Disco defined American life and culture during the latter half of the 1970s, emerging from the underground dance clubs of the East Coast to become a mainstream phenomenon that fundamentally reshaped popular music, dance, fashion and style. Credit disco's ascendance to innovative hitmakers like Chic, the New York City band led by guitarist
Nile Rodgers and bassist
Bernard Edwards: Chic singles like "Everybody Dance," "Le Freak" and "Good Times" were fixtures at tastemaking nightspots like Manhattan's Studio 54, and in 1979 Rodgers and Edwards were recruited to write and produce what would become the club classic
diana, the eleventh studio LP from Motown superstar
Diana Ross.
"I'm Coming Out," the second single from diana, perfectly captures Rodgers' signature rhythmic approach. While Rodgers employed a wide range of chord voicings, what made him unique was his embrace of big, full chords that sometimes utilized all six strings of his legendary 1960 Fender Stratocaster, painted white in homage to
Jimi Hendrix and aptly nicknamed "The Hitmaker." Rodgers also supplemented his primary tracks with overdubs of single-note lines that either outlined the chord changes or further accentuated the rhythm; these single-note parts were often all but inaudible in the final mix, but you can
isolate both of Rodgers' "I'm Coming Out" guitar tracks in KORD to unearth overdubs that have been buried for close to five decades.
