Now that you're paying attention, we've gathered here today to honor the 35th Anniversary of Macho Man by the Village People. Released on February 27, 1978, the album was not an immediate smash on the charts nor in the clubs but it slowly built up steam as the title track single began to catch on with mainstream music fans by the Donna Summer. Macho Man (the album) stayed on the Top 200 album chart for more than a year, eventually peaking at #24 and all five tracks from the album made the Disco Singles chart where they collectively peaked at #4 . This was a bit of a disappointment as all four tracks from the group's self-titled debut album the year before had topped the Disco Singles chart for seven consecutive weeks.
HERC first heard the album when his father HERC SR. brought home the 8-track tape version which was quite annoying to listen to due to 1) the extended length of the songs and the continuous disco flow and 2) the mechanical limitations of an 8-track cartridge which meant that virtually all songs had a KA-CHUNK! right in the middle, ruining the continuous mix. "Macho Man" seamlessly blended into "I Am What I Am" but then in the middle of that song KA-CHUNK! - the sound you heard while the tape head skipped to next track or program and the song continued. This happened with every song with exception of the last one "Key West". On the vinyl version of Macho Man, "Key West" was actually the first song on side two. The album was eventually released on compact disc in 1996 and only recently has it appeared on Spotify in special digital version that combines it with the first album.
Macho Man was also a hit internationally with every song from the album except "Sodom and Gomorrah" found as a single somewhere, usually in time-edited radio-friendly versions. A limited edition picture disc featuring the cover art photo was released here in the States helping spur album sales up over the Platinum mark while the titular single went Gold. Along with Casablanca label mate Donna Summer's Live and More as well as the Bee Gees contributions to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and Chic's monster-selling C'est Chic, Macho Man and the follow-up Crusin' just seven months later made 1978 the penultimate year in popular Disco music.
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