Chic--La Freak (1978)

     It's thought that I hate disco....and am not sure if it's just mellowing with age, or with reflection just realizing that just like any other trend in music, there are trendsetters, then everyone else. For every great band, there are a bunch of poseurs who do nothing but make a parody of things. How many attempted to follow the footsteps of Elvis, The Beatles, Dylan, Nirvana, etc....and just made us wish even more for the original?
     In my mind there are a handful of artists who made disco a quality genre, one of them being Chic. Guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards had been working together since 1970, but the group didn't begin to take form until 1977 with the addition of drummer Tony Thompson. Keyboard player Raymond Jones and singers Norma Jean Wright and Luci Martin rounded out the lineup.
     How La Freak was created is one of my favorite stories from the era....it sounds funnier coming from the writer himself....

     "La Freak" became a #1 hit and one of the most iconic songs from the disco era. They had two top ten hits in 1979 before getting caught in the undertow of anti-disco sentiment, and broke up a few years later. Nile Rodgers became one of the most important producers of 1980's music being involved with many of the top names of the era. Over 30 years after disco era on the charts was over, "La Freak" and "Good Times" became two of the sparkling singles of it's time.