‘Chic: Everybody Dance’ is the exception that proves the rule. Daryl Easlea can write, his prose flows, his passion isn’t clumsy and fumbling, he knows what to do with it. And he has a good subject, which always helps.

Chic are one of those rediscovered bands, cool again, suddenly being linked with the term ‘genius’. They’ve been sampled to death by hip-hop and pop (Fatman Scoop’s recent number one sampled ‘Chic Cheer’, through a Faith Evans filter), ripped off by Queen (‘Another One Bites The Dust’ is a rewrite of the classic ‘Good Times’) and managed to influence cult Indie bands such Public Image, Josef K, and, more recently, The Rapture and Franz Ferdinand.

Chic’s story, like the Beatles,’ is dominated by two men. The young flamboyant Nile Rodgers, playboy, cocky young musician, serial shagger, onetime Black Panther. Nile ends up in a house band in New York, he jams with Hendrix, he has an original style (you can recognise Rodgers’ guitar, rhythmic, funky, it’s just his), he’s a star-waiting-to-happen.

But it needed Bernard Edwards to make it happen. Edwards is something of an enigma – he died tragically (of pneumonia, during a Japanese tour) so he’s not around to give interviews but, if he had been alive, you can’t help thinking that you wouldn’t know much more. A family guy, quiet, the take-no-shit type; you never really know what excited or inspired him.

Rodgers is another story. He seems to be the main driving force behind the book, using Easlea as a loudspeaker to shout about how Chic are under-rated, how they aren’t respected like Bowie, et cetera. He’s right up to a point, but the difference between Bowie and Chic is that, besides penning classics for other artists, Bowie had a double-cd’s worth of his own. Chic have a few undoubted classic singles under their own name, and more under Sister Sledge and Diana Ross,’ but not enough for real legend status.

But that’s not denying their talent. Rodgers was a shit-hot guitarist, Edwards a great bass-player, and they had great ears. Once I’d finished the book I downloaded the Sister Sledge and Diana Ross singles Rodgers and Edwards were responsible for – they’re pretty much the best things those two acts ever did (excluding the Supremes, maybe). I rediscovered David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance,’ noticing the Chic-production, Rodgers’ guitars, Tony Thompson’s drumming. Edwards and Rodgers were even responsible for the ‘Like A Virgin’ production – in the 80s they were everywhere, the producers of choice, the protypes for the Timbalands and Neptunes of today.

Throughout the book Easlea sets a political scene, but he doesn’t overdo it, and the one thing that you notice throughout is the multi-culturalism of the 70s music scene. We have Tony Thompson listening to Cream and Led Zeppelin, aping Ginger Baker and Bonzo. One of the Chic voices, Luther Vandross, records ‘Young Americans’ with Bowie, and Rodgers eventually produces Bowie’s biggest-selling album, ‘Let’s Dance.’ Rodgers himself is inspired by a sighting of Roxy Music on British TV, so inspired he models Chic’s stage persona on the arty posers, and rips off their album covers.

It makes you wish that sort of thing could happen today. Though I hear Pharrel Williams wants to record with Jamie Cullum, I haven’t exactly got a hard-on already. Cullum’s no Bowie, Pharrel’s no Rodgers.

And let’s put Nile’s mind at rest. This book proves that Chic are respected, regarded as the greatest disco band, and that Rodgers and Edwards are respected as musicians, producers, and creators. The clue’s in the multitudes of people currently ripping them off, either through sampling or other means.

Iain Bahlaj lives in Fife, Scotland. His short stories have appeared in Front & Centre, Fife Fringe, Chapman, Pulp.net and The Macallan Shorts 3 and 5. His novel, 'Tilt' was published in 2003 (Pulp Books, London). The short story 'Sugar' is a prequel to 'Tilt.' Iain currently works as a night-shift shelf-stacker, while working on a novel about vampires, in this spare time. To visit Iain's Showcase on this website, click here

© 2004 Laura Hird All rights reserved.