History
This song commemorates Studio 54 for its notoriously long customer waiting lines, exclusive clientele, and discourteous doormen. Concerning the history of the song, guitarist Nile Rodgers later stated that the song was devised during New Year's Eve of 1977, as a result of him and bassist Bernard Edwards being refused entrance to Studio 54, where they had been invited by Grace Jones, due to Jones' failure to notify the nightclub's staff. He said the lyrics of the refrain were originally "Fuck off!" rather than "Freak out!"
"Le Freak" was the first song to score the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 three separate times. This record remained until 2008, when "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis became the second track to score number one three times. Later that same year rap artist T.I. tied this record twice with both "Whatever You Like" which he recorded by himself and "Live Your Life" which he recorded with Rihanna. On two of these occasions "Live Your Life" dethroned "Whatever You Like" from the Number One Position. In early 2011, Bruno Mars' "Grenade" also matched this record.
The song is featured in the home edition of Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova 2. It is also featured in the game Just Dance for the Wii. The song is featured in Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail! during the fashion show portion of the game. It" was performed on the television program Glee on the episode "Showmance", much to the characters' chagrin.
Most recently, "Le Freak" was cover-versioned by the electronica band Millionaires for the MTV movie Turn The Beat Around. The song can be heard in the 2010 film Diary of a Wimpy Kid in the Mother Son Sweetheart Dance scene. This song was featured in Toy Story 3 while Ken is modeling clothes for Barbie. The song can be heard on Freaky Friday's trailer. The bass line from the song was used by American industrial rock group My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult for their track, 'Waiting for Mommie' on the Confessions of a Knife... album that was released in 1990 by Wax Trax Records.
Read more about this topic: Le Freak
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“No one is ahead of his time, it is only that the particular variety of creating his time is the one that his contemporaries who are also creating their own time refuse to accept.... For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost without a pause almost everybody accepts. In the history of the refused in the arts and literature the rapidity of the change is always startling.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“It’s not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)