Few narratives in pop encompass Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Roxy Music,
Madonna, Duran Duran, Diana Ross, Johnny Mathis and Led Zeppelin. This
story is one of them. Chic, led by former Black Panther activist Nile
Rodgers and down-home family man Bernard Edwards, are one of the most
underrated and pivotal acts in African-American musical history. As
artists, they created a discrete R&B sound that just happened to
coincide with the disco movement. At the height of their fame, they
either released or produced a string of era-defining records but when
disco collapsed, so did Chic's popularity. The group quietly called it a
day in 1983. However, Rodgers and Edwards individually produced some of
the great pop-dance records of the 80s, working with David Bowie, Robert
Palmer, Madonna, Duran Duran and ABC, among many others. Everybody
Dance puts the rise and fall of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, the
emblematic disco duo behind era-defining records "Le Freak," "Good
Times," and "Lost In Music," at the heart of a changing landscape,
taking in sociopolitical and cultural events such as the Civil Rights
struggle, the Black Panthers, and the U.S. oil crisis. There are drugs,
bankruptcy, uptight artists, fights, and Muppets but, most importantly,
an in-depth appraisal of a group whose legacy remains hugely underrated.
