Recommendations of the Editorial team
The 250 best guitarists of all time – 7th place: Nile Rodgers
There are “influential”, then there is “massively influential” – and then there is Nile Rodgers. The history of pop music from the past 50 years is basically the story of Nile Rodgers’ guitar. The manic-stakkato-like radio jangle, which he invented with chic in disco hits of the 1970s such as “Le Freak” and “Good Times”, has been the heartbeat of global pop since then. His warp guitar on the Diana Ross classic “I’m Coming Out” from 1980 was still the toughest sound on the radio almost two decades later when Biggie converted him into “Mo Money Mo Problems”. I call this perseverance.
His influence is omnipresent, both his jazzy chords and his mighty rhythms
Nile Rodgers founded Chic together with bass player Bernard Edwards, inspired by a visit to Roxy Music in London. “When I started, I only played super heavy rock & roll,” Rodgers told the Rolling Stone in 1979. “Being Hendrix or Jimmy Page was a success for me.” His unstoppable dynamic strat drives the classics that he wrote for Ross (“Upside Down”), Sister Sledge (“We Are Family”), David Bowie (“Let’s Dance”), Duran Duran (“Notorious”) and Daft Punk (“Get Lucky”).
His riffs also contributed to initiating the hip-hop era-the Sugarhill Gang rhymed the first rap hit, “Rapper’s Delight” on “Good Times”. Its influence is omnipresent, both his jazzy chords and his mighty rhythms. He was the greatest impact on Smiths – Johnny Marr always called Rodgers his heroes. (He even called his son “Nile”.) But Nile Rodgers is a real innovator who never slows down and still writes history with his guitar.
The most important tracks: “Le freak”, “Good Times”, “I’m coming out”.