). Black Hunger: Food and the Politics of U.S. Identity (Book). Oxford University Press. p. 147. ISBN 9780195354980.
  25. Harvey, Beverly D. (2006). The Nutty Professor – From Julius Kelp To Sherman Klump: A Textual Analysis Of Science And Scientists In Two Popular Films (PDF) (Thesis). Florida Atlantic University. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  26. Rees, Jennie (November 8, 2013). "Breeders' Cup winner Mucho Macho Man returns home". Sports. USA Today. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  27. Duffy, Nick (25 February 2020). "The Village People are absolutely fine with Donald Trump using gay anthem Macho Man at rallies". PinkNews. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  28. Parsons, Vic (6 June 2020). "Village People star tells Donald Trump to stop playing their music at rallies in solidarity with Black Lives Matter". PinkNews. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  29. "Eyebrows Raised as 'Macho Man' Trump Uses Village People Gay Anthem at Rally". South China Morning Post. September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  30. Rahman, Khaleda (8 November 2020). "Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump Concedes With a Somber Rendition of 'Macho Man' on SNL". Newsweek. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
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