Can't Stop the Music

By the summer of 1979, there were loud proclamations that disco was dead, with thousands turning up to a Disco Demolition Night protest, burning boogie-pressed vinyl and chanting “Disco Sucks”. The various kink-attired lads of the Village People did not get the memo, releasing their Y.M.C.A.-powered big screen adventure Can’t Stop The Music the very next year. We reckon they had the last laugh, with this denim hot pants and cropped T-shirt-sporting ripple of muscular male bodies musical – directed by Girl Crazy star Nancy Walker – the gloriously bonkers result. Sure, Valerie Perrine (Superman) and Steve Guttenberg (destined for Police Academy) hog the limelight a little as an aspiring heterosexual couple with their sights set on stardom who just so happen to hang out with the Go West heroes. But try as the studio bosses might, there’s no airbrushing out the camp fantabulousness.