When there’s a constantly growing suspicion of homosexuality within an 80’s pop group, the last thing that outfit wants to do is make an overly flamboyant song about phone sex. Right?
And if there ever was a band to do something along those lines, who do you honestly think it would be? No doubt should exist in anyone’s mind that The Village People would go above and beyond the call of duty to make something of similar or greater caliber. To sum up their career, think about a male’s overexertion during sex. Like the Energizer bunny, he keeps going and going and going but much to the dismay of the other participant (male or female), nothing seems to be getting done. “Sex Over the Phone” finally brings us to the end of The Village People’s career and, like an atomic bomb, kills anything that had survived “Macho Man”.
The video for “Sex Over the Phone” opens with what looks like a man getting ready for a date. After he finishes up, he hops onto a couch, picks up a phone and dials into a phone sex hotline. Cheesy chanting and panting kicks in and The Village People are shown dancing on a Tron-like dance floor.
Images of male sexual innuendo — of males panting into phones and undressing themselves getting ready for their big “dates” — are seen in almost every frame. The Village People dance with a phone in their right hand and make a masturbation gesture with their left, over and over again. Although entertaining in a very odd fashion, the euphoric 80’s cinematography, constant whispers, and the strange new dance move make for auditory and visual throw up.
It’s bad enough that the song and music video were made, but did their message really have to be drilled, beaten and battered into our heads? When looking for a good time, they seem to be saying, just call in to your favorite phone sex hotline! Who needs a woman/man to actually touch when one is only a few touch tones away? To be honest, it’s not even fully made apparent which sex The Village People are trying to have phone interactions with until the very end. Their sexual orientation, in the video, is left open and vulnerable for interpretation, similar to the group’s entire career.
And finally, it must be asked, who the fuck even paid to have this music video made, and who the hell tried to resurrect an almost extinct group? Obviously, the phone sex companies were getting desperate and needed a bit more “ooomph” behind their “back of the LA Weekly” advertisements. Who actually would have thought that The Village People would appeal to so many sick minded individuals?
