Can’t Stop the Music is the movie that featured the YMCA music video, so I decided to watch it.  The movie is on Youtube.  It has an IMDB rating of 4.3.  It is bad, so I’m watching it in German to avoid the painful dialogue.  Even though it takes place in NYC, it is a fascinating depiction of the disco era. 

I notice so many things that were common then, but we don’t see now.  Like:

  • Valerie Perrine
  • Steve Guttenberg
  • Bruce Jenner
  • 10 speed bikes
  • roller skates
  • pay phones
  • Guys with a bunch of tech, but no computer
  • Giant home audio speakers
  • Dance clubs filled with White people
  • Dance clubs with no cocaine or Ecstasy
  • Three-piece suits
  • Arabs dressed like sheiks
  • High and tight gym shorts
  • Tube socks
  • Plaid sport coats

The movie is a fictionalized origin story for the Village People.  The 4.3 rating is about right.

The “Leatherman” does ride a chopper motorcycle, so maybe I was close with the Eric Von Ripper association.