"Good Times" is a song by American R&B band Chic from their third album Risqué. The disco song, ranked No. 229 on Rolling Stones list ofthe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, has become one of the most sampled tunes in music history, most notably in hip hop music.
Lyrics and inspiration
The lyrics include a reference to Milton Ager's "Happy Days Are Here Again". It also contains lines based on lyrics featured in "About a Quarter to Nine" made famous by Al Jolson. Nile Rodgers has stated that these Great Depression-era lyrics were used as a hidden way to comment on the then-current economic conditions in the United States. In a 2015 interview Rodgers stated that "Good Times" was partly inspired by the 1974 Kool & The Gang song "Hollywood Swinging".
Chart performance
The song hit number-one on August 18, 1979 before being ousted by The Knack's smash hit "My Sharona" the following week. Along with the songs "My Forbidden Lover" and "My Feet Keep Dancing", "Good Times" reached #3 on the disco chart. It reportedly sold more than 5 million copies, making it, at the time, the best-selling 45 rpm single in the history of Atlantic Records. Billboard magazine named "Good Times" the number one soul single of 1979.
"Good Times" was covered by Australian musicians Disco Montego, Selwyn, Katie Underwood, Peta Morris and Jeremy Gregory and released in November 2002. It was released as part of Australia's largest pop music festival Rumba which took place in November and December 2002, across Australia. The song peaked at number 52 on the ARIA Singles Chart in December 2002 in its sixth week.
Track listing
CD single
"Good Times"
"Good Times"
"Disco Montego Megamix"
"Good Times"
Charts
Sampling and motifs
The backing track of "Good Times" was notably recreated in the Sugarhill Gang's 1979 single "Rapper's Delight", a key track in the development of hip hop. Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards threatened legal action over copyright, which resulted in a settlement and them being credited as co-writers. Rodgers admitted that he was originally upset with the song, but would later declare it to be "one of his favorite songs of all time" and his favorite of all the tracks that sampled Chic. He also stated that "as innovative and important as 'Good Times' was, 'Rapper's Delight' was just as much, if not more so." Traditionally, Chic's live performances of "Good Times" incorporate a portion of "Rapper's Delight" including audience participation call-and-response.
