Macho Man (song)
{{Infobox song
| name = Macho Man
| image = Macho Man by Village People (US single, side A).png
| alt =
| caption = One of side-A labels of the US single
| type = single
| artist = Village People
| album = Macho Man
| B-side = Key West
| released = {{Start date|1978|06|24}}
| recorded = 1978
| studio = Sigma Sound, New York City
| genre = Disco
| length = * {{Duration|m=3|s=30}} (7")
- {{Duration|m=5|s=21}} (12")
| label = Casablanca
| writer = * Jacques Morali
- Henri Belolo
- Victor Willis
- Peter Whitehead
| producer = Jacques Morali
| prev_title = I Am What I Am
| prev_year = 1978
| next_title = Y.M.C.A.
| next_year = 1978
| misc = {{External music video|header=Audio|{{YouTube|_bLRaGo-Qwc|"Macho Man"}}}}
}}
"Macho Man" is a song by American disco group Village People, released as the second single and title song of their album Macho Man (1978).{{cite book|author1=Brett Ermilio|author2=Josh Levine|title=Going Platinum: KISS, Donna Summer, and How Neil Bogart Built Casablanca Records|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2K2DBQAAQBAJ&q=%22Macho+Man%22+%22Village+People%22&pg=PA156|date=2014-11-04|publisher=Lyons Press|isbn=978-1-4930-1627-3|pages=156–}}{{cite book|author=Peter Shapiro|title=Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hT86CQAAQBAJ&q=%22Macho+Man%22+%22Village+People%22&pg=PT271|date=2015-06-23|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-1-4668-9412-9|pages=271–}} The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 on June 24, 1978[http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1978-06-24 Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart - Billboard] (when the album had already been charting since March[http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200/1978-03-25 Top 200 Albums - Billboard]) 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.[http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1978-09-02 Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart - Billboard]{{cite web|title=The Village People Awards |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-village-people-mn0000808201/awards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307081854/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-village-people-mn0000808201/awards |archive-date=2016-03-07 |publisher=Allmusic |access-date=2016-12-28 |url-status=dead }}
A medley with "I Am What I Am" and "Key West" reached number four on the Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart. On the survey of Chicago radio superstation WLS-AM, "Macho Man" spent two weeks at number three.{{cite web|url=http://www.oldiesloon.com/il/wls102878.htm |title=wls102878 |website=Oldiesloon.com |date=1978-10-28 |access-date=2016-10-13}}
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.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ziXCgAAQBAJ&q=%22macho+man%22+video&pg=PT217 |title=Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache: A History of How Music Came Out |page=217 |first=Martin |last=Aston |year=2016 |publisher=Hachette UK |isbn=9781472122452}} 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."E! True Hollywood Story, Village People, 2000
Reception
Billboard described the song as a "spirited fast paced percussive track highlighted by multi -part harmonies and a rugged lead vocal."{{cite news|newspaper=Billboard|access-date=2020-07-10|title=Top Single Picks|page=80|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/70s/1978/Billboard%201978-04-29.pdf|date=April 29, 1978}} Cash Box said that "this funky number should be a dance floor hit" and praised the hook.{{cite news|title=CashBox Singles Reviews|date=April 29, 1978|page=28|newspaper=Cash Box|accessdate=2022-01-01|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1978/CB-1978-04-29.pdf}} Record World called it an "energetic dance-r&b tune" whose "vocal is good...with a touch of humor."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=April 29, 1978|accessdate=2023-02-15|title=Record World Single Picks|page=34|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/78/RW-1978-04-29.pdf}}
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." The band members are seen working out and dancing in a gym while performing the song. At the beginning, David Hodo is seen picking up his hard hat, but the others go on performing as if nothing happened.
Charts
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=Weekly charts=
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Certifications and sales
{{certification Table Top}}
{{certification Table Entry|title=Macho Man|artist=The Village People|type=single|region=Australia|award=Gold|relyear=1978|certyear=1979|certref={{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1979/CB-1979-01-20.pdf|title= Morali wins Aussie Awards|magazine=Cash Box|via=World Radio History|page=20|date= January 20, 1979|access-date= December 1, 2021}}}}
{{certification Table Entry|title=Macho Man|artist=The Village People|type=single|region=Canada|award=Platinum|relyear=1978|certyear=1979|access-date=December 28, 2021}}
{{certification Table Entry|title=Macho Man|artist=The Village People|type=single|region=United States|award=Gold|relyear=1978|certyear=1978|access-date=December 28, 2021}}
{{Certification Table Summary}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Latin America|type=single|artist=Village People|title=Macho Man|nocert=true|salesamount=2,000,000|salesref={{cite magazine|title= Latin American Disco Boom Opens Are To U.S. Artists |magazine=Cash Box |page= 40 |date= May 19, 1979 |access-date= August 30, 2022 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1979/CB-1979-05-19.pdf}}|relyear=1978}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}
Censorship
The song was banned in Saudi Arabia when it was part of a larger restriction on Western music and cultural influences during that time.{{Cite web |title=Saudi Arabia's 'Village People ban' |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/801363.stm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518104154/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/801363.stm |access-date=May 18, 2024 |website=BBC News |archive-date=May 18, 2024 }}
In popular culture
A year after the song's release in 1978, it was performed by the Muppet characters Link Hogthrob and the Great Gonzo on The Muppet Show in episode 5, with guest star Victor Borge, of their fourth season.{{Cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_muppet_show/s04/e03 |title=The Muppet Show - Season 4 Episode 5 |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=August 24, 2019}} Also in 1979, Donald Duck released a parody, with the title "Macho Duck", on the Disney audio release Mickey Mouse Disco.{{Cite web |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19941002/1933635/end-of-rap-as-we-know-it-disney-may-bring-it-on |title=End Of Rap As We Know It? Disney May Bring It On |first=Melinda |last=Bargreen |date=October 2, 1994 |publisher=The Seattle Times |access-date=August 24, 2019}} The song was featured in many movies, such as Addams Family Values, In & Out{{cite magazine|url=https://www.gq.com/story/in-and-out-is-worth-rewatching-for-this-one-scene|first=Jaya|last=Saxena|magazine=GQ|title=In & Out Is Worth Rewatching for This One Scene|date=8 August 2018|accessdate=18 February 2023}} and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.{{cite book |last1=Hagberg |first1=David |title=Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines |date=5 November 2013 |publisher=Tom Doherty Associates |isbn=978-1-4668-5644-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWj1AAAAQBAJ&dq=Terminator+3%3A+Rise+of+the+Machines+macho+man&pg=PT57 |access-date=22 October 2021 |language=en}}
Later in 1994, in the episode "Homer Loves Flanders" of the animated sitcom The Simpsons, Homer Simpson sang this song as "Nacho Man",{{cite web |url=https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/04/list-em-carefully-the-top-ten-songs-from-the-simpsons/2/ |title=The Top 10 Songs from The Simpsons |first=Philip |last=Cosoreson |website=Consequence of Sound |date=April 8, 2017 |access-date=August 24, 2019}} and soon after, in 1995, the song was featured in an Old El Paso commercial, with lyrics changed to "Nacho, nacho, man".{{Cite book |medium=Book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CehFltotUvwC&q=%22El+Paso%22+%22nacho+man%22&pg=PA47 |title=Developing New Food Products for a Changing Marketplace |first=Aaron L. |last=Brody |editor=John B. Lord |year=1999 |publisher=CRC Press |page=47 |isbn=9781420049084}} In that same year on Friends, in 'The One Where Ross Finds Out' the song plays during Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler's (Matthew Perry) exercising.{{cite book |last1=BJORKLUND |first1=DENNIS |title=Friends Fun Facts: 3000 Little-Known Facts About the Show |date=6 October 2021 |publisher=Praetorian Publishing |isbn=978-1-005-44381-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oKhGEAAAQBAJ&dq=The+One+Where+Ross+Finds+Out+friends+Macho+Man&pg=PT213 |access-date=22 October 2021 |language=en}}
In the 1997 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/27/tv/buffy-is-sweet-16-and-slaying-vampires.html|work=New York Times|title=Buffy Is Sweet, 16 and Slaying Vampires|accessdate=18 February 2023|first=Justine|last=Elias|date=1997}} The song is featured in the 1996 film The Nutty Professor{{Cite book |medium=Book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VSuArSmUcn8C&q=%22nutty+professor%22+%22macho+man%22&pg=PA147 |page=147 |title=Black Hunger: Food and the Politics of U.S. Identity |first=Doris |last=Witt |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780195354980}}{{Cite thesis |url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/harvey_beverly_d_200612_ma.pdf |title=The Nutty Professor – From Julius Kelp To Sherman Klump: A Textual Analysis Of Science And Scientists In Two Popular Films |first=Beverly D. |last=Harvey |date=2006 |publisher=Florida Atlantic University |access-date=August 24, 2019}} and the 2000 film Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. 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.{{Cite news |department=Sports |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sports/horseracing/2013/11/08/breeders-cup-winner-mucho-macho-man-gets-heros-welcome/3478249/ |title=Breeders' Cup winner Mucho Macho Man returns home |first=Jennie |last=Rees |date=November 8, 2013 |website=USA Today |access-date=August 24, 2019}} In 2017 the song was featured in the "lip-sync for your life" segment on the eleventh episode of the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race between contestants Alexis Michelle and Peppermint. Peppermint won the lip-sync and remained in the competition while Alexis Michelle was eliminated.{{cite web |last1=Henderson |first1=Eric |title=RuPaul's Drag Race Recap: Season 9, Episode 11, "Gayest Ball Ever" |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/rupauls-drag-race-recap-season-9-episode-11-gayest-ball-ever/ |website=Slant Magazine |date=3 June 2017 |access-date=7 May 2022}}
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.{{cite news|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/02/25/village-people-donald-trump-gay-anthem-macho-man-ymca-india/|title=The Village People are absolutely fine with Donald Trump using gay anthem Macho Man at rallies|last=Duffy|first=Nick|date=25 February 2020|work=PinkNews|access-date=12 June 2020}} However, Victor Willis said 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 in June of 2020.{{cite news|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/06/06/village-people-donald-trump-stop-playing-music-solidarity-black-lives-matter/
|title=Village People star tells Donald Trump to stop playing their music at rallies in solidarity with Black Lives Matter|last=Parsons|first=Vic|date=6 June 2020|work=PinkNews|access-date=12 June 2020}} The song was used at the Trump rally in Warren, Michigan in September 2020.{{cite news|title=Eyebrows Raised as 'Macho Man' Trump Uses Village People Gay Anthem at Rally|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3101734/eyebrows-raised-macho-man-trump-uses-village-people|access-date=September 24, 2020|work=South China Morning Post|date=September 16, 2020}} In the week after the 2020 election, Alec Baldwin, in character on Saturday Night Live as Trump delivering a concession speech, performed a ballad version of "Macho Man", echoing Kate McKinnon's parody of Hillary Clinton on the same program in 2016.{{cite news|url=https://www.newsweek.com/alec-baldwin-donald-trump-concedes-snl-1545825|title=Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump Concedes With a Somber Rendition of 'Macho Man' on SNL|last=Rahman|first=Khaleda|date=8 November 2020|work=Newsweek|access-date=9 November 2020}}
Trump resumed the use of the song at his 2024 campaign rallies; in response, the Village People's manager wrote a cease and desist letter to the Trump campaign.{{Cite web |last=Neukam |first=Stephen |date=2023-03-26 |title=Donald Trump: Village People 'send cease and desist letter to former US President' over use of Macho Man song |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3918877-trump-opens-campaign-rally-with-song-featuring-jan-6-defendants/ |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Village People}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macho Man (Song)}}
Category:Songs written by Jacques Morali
Category:Songs written by Henri Belolo
Category:Songs written by Victor Willis
Category:Casablanca Records singles