Dec 14

Nile Rodgers

NILE RODGERS
 
 
Nile Rodgers  (born September 19, 1952) is an American record producer, songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, and guitarist.  He is the lead guitarist and co-founding member with Bernard Edwards of the band Chic, which has been active since 1976 and was one of the most successful groups of the disco era.  He is famed for his “chucking” rhythm guitar style.  Rodgers has found more success in collaboration as producer and performer with many artists including Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Philip Bailey, Thompson Twins, Sheena Easton, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Duran Duran, Madonna, INXS, Britney Spears, Spoons, and more recently, Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, Avicii, Disclosure, Sam Smith, Pitbull, Lady Gaga, Kylie Minogue, Max Pezzali, Nervo, Laura Mvula, Sigala, Keith Urban, and Christina Aguilera.  On April 7, 2017, Rodgers was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received an Award for Musical Excellence.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
The Blondie frontwoman comes up again in this story of the genesis of “Rapper’s Delight” that is taken from Wikipedia:  “In late 1978, Debbie Harry suggested that Chic’s Nile Rodgers join her and Chris Stein at a hip hop event, which at the time was a communal space taken over by teenagers with boombox stereos playing various pieces of music that performers would break dance to.  Rodgers experienced a hip hop event the first time himself at a high school in the Bronx.  On September 20, 1979, and September 21, 1979, Blondie and Chic were playing concerts with the Clash in New York at The Palladium.  When Chic started playing ‘Good Times’, rapper Fab 5 Freddy and the members of the Sugarhill Gang (‘Big Bank Hank’ Jackson, Mike Wright, and ‘Master Gee’ O’Brien), jumped up on stage and started freestyling with the band.
 
“A few weeks later Rodgers was on the dance floor of New York club Leviticus and heard the DJ play a song which opened with Bernard Edwards’s bass line from Chic’s ‘Good Times’.  Rodgers approached the DJ who said he was playing a record he had just bought that day in Harlem.  The song turned out to be an early version of ‘Rapper’s Delight’, which also included a scratched version of the song’s string section.  Rodgers and Edwards immediately threatened legal action over copyright, which resulted in a settlement and their being credited as co-writers.  Rodgers admitted that he was originally upset with the song, but later declared it to be ‘one of his favorite songs of all time’ and his favorite of all the tracks that sampled (or in this instance interpolated) Chic.  He also stated:  ‘As innovative and important as “Good Times” was, “Rapper’s Delight” was just as much, if not more so.’  ‘Rapper’s Delight’ is said to be the song that popularized rap music and put it into the mainstream.’”
 
(September 2016)
 
* * *
 
Since I am down to a quarterly schedule rather than a monthly schedule, my annual list is a lot shorter, so I will try listing all of the people that I have discussed in some depth rather than just the Under Appreciated Rock Band and the Story of the Month. They are all punk rock bands of one kind or another this year (2015-2016), and the most recent post includes my overview of the early rap/hip hop scene that an old friend, George Konstantinow challenged me to write – probably so long ago that he might have forgotten.
 
(Year 7 Review)
Last edited: March 22, 2021