FREAK OUT and DANCE! - EXCEPTIONS that PROVE the RULE | MUSIC is not a GENRE - Episode #27
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nA few episodes ago, I talked about the musical coming of age \u2013 i.e. that point in your life when you start to consciously decide what music is \u201cyours\u201d, not your parents\u2019 or siblings\u2019 or peers\u2019 or whatever the culture tells you it should be. Though I do think it happens to almost 100% of everyone, it\u2019s not a rule. But if it were, like any rule, it\u2019s the exceptions that prove it. This here song by Chic is one of those exceptions.\n\nI was almost 10 when \u201cLe Freak\u201d was released. And though by then I\u2019d already gotten into the Beatles and Sean Cassidy and other pop of the day (especially songs my dad played in his live gigs) and Grease and Saturday Night Fever, among many other things, for some reason I remember this song having way more immediate impact on me. It was the first 45 single I bought with my own money, at K-Mart. I didn\u2019t just want it, I NEEDED it. The spare yet compelling and never boring production. The positivity. The call to throw off all the pressure and just FREAK OUT. The infinite funkiness. It\u2019s never left me. Part of the proof of that is that I bought this song TWICE. First, the 45 in 1978 (as discussed in Week 141), and then the 12\u201d single in 1986 \u2013 when I was heavily into DJing. I couldn\u2019t imagine a dance set that didn\u2019t include this. And with all the tremendous changes in production, style & taste in those eight years, it shows the genius and perfect-ness of this song that it still hit home.\n\nStaccato funk has been a part of my repertoire for decades. Here\u2019s an example that meshes funk & pop & rock & grunge:\n\nNICK - \u201cYour Sister\u201d (from the album The Metrogrande Sessions)\n\nDo you like this song? Do you know who Nile Rogers is? Are you into funk at all? What song do you remember being the first one you HAD to own? Discuss dammit!\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices