Our Top 10 Nile Rogers And Chic Songs list looks back at the songs of a group who had multiple big time hits in the late 1970s that crossed the genres of disco, soul and pop music. Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards would inspire countless musical artists with the sound they developed as the founders of the group Chic. Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards would also become two of the most respected and sought after musicians and music producers in pop music history over the course of a forty year period. Our Top 10 Chic songs list looks back at 10 of our favorite Chic songs that will make you want to jump up and dance until the wee hours of the morning.
# 10 – I’ll Be There
We open up our top 10 Nile Rogers And Chic Songs list with the perfect track to introduce anyone to the sound of Chic who may be unfamiliar with the band. Of course, this is not Chic from the 1970s but rather a great tribute from Nile Rogers and Chic recorded in 2015 as a tribute to those classic 1970s legendary days. It is a brand new song that samples grooves and melodies from Chic’s 1970s glory days.
# 9 – Soup For One
Continuing with our Top 10 Chic songs we head back to a great Chic song released in the early 1980s. The song was released on the soundtrack to the motion picture Soup for One in 1982. This is a slow laid back funk groove that just oozes with soul….. The song “Soup For One,” was a top 20 hit on the Billboard R&B music charts.
# 8 – Chic Mystique
At number eight on our top 10 Chic Songs list we present the great track “Chic Mystique.” Listen to that drum and bass groove at the song’s start. A few measures into the song the legendry Chic guitar riff starts grooving away and bam your right in the middle of a classic Chic groove. I saw this CD in the stores in 92 and said to myself “No way, a new Chic album?” I brought the CD instantly. So did a lot of other people as the band had themselves another number one record on the U.S. Billboard Dance Charts in 1992 with the great song “Chic Mystique.”
# 7 – Rebels We Are
Chic’s great song “Rebels We Are, “grabs your attention within seconds. The song’s great tremolo guitar lick sets the stage for those classic vocals that hit you hard. The song “Rebels We Are,” was released on the album Real People in 1980. The song broke the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot Soul/Black Singles charts. It also broke the Top 40 on the Billboard Dances charts as well as reaching the 61st position on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers.
# 6 – My Forbidden Lover
At number six on this top 10 Chic songs list we finally make our way to the classic Chic album entitled Risqué. The album was released during the summer of 1979. “My Forbidden Lover,” was the second single released from the album. The song followed up the album’s smash debut single called “Good Times.” While “My Forbidden Lover,” did not celebrate the same success as the song “Good Times,” did, it was still a hit record. The song peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a top 40 hit on the U.S. Billboard Dance charts. Chic scored the most success with the song in the United Kingdom where it became a top 20 hit.
# 5 – Everybody Dance
As we cross on into the second half of our top 10 Chic songs list we present some of Chic’s biggest hits. We start with the great song “Everybody Dance.” The song was released as the second single from their debut album entitled Chic in 1977. The song would become the group’s second straight number one hit on the U.S. Billboard Disco Music Charts. It would also break the top 20 on the Billboard R&B charts as well as slip into the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.
# 4 – Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)
Do you remember this classic song entitled “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah),” You might not remember the title, but you will remember the song. “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah),” stands as Chic’s first hit single. The song was released on their debut album in 1977. The song hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Dance Music charts. It also broke the top 10 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts peaking at number six on both charts.
# 3 – I Want Your Love
The next three Nile Rogers And Chic songs were massive mega hits for the group and define the sound of the dance music era of the late 1970s. Along with Donna Summer and The Bee Gees, the music of Chic filled the discos around the world in 1977, 1978 and 1979. The track “I Want Your Love,” was released in 1978 on the album C’est Chic. The song hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Dance Music charts. It also broke the top 10 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts peaking at number seven on the Hot 100 and number five on the R&B charts.
# 2 – Le Freak
At number two on our top 10 Nile Rogers And Chic Songs list is a pretty big one. We bet pretty big odds that no matter how old you are, at least one time in your life you have danced to the classic Chic song called “Le Freak.” The song became the group’s first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978. It also hit number one on the Billboard R&B charts. The song sold over four million records making it the group’s most successful song of their career from a commercial standpoint. Yes, four million records sold.
# 1 – Good Times
Words can’t describe how popular the song “Good Times,” was in 1979. Every night club, bar and saloon that owned a juke box made a lot of money on this song. It was easily the most played 45 vinyl single in those jukeboxes. Talk about a song that could get the party started. “Good Times,” was so perfectly titled. Over forty years later, one cant help but want to get up and dance the moment they hear the song’s opening notes.
“Good Times,” was a massive commercial success for Chic. The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 during the summer of 1979. While disco at the time was beginning to simmer a bit just a little, the song “Good Times,” was really more a soul record than a disco song. Of course, most people categorized it as disco, but the song had a bass line and groove that went beyond the standard disco grooves. This was something completely new. It was such a fresh sound, it would inspire many artists to copy that groove into their own sound. John Deacon of Queen who was friends with Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards took Chic’s bass line and rhythmic groove of the song “Good Times,” and turned it into one of Queen’s biggest hits of all time entitled “Another One Bites The Dust.”
Chic’s “Good Times,” not only inspired many future songs written and recorded by multiple artists to copy the rhythmic groove of the song, it can be argued that the song served as an inspiration to Quincy Jones and what he accomplished with Michael Jackson on the Thriller album which was released only a couple of years later. Of course, we can’t fail to mention how many times the song “Good Times,” has been sampled by hip hop and rap artists over the past forty years. There are various pivotal moments in music history when one song can change the direction or at least open up and inspire a new path for artists. The release of the single “Good Times,” was one of those moments.
Feature Photo At The Top of Page – Photo: Alex Marshall, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Top 10 Chic Songs article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021
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