In the US, the YMCA began building single room occupancy (SRO) facilities in the 1880s to house people from rural areas who moved into cities to look for work. By the 1970s, … See more

Billboard stated that "Y.M.C.A." is "another example of [the Village People's] droll humor, playing off its gayness with hard hat themes." … See more

YMCA is also the name of a group dance with cheerleader Y-M-C-A choreography invented to fit the song. One of the phases involves moving … See more

VH1 placed "Y.M.C.A." at #7 on their list of "100 Greatest Dance Songs" in 2000, while Paste Magazine ranked the song #1 on their list of "The 60 Best Dancefloor Classics" in February 2017. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked it #139 in their list of "200 Greatest … See more

Lyrical content
Taken at face value, the song's lyrics extol the virtues of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). However, in the gay culture from which the image and music of the Village People came, the song was implicitly … See more

The accompanying music video for "Y.M.C.A.", filmed in New York City in July 1978, features the band singing the song and dancing all over the city. The location shown the most is the original site of YMCA, McBurney, 213 West 23rd Street. Other filming … See more

In 1979, Japanese singer Hideki Saijo covered the song for his compilation album Young Man/Hideki Flying Up as "Young Man (Y.M.C.A.)". In Japan, the cover topped on the Oricon chart for five consecutive weeks and became the seventh best … See more