Freaking out about songwriting with Nile Rodgers

06/11/24 • 35 min

2 Listeners

There is no contemporary pop music without Nile Rodgers. Born in 1952, Rodgers grew up playing classical music on flute and clarinet before picking up jazz guitar. And at age 20, alongside bass player Bernard Edwards, Rodgers formed the band Chic. They wrote the biggest disco hits of the 70s, like: “Dance Dance Dance,” “Everybody Dance,” “Le Freak," and "Good TImes," which formed the core of Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper's Delight”.

In his music career spanning six decades, Rodgers has produced and played on some of the biggest pop songs in history, for artists like Sister Sledge, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Madonna, Daft Punk, and Beyoncé. He is also the chair of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, so with the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony taking place this June, we invited him onto Switched on Pop to talk about the making of a great song.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Previous Episode

Begging songs and basketball's musicality (with Hanif Abdurraqib)

There's no music writer like the essayist and poet Hanif Abdurraqib: whether he's narrating the beautiful awkwardness of a Carly Rae Jepsen concert or talking jazz and eastern spirituality with Andre 3000, he manages to coax stories and insights out of songs in a way that never fails to surprise. His latest book, There's Always This Year, is a free flowing meditation on basketball, childhood, his home state of Ohio, and of course, music – so on the precipice of the NBA finals, Hanif returns to Switched On Pop to discuss classic soul, sports, and sound with musicologist Nate Sloan.

You can buy Hanif's work through his website here.

Songs discussed:

Boyz II Men, "On Bended Knee"
Otis Redding, "My Girl"
The Temptations, "My Girl"
Joy Oladokun, "My Girl"
Stevie Wonder, "My Girl"
Stevie Wonder, "Knocks Me Off My Feet"
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, "Challengers: Match Point"

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Next Episode

Bootsy Collins is gonna funk you up (with Bootsy Collins)

1 Recommendations

Bootsy Collins is, perhaps, the funkiest man of all time. Over the course of his nearly six decade career, Collins has given up the funk in the iconic Parliament Funkadelic, helmed Bootsy’s Rubber Band, and lended his slaparific talents to songs from everybody from James Brown to Dee-Lite to Fatboy Slim. His new album, aptly titled Album of the Year #1 Funkateer, is on the way, so in celebration of his illustrious career, we invited Bootsy Collins – aka Casper the Funky Ghost – onto Switched on Pop to reminisce on some of his greatest hits.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices