Good Times

Half a century after their heyday, Chic remains a major act. The group has a following beyond the generation who danced to their music back in the day. Many of their fans today weren’t even born back then.

The 1979 hit “Good Times” is one of the most sampled songs in music history. Its distinctive bassline inspired not only Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.” It also formed the backing track for the Sugarhill Gang’s groundbreaking hip-hop song, “Rapper’s Delight” and many more. The latter was so similar to Chic’s original that, following a lawsuit, their founders Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers were awarded co-writing credits for it.

Another of the group’s top hits, “Le Freak,” is the subject of an unusual anecdote recounted by Nile Rodgers. One night, he and his musical partner Bernard were invited to the Studio 54 nightclub by Grace Jones. When they were mistakenly turned away at the door, they improvised a song to express their frustration. They used the doorman’s words, “f*** off,” as a refrain. To turn it into a number one hit, they changed the lyrics to the more radio-friendly “freak out!”

Building on their success with Chic, Edwards and Rodgers started producing albums for other artists. Their first collaboration was with Sister Sledge, resulting in their signature hit, “We Are Family.” When disco music declined in popularity, Chic disbanded. That was in 1983.

Nile Rodgers, however, continued working as a producer. His list of collaborations reads like a who’s who of pop music. It includes David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” as well as Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and Duran Duran’s “Notorious.” More recently still, he contributed the hit singles “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself to Dance” to Daft Punk’s album “Random Access Memories.”

In recent years, Chic’s live setlists have increasingly drawn on the repertoire that Rodgers produced for other artists. Well, no Chic live act today would be complete without a rendition of Sister Sledge’s “Thinking of You,” in memoriam of the group’s co-founder Bernard Edwards, who died unexpectedly after a concert in Tokyo in 1996.