Mark Robertson

Mark Robertson

Want to know more about Mark? Get their official bio, social pages & articles on 98.7 The River!Full Bio

 

BOY GEORGE'S CHARITY VERSION OF "YMCA"


Boy George has re-recorded a dramatically slowed down version of the Village People's 1978 Top Two smash, "Y.M.C.A." The Guardian Australia reported that George teamed up with YMCA Australia and re-imagined the song for the Why Not? campaign, "which aims to shine a light on issues that are important to Australian young people: marriage equality, mental health and youth unemployment."

The Culture Club frontman, who's in Australia serving as one of the hosts on their version of The Voice, shed light on his 2017 remake of "Y.M.C.A.", saying, "It’s the opposite of the original version. It needs to be, in order to work as a cover. Who’d want to be reinventing the Eiffel Tower in exactly the same way? I thought I would give it a give a jazzy tone -- but not too much Ethel Merman." He revealed that he went to his first dance club at the age of 11 and explained his connection to the "Y.M.C.A." and the era: "My coming of age was in the '70s. A lot of people look back on it as a grim decade but I look back on it as a liberating time. Ziggy Stardust, the Village People and punk rock really shaped who I am as a person and as a gay man."

  • Melinda Crole, CEO of YMCA in Australia explained: "We had a big conversation about how we can be a social movement for young people. One of the assets we had was the recognizable YMCA song. When you are introduced as working for the YMCA, you always got the arm movements."
  • She touched upon the camp and subversive gay connotations the song has had over the years and explained that a new meaning came to light in open discussions with youth groups: "It was a challenging conversation for us as leaders -- the baby boomers and Gen X. We have to let go -- it wasn’t about what we thought. It was about the young people."

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content