I was just a kid when disco came and went, that flash-in-the-pan of excess and cocaine and polyester. For a long time disco, like Nickelback, was one of those things that you could profess to hate and no one would even bother to ask why – it was just accepted as a fact in much the same as gravity or partisan politics. Plenty of people were obviously way into it, though, as is evidenced by record sales of the top artists of the era. One of those groups, of course, was the Village People.

We seem to have reached a time when it’s become OK to occasionally do the YMCA at a sporting event or quietly sing along to “Macho Man” (or do so much more loudly when no one else is around). In fact, the hatred of disco seems to have faded, and while I’d hardly say anyone is nostalgic for it, the hits are more visible within mainstream culture than they have been in decades. The “Disco Sucks” and “Death To Disco” movements are now more a part of disco’s history then they are statements that anyone would accept on face value. Today if you said something like that, you’d either get a polite laugh or maybe a confused raised eyebrow. Plus as ever wedding DJ knows, the quickest way to get a bunch of middle aged (and older) white people onto a dance floor is to play some disco. The smiles will come out immediately and everyone will hit the floor, much to the embarrassment of their children.

The first three Village People albums came my way as part of a collection a couple of months back and this is the first time I’ve heard anything other than their mainstream hits. And I’ll tell you right now that the fours-song debut Village People (1977) is absolutely killer, basically a dance 12″. None of their hits are on this record, but in a way it may be their very best – not yet caught up in its own image and fame, a simple disco dance record intended to get bodies moving.

Life’s too short to expend any energy “hating” a type of music. Get dancing.