Good Times (Chic Song) - Songs That Sample "Good Times"

Songs That Sample "Good Times"

In late 1979 Debbie Harry suggested that Nile Rodgers join her and Chris Stein at a Hip hop event in a communal space taken over by young kids and teenagers with boom box stereos, who would play various pieces of music to which performers would break dance. The main piece of music they would use was the break section of "Good Times." A few weeks later, Blondie, The Clash, and Chic were playing a gig in New York at Bonds nightclub. When Chic started playing "Good Times," rapper Fab Five Freddy and members of the Sugarhill Gang jumped up on stage and started freestyling with the band. Rodgers allowed them to "do their improvisation thing like poets, much like I would playing guitar with Prince."

A few weeks later Rodgers was on the dance floor of New York club LaViticus and suddenly heard the DJ play a song which opened with Edwards bass line from "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" by The Sugarhill Gang, which Rogers noted also included a scratched version of the song's string section. Rodgers and Edwards threatened The Sugarhill Gang with legal action, which resulted in them being credited as co-writers on "Rappers Delight".

In the USA "Rapper's Delight" did not achieve as much chart success as "Good Times" (peaking at #36 on the U.S. pop chart and #4 on the American R&B charts, compared to Chic's #1 peak on both charts) but it helped to popularize the bassline and the song, and it became one of the most sampled tracks (and hence one of the most distinctive basslines) in the history of recorded music. Having agreed on a commercial structure for the use of their song in "Rappers Delight", Edwards and Rodgers agreed to later uses in other songs, subject to their strict criteria.

In recent concerts Nile Rodgers usually segues into his rendition of "Rapper's Delight" when Chic performs this song.