ROCK Sex: "Good Times!" - Chic > SugarHill Gang > Queen > Defunkt > Ting Tings

ROCK Sex is all about the throughline that runs through everything.

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Chic conquered Disco with a tight propulsive rhythm section [Bernard Edwards (b), Tony Thompson (d), and Nile Rodgers (g)] and bright pop harmonies (Norma Jean Wright, Luci Martin)...

CHIC -"Good Times" (1979)



Sugar Hill Records used that as the backbeat for THE breakthrough Rap song emceed by The Sugarhill Gang. The music was played by Keith Leblanc (d), Skip McDonald (g), and Doug Wimbish (b), who went on to become the avant-Funk group Tackhead.

SUGARHILL GANG -"Rapper's Delight" (1979)



Freddie Mercury loved that hard beat and the emerging HipHop so much that he corraled Queen into one of the biggest hits they ever had...

QUEEN -"Another One Bites the Dust" (1980)



Defunkt came out of the NYC PostPunk scene, with an edgy mix of James Brown rhythms, Sonny Sharrock guitar, and Charles Bukowski-esque lyrics. This acerbic deconstruction of "Good Times" contrasts prostitution and addiction against the Reagan whitewash of the American Dream.

DEFUNKT -"In the Good Times" (1981)



And here's that rhythm again in this dance club hit by Ting Tings from England.

TING TINGS -"Shut Up and Let Me Go" (2008)



"I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie
to the hip hip hop, ah you don't stop
the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie
to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat!"

© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• "APACHE", HipHop's Sacred Secret Beat! - Bongo Band > Bambaataa > EVERYONE EVER

• "Amen Break" - How 6 Seconds From 1969 Propel All Modern Music


• ROCK Orgy: "Genius of Love"


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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