Superlatives<\/a><\/p>\n\n A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat\u2019s just my weird, lovely hippie life, and I wouldn\u2019t change one second of it.\u201d
\n Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photo: Joby Sessions\/Guitarist Magazine\/Future via Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Nile Rodgers is the first to acknowledge that his background looks a little ridiculous. He\u2019s taking our video call right in the heart of his Connecticut studio, where the walls are festooned with way too many gold plaques to attempt to count. But can you blame the guy for wanting to show off some of that glitter? When he possesses that r\u00e9sum\u00e9? \u201cI remember the first time I went to Michael Bolton and Quincy Jones\u2019s houses and I was like, \u2018Guys, I know you won all that shit. I don\u2019t have to see it all,\u2019\u201d he recalls with a laugh. \u201cBut once I started bringing artists here to record, they actually liked it. They would be like, \u2018Wow, you did that album? I didn\u2019t know. That\u2019s my favorite.\u2019 And I would say, \u2018Well, that means you didn\u2019t turn it over and look at the back.\u2019\u201d To be fair, the musician, producer, and songwriter estimates he\u2019s credited on over 1,000 records \u2014 but even he can\u2019t remember all of them. \u201cI found a cassette the other day and I realized that I played one song with Liza Minnelli,\u201d Rodgers says. \u201cThe things we rediscover in the basement.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not an exaggeration to assert that Rodgers, who co-founded Chic with Bernard Edwards in 1972, has been one of the strongest and most exuberant guiding forces the music industry has ever seen. Chic hits aside \u2014 we\u2019re talking about \u201cLe Freak,\u201d \u201cGood Times,\u201d and \u201cI Want Your Love\u201d \u2014 Rodgers\u2019s skill at ceding the spotlight in favor of producing generational talents led to a roster that includes Madonna, Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, Duran Duran, and David Bowie. (That list further expanded into the new millennium with Daft Punk and Beyonc\u00e9.) Later this month, he\u2019ll be performing as Nile Rodgers & Chic at the Montreux Jazz Festival Miami, reminding the audience just how unparalleled he is in front of his own microphone with a guitar \u2014 a set that doubles as a greatest ass-shaking hits revue. (You bet he fits \u201cMaterial Girl\u201d in there.) \u201cI would\u2019ve never believed,\u201d Rodgers says, \u201cthat songs I wrote 50 years ago would still mean something to people today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody Dance,\u201d which is the first song I ever wrote as a pop song. Prior to it, I wrote most of my compositions as jazz songs. This was the time of fusion jazz, a lot of which were very danceable \u2014 like from my heroes Roy Ayers and Herbie Hancock, who were still getting hit records with jazz-based songs. I began writing this song with a crazy chorus and chord changes, and somehow Bernard Edwards, as he always did, walked in and gave me notes. He would color songs down and make them a little more simple. We were battling each other with our instruments. I was like, \u201cThis doesn\u2019t work.\u201d I had to be totally subordinate to the most genius bass player ever. And this moment was the most important thing that ever changed my life, because I thought I was just a writer. I didn\u2019t know I was a producer. Bernand looked at me and said, \u201cNow what do we do?\u201d And I said, \u201cOh, I was working on this melody. \u2018Everybody dance, do do do, clap your hands, clap your hands.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
We had a record that was about ten minutes long, but it had no verse. It was just a groove with chord changes. The clubs would play it almost on a loop. The big release came when you heard \u201cEverybody dance.\u201d We would watch people dance and go bananas. But we couldn\u2019t get a record deal, because there was no lead vocal.<\/p>\n
That issue fueled our next song, \u201cDance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah),\u201d which was based on the Jane Fonda film They Shoot Horses, Don\u2019t They? The film was about the Great Depression and dance marathons where people would dance until they dropped \u2014 even sometimes died. It was very Romanesque. Let\u2019s watch these people suffer. The reason why we thought of that is because during the \u201970s, it was the first great recession since the Great Depression. People who had cars would have alternate days to get gas. It was rationing, but of course I didn\u2019t have a car. I could barely afford the subway. Those two first singles I almost think of as the same, because they were back-to-back and made me have faith in the fact that I could have a winning formula by mixing harmonic complexity with simple melodies. People tend to think my work is all about simple little cute melodies. No, dude.<\/p>\n
David Bowie is probably the most important. You have put these things in context. We talk about all of those Let\u2019s Dance songs now, but 40 years ago, David was dropped from his record label because the ugly truth is, people don\u2019t like to hear that rock and roll is a business and David wasn\u2019t selling any records in America. We now act like it was all hip and fantastic, but it wasn\u2019t. He wasn\u2019t killing it. He had just put out Scary Monsters, which I thought was a really hip record. I loved records that didn\u2019t necessarily sell but had interesting ideas. Most of the time you spend trying to unwind it and figure out, What\u2019s this person trying to tell me? I grew up in a fear-based childhood \u2014 my parents were heroin addicts \u2014 so Scary Monsters spoke to me on a lot of levels. I met David by complete accident at a club. I was going into this club with an engineer that I was working with, and Billy Idol just happened to be walking in at the same time. We would go out together almost every night. So we hook up, look inside, and there was David sitting all the way in the back of the club all by himself with a glass of orange juice.<\/p>\n
Billy couldn\u2019t believe it. He went, \u201cBloody hell, that\u2019s David fucking Bowie!\u201d We got the nerve to walk over to his table. My opening line to him was, \u201cYou live in the same building with my friends Luther Vandross and Carlos Alomar. It\u2019s like a commune, you guys took over the building.\u201d We started talking and we never spoke at all that night about rock and roll. We only spoke about avant-garde jazz. We were competing for each other\u2019s sense of cool. But at the end of the day, for some reason, I touched his artistic soul. I don\u2019t remember much of the night because I used to get really high every single day. I don\u2019t even remember giving him my phone number. My place was being renovated and he would call every day. The construction people, who were pretty hardcore Italian dudes, finally told me after a week, \u201cMr. Rodgers, some fucking cocksucker calls up every day saying he\u2019s David Bowie.\u201d I was like, \u201cWhat do you mean every day? Oh my God, that\u2019s actually him!\u201d<\/p>\n
We had the most magical time doing Let\u2019s Dance, because I did that whole album in two days. We spent most of our preproduction in libraries, going around looking at different artistic concepts. I\u2019ve always wanted to do that with another artist, to get to know who they were as a person through their taste in art and exchange albums. I actually tried this once with John Mayer, and it went totally sour. He turned me onto his favorite record, which was Coldplay\u2019s first album, Parachutes. I thought it was cool, but I gave him the Rolling Stones\u2019 Their Satanic Majesties Request, which I think is the most underrated rock-and-roll album of all time. It didn\u2019t work with John. It\u2019s weird, too, because John might be one of the smartest people that\u2019s ever walked this Earth. Those first two days we got along like brothers, but then after we did the album thing, it was like, This isn\u2019t happening.<\/p>\n
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\n Bernard Edwards (left) and Nile Rodgers (right) striking a pose in the studio during their Chic years.
\n Photo: Allan Tannenbaum\/\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Nobody. No way, man. If I ever believed that, it would mean I\u2019m walking into the studio and thinking, You can make a record better than me. And nobody can make a record better than me. Please don\u2019t take this in an egotistical way. Who have I made records with? Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau, the London Symphony Orchestra. I\u2019m not intimidated. I\u2019m here to have fun. I\u2019m here to become part of your band. The one thing that\u2019s super important is to make an artist know that I have their best interests at heart. That\u2019s all I care about. My legacy is pretty much written.<\/p>\n
I saw the Jeff Beck Group when I was around 16 years old. Years later, I got a job with Jeff Beck. Of course, what am I going to try and do? I want to get the Jeff Beck Group back together. So I\u2019m telling Jeff, \u201cWe need to get Rod Stewart, man.\u201d He kept saying, \u201cNo way that will ever happen.\u201d Long story short, we wound up getting a Grammy for Flash, and Rod sang on a cover of \u201cPeople Getting Ready.\u201d I\u2019ve had a ton of moments like that \u2014 working with people who I admired from my teen years. And not only that, but working as the producer from a place of power who\u2019s in charge of delivering the album. It also happens a lot with live performances. Just a few weeks ago, I brought Jimmie Vaughan out onstage with me at a show. I sometimes played with him at this joint called the Bitter End when I was a teenager. We had a huge snowfall and I couldn\u2019t get my amplifier home, so one night we wound up playing with Jimi Hendrix at a club called the Generation, which he wound up buying and turning into Electric Lady. Talk about a full-circle memory.<\/p>\n
None. I always say that if I can\u2019t improve upon it, I\u2019m the wrong producer to call. So when you call me, you already know that I can make it a little better. It doesn\u2019t make any difference whether it\u2019s with the New York Philharmonic or the New York Dolls. The only thing I can think of that was close to that, and it\u2019s because I did it for free, was the head of the Grammys, Harvey Mason Jr., called me up and said, \u201cMy dad is making a record. Do you mind playing on it?\u201d He sent me the track, I played on it, and I never heard anything back from him. Who knows, maybe they thought my guitar part sucked.<\/p>\n
Diana Ross\u2019s label didn\u2019t want to put out \u201cI\u2019m Coming Out.\u201d Then they found out it was a gay anthem. It\u2019s funny, I came up with the song title because I was at a predominantly gay club and I happened to go into the bathroom. On either side of me, there were at least eight to ten deep Diana Ross impersonators. I just went, What! It was like a Fellini movie. Diana was the first star I ever worked with. I couldn\u2019t even brag to these impersonators and go, \u201cYo, guess what guys? I\u2019m working with Diana Ross!,\u201d because the music was so loud and you couldn\u2019t hear anything inside.<\/p>\n
I ran outside and called Bernard, whose life was totally different than mine. He had a wife and kids. I said, \u201cDude, wake up and listen to this idea.\u201d And he said, \u201cWhat the fuck you saying, man?\u201d And I went, \u201cI\u2019m in here with all these Diana Ross impersonators. If we do a song called \u2018I\u2019m Coming Out,\u2019 we\u2019re going to sell a million records to the gay community alone.\u201d It took a few minutes for Bernard\u2019s cobwebs to clear. He went, \u201cI don\u2019t understand. Diana\u2019s not gay.\u201d And I responded, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any difference. She\u2019s got a huge gay following. Can you imagine how powerful it would be to the LGBTQ community?\u201d<\/p>\n
A lot of my songs have brought in a lot of money from sampling, but the most lucrative ones have been placed in films. The only reason why I know that this one made a fortune was because of the length of the cue: There\u2019s a film called The Birdcage from the mid-\u201990s, starring Robins Williams, that took place at a queer club in Miami. It opens with a camera going across South Beach and then the shot goes straight into a club where \u201cWe Are Family\u201d is being performed by a group of drag performers. It\u2019s a very long music cue. And then \u201cWe Are Family\u201d is played several more times later in the film. My bank account was happy to see that deposit.<\/p>\n
Another one was from the film Shrek 2. At this point, Shrek was going to marry his girlfriend, so she wanted to take him home to meet the parents. The film originally had the Gap Band\u2019s \u201cBurn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)\u201d as the cue when Shrek and his girlfriend take off in the car and their friends are behind and watching their house. Or is it a cart? What do ogres drive? But apparently it wasn\u2019t getting enough laughs when the studio was trying it out on the test audiences. Right before Shrek 2 locked, and I really mean an hour or so before, I got a call asking if they could try \u201cLe Freak.\u201d I said, \u201cSure, cool.\u201d So Shrek turns around and his friends are partying like crazy to \u201cLe Freak.\u201d It was clear that the song made the joke work. It\u2019s a teeny, tiny cue, and I made a fortune.<\/p>\n
Miles Davis and I did a fashion shoot together for Issey Miyake, and that\u2019s how we met. We wound up finding out that we lived right next door to each other, back to back. He lived on 79th and Fifth Avenue and I lived on 80th and Fifth Avenue across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We used to look into each other\u2019s back windows. He\u2019d love to go out with me for some reason. He would always say, \u201cAll right, tonight call me after nine o\u2019clock. And if a woman answers, ask for Millie.\u201d So I\u2019d call up and if his wife answered, I would say, \u201cExcuse me. Can I speak to Millie please?\u201d And Miles would get on the phone and go, \u201cAll right, man, I\u2019ll meet you at the Vanguard.\u201d At some point during our many outings he said, \u201cI need you to write me a motherfucking \u2018Good Times.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought that it was a joke, because everybody knows about the harsh style of Miles\u2019s personality. Weirdly, I never saw it. All these people have such bad stories about him, and I never had one weird night with Miles. Even with Rick James. He was so respectful and fun. Mike Tyson? I adore him. He treats me like I\u2019m an English lord. People will hate to hear this one, but O.J. Simpson and I would sit in a caf\u00e9 almost every night. He was the next-door neighbor of one of my best friends. He was in so much pain. He was heartbroken because his wife used to be sort of a little mean to him. He would sit around and go, \u201cMan, I just don\u2019t understand.\u201d He would be crying. I\u2019m like, \u201cDude, you\u2019re O.J. Simpson.\u201d I treat stuff like the water off a duck\u2019s back. I can\u2019t stay angry for longer than a second or two. Listen, I\u2019m 31 and a half years sober. Which sounds like a really long time, but guess what? I was using for 31 years before then. I started getting high at 11 years old. I took the SATs on acid and got almost every question right. That\u2019s just my weird, lovely hippie life, and I wouldn\u2019t change one second of it.<\/p>\n
\n See All<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Superlatives A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers. \u201cThat\u2019s just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,15895,156,160395,157,111,139,160394,69,60269,78592,12844,6001],"class_list":{"0":"post-288699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-chic","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-guitarists","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nile-rodgers","16":"tag-nz","17":"tag-producers","18":"tag-superlatives","19":"tag-vulture-homepage-lede","20":"tag-vulture-section-lede"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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