What killed Rock and Roll?
January 18th, 2007 by John MixonI suggested on last Friday’s program that Nile Rodgers killed Rock music. I’d like to qualify my remarks and shed a little light on Rodger’s musical history from session rock guitarist to Disco king.
While still in his teens, Rodgers was in New York recording sessions and a member of the Sesame Street Band. (Perhaps this is where he began to get confused?) He met a bassist named Bernard Edwards and they formed a ROCK band in 1970. They played successfully in NYC but found it difficult to get a recording contract partially because the label execs couldn’t accept a couple of black guys performing ROCK music.
After years of trying, they gave up on rock and in 1977 formed Chic with some fellow musicians. Chic had a string of Disco hits including Everybody Dance, Le Freak, Dance, Dance, Dance, I Want Your Love and a personal favorite of mine, Good Times (which was later sampled for use in the first crossover Rap music hit, Rappers Delight).
On top of the huge success of Chic, Rodgers and Edwards went on to produce and write for other artists, using CHIC to perform everything musically and vocally except lead vocals. Those productions with Norma Jean Wright, Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, Johnny Mathis(!) and Debbie Harry (of Blondie fame) among others on hits such as “Saturday”, “He’s The Greatest Dancer”, “We Are Family”, “Spacer”, “Upside Down”, “I’m Coming Out” and “Backfired” to name a few. Rodgers himself also produced many major hit records such as Sister Sledge’s We Are Family, Madonna’s Like A Virgin, two albums by Duran Duran, and various projects for Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Thompson Twins, Al Jarreau (including the theme to “Moonlighting”!), The B-52’s, David Bowie, David Lee Roth, and more recently Michael Bolton, Soul Decision, and MorrisonPoe. Believe me, this is a short list of the artists he has produced.
To be fair to Chic, while they are most often associated with Disco, the music is really more of a funky blend of R&B, Rock and Jazz stylings. They were really quite a breakthrough band which are amongst those credited with salvaging the music industry as the Rock era suffered it’s first real slump in sales and quality.
Nile Rodgers has been noted to have influenced some Rock legends such as Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Still scratching my head over this.
The introduction of heavy string support on Chic’s debut album and the over-produced singing tracks are among the reasons why I site Rodgers as the man who killed Rock music. Although these facets of music styling were not his invention, he used them to further his recording and financial success. In reality, Nile Rodgers seems more of a talented opportunist. He saw a hole and he filled it, now where’s ma-money?
The instrumental ballad Savoir Faire from Chic’s debut C’est Chic is the stuff of George Benson. At Last I Am Free sounds to have inspired much of Prince’s slow and easy attitude toward ballads. Sometimes You Win could have been penned by the BeeGee’s (who also started out as a Rock band, by the way). The final song from this album is called Bone (Funny) and is an upbeat instrumental dance tune with the sound of laughter running in the background. This song was obviously a filler with no great aspiration. The biggest hit from the album was Le Freak which when combined with the name of the band made the populous of the time think they were a French band, giving them cultural superiority over our lame US bands. (Isn’t it always the ‘guy from England’ or the ‘chick from Russia’ that seems to get all the attention in high school?)
Anyway, European envy aside, Nile Rodgers has certainly influenced music and I believe that influence was born of anger for not being considered a proper rocker. On top of that the success of Disco lead many of the great rocking bands to falter under the enormous pressure of the record companies to put out a “Disco Song”. We all cried as one-by-one our heros, rock legends, fell to the pressure of the almighty dollar and SOLD OUT to Disco!
On Friday’s Jared Morris Show I intend to expose these turncoats. Will you join me?
January 18th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Great post! I happen to think Rodgers and Edwards are musical geniuses, but then again I love R&B, funk and dance music.
One nit: The biggest hit from the album was Le Freak which when combined with the name of the band made the populous…
I think you mean “populace.”
January 18th, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Remember the Gibb brothers (Bee Gees) had a good deal of success in the early 80s doing music for other artists. And if you recall, Maurice Gibb was annoyed by the band being known as a disco band. I would suppose that he always considered their music “rock”. They certainly had some good music in the 60s (I was in diapers when they became popular in the states, so my knowledge is only historical). I remember enjoying New York Mining Disaster 1949, maybe because of the dark nature of the story. I’ll stop, I’m rambling.
January 19th, 2007 at 7:35 am
BTW, I don’t think the title is accurate. Rock and roll have not been “killed.” It never died. OTOH, what happened to disco??
January 19th, 2007 at 8:43 am
“The Next Beatles” status never happened fof the Bee Gees. They hit the wall and had a choice…sell out or run the whole thing into the ground. They chose the former, making that clear in 1975 with what is considered the first disco hit, “Jive Talkin.’”
I can see why Rodgers chose the road he chose. He also was near to hitting the wall, perhaps, as a musician, and could have either sold-out or stayed the course. If he were younger twenty years later, he probably would have had no problem staying the course (the late ’80s-early ’90s is when Lenny Kravitz entered the scene).
Sorry I’m going to miss the show (WGMD really doesn’t come in well in Ohio), but I will definitely download the podcast.
Sometimes, if you want to feed the family, you have to do something (legally, preferably) that is going to bring home the bacon.
January 19th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
A list of ROCK bands who sold out to Disco:
Grateful Dead - Shakedown Street
Rolling Stones - Most of the “Emotional Rescue” Album but the title track in particular.
Kiss - I Was Made For Loving You
Elton John - Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
Rod Stewart - Do Ya Think I’m Sexy
J. Geils Band - Flamethrower
ZZ Top - From the Eliminator Album until now…
Others?
January 20th, 2007 at 7:56 am
“Some Girls,” which was the predecessor to “Emotional Rescue,” also was a sell-out album.
Also, the solo albums that Kiss did in ‘77 or ‘78, in some cases, were very disco-esque.