Throwback Thursday: Chic – “Le Freak”
Le freak, c’est chic.
It was September 1978 and disco was at the height of its popularity. Nile Rodgers & Chic — then known simply as Chic — had released two albums in the past 10 months. Their sophomore set, C’est Chic, had been released a month prior without any lead singles. The first single from that album would be a song called “Le Freak,” and just like that, Chic wrote itself into the history books.
Written by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, “Le Freak” is one of the songs that come to mind when you think of the disco sound. From the instrumentation to the chanted hook, everything about it makes you want to throw on a pair of bell bottoms.
Even the inspiration behind the song’s lyrics is peak disco.
According to Rodgers, he and Edwards went to the the infamous Studio 54 on New Year’s Eve in 1977 to link up with Grace Jones, who had invited them there. Miss Jones apparently forgot to tell the folks at the club that she was expecting people, so the two weren’t let in — and the bouncer apparently told them to “fuck off” as he slammed the door in their faces. And in that moment, a song was born.
After getting denied entry, they went back to Rodgers’ apartment and got to writing. Before the refrain was “freak out,” it was “fuck off,” and included the phrase “fuck Studio 54” in the space where “le freak, c’est chic” would eventually be. Wisely, Rodgers and Edwards realized that a song that explicit could never make it onto the radio, so the refrain was changed to “freak off.” Luckily, the music gods intervened and made them change it to “freak out.”
At the time, there was a dance move called the freak, so that’s what the lyrics are about, but the gag is that neither of them knew how to do the freak. Watch the video below for a hilarious explanation of how the song went from diss track to dance anthem.
For Niles Rodgers, “Le Freak” has come to represent a door-opener — literally and figuratively. Following the song’s success, Chic became major stars in their own right, and could now get into Studio 54 without having to name-drop. It would become Chic’s first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, ruling for six weeks in three separate visits to the throne — a record that stood till Drake made four visits to the summit with “Nice for What” in 2018. It would also go on to sell over seven million copies, making it the top-selling single in the history of Atlantic Records.
Click play and find your spot out on the floor!
No Comments