Nile Rodgers and his Chic Organization are godlike geniuses. No question about it. Chic were the smartest and coolest disco outfit who ever lived, creating some sophisticated dance floor monsters that are still light years ahead of the game.

Rodgers wasn’t keen to just sit back and turn out dance tracks though. He had an eye on the wider angle of rock and pop. He, along with his musical brother, Bernie Edwards, produced some dazzling records for other artists including Diana Ross and Sister Sledge.

And it doesn’t bring us any pleasure at all to share the news that Rodgers has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, which of course, he’s tackling with all the class you’d expect of one of the world’s finest and nicest (Nile writes about it here, on his blog).

And so, by way of small tribute, hecklerspray has made a playlist dedicated to Chic and those that were produced by either Rodgers flying solo, or as a tagteam with Bernie Edwards.

It really is a diverse mix, taking in Chic hits, Sister Sledge, Diana Ross and Grace Jones as well as David Bowie, Madonna, Carly Simon, Duran Duran, Debbie Harry and The B-52s. Also, keep in mind that, when listening to Le Freak, the original refrain was “Aaaaah FUCK OFF!”, aimed at the jerks who worked the door of Studio 54.

Here’s the tracklisting for Chic & Friends, with a link to the Spotify playlist at the bottom. Get well soon Nile. You’re way too cool to be leaving us just yet.

HecklerPlay: Chic & Friends

Le Freak – Chic

I’m Coming Out – Diana Ross

He’s The Greatest Dancer – Sister Sledge

My Forbidden Lover – Chic

Spacer – Sheila

Everybody Dance – Chic

Good Times – Chic

Dance Dance Dance – Chic

We Are Family – Sister Sledge

Chic Cheer – Chic

Est-ce Que C’est Chic – Chic

Upside Down – Diana Ross

I Want Your Love – Chic

Strike Up The Band – Chic

Lost in Music – Sister Sledge

My Old Piano – Diana Ross

Hangin’ – Chic

I’m Not Perfect – Grace Jones

Like A Virgin – Madonna

Why – Carly Simon

Surrender – Debbie Harry

The Reflex – Duran Duran

I Feel Your Love Comin’ On – Chic

Modern Love – David Bowie

Stage Fright – Chic

Notorious – Duran Duran

Material Girl – Madonna

Take It Off – Chic

Let’s Dance – David Bowie

Roam – The B-52s

Sometimes You Win – Chic

Click here for the Spotify playlist of Chic & Friends

It’s our favourite time of the year – the time when the shortlisted nominees for next year’s induction to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame are announced.

Why is it our favourite time of the year? Because we know that from hereon in, it’s going to be a whistlestop pedal-to-the-metal seven-month funride until the bands eventually chosen to go into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame get properly inducted. Seven months. Seven poxy months that we’ll never get back. Fun.

So who could be going into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame next year? Why only Run-DMC, Metallica, The Stooges, Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson, Chic, Little Anthony And The Imperials, Bobby Womack and War. That’s War the concept of organised military disputes between feuding nations and not War the 1970s jazz-funk fusion band responsible for hits like Why Can’t We Be Friends, by the way. That struck us as weird, too.

Of all the different ways that the Rock And Roll Hall Of fame can make you angry – like the awkwardness of reuniting bands or the desperately bad musical tributes or the inescapable fact that none of it actually matters in the slightest – we think we’ve found a new one.

It’s exactly the same every year. Every year Chic get nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and every year The Stooges get nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and every year neither of them do because of the long-winded and confusing multi-stage voting process. Do you know what it’s like knowing that you’ve got to write exactly the same thing about Chic and The Stooges every year? Do you? It’s bloody awful.

However, this year we’ve got our fingers crossed really tight for both The Stooges and Chic get inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. We think they will, as well, because most of the other nominees this year are crap. But first we’ve got to wade through seven months of bureaucratic nonsense. Reports Reuters:

Artists become eligible for the Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first single or album and are represented in an exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. More than 500 music industry professionals will choose five of the nominees for the 24th annual induction on April 4 in Cleveland. The inductees will be announced in January.

So who’s been nominated for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? Here’s our rundown.

Run-DMC - Rappers responsible for hits like Walk This Way. DMC actually stands for Dog Muck Clodge, after the time that Reverend Run once made a fanny out of some dogshit.

Metallica – Heavy metal group responsible for hits like Enter Sandman. Now more famous for their film Some Kind Of Monster where they all sat in a circle, wanked each other off and then cleaned bugs out of each other’s fur with their fingers than for their music.

Bobbie Womack – Responsible for hits like Let Me Kiss It Where It Hurts. Legally changed his name to Bobbie Womack from the original Boobie Woman in 1974.

Jeff Beck – Responsible for hits like Rock My Plimsoul. Actually invented the guitar – before him, people just used tennis raquets and their own mouths.

Chic – Responsible for hits like Freak Out and Good Times. One of the most influential bands in history, Chic’s fingerprints can be felt all over everything from No Surprises by Radiohead to Here Comes The Bride.

Wanda Jackson – Responsible for hits like Funnel Of Love. Having studied at RADA, Jackson’s first achieved fame with her role in Ken Russell‘s Women In Love before becoming a household name with her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I of England in the BBC’s 1971 blockbuster serial, Elizabeth R. Now a Labour backbencher representing Hampstead and Highgate.

Little Anthony And The Imperials – Responsible for hits like Shimmy, Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop. Named ironically, since the band were all medieval peasants and Little Anthony was actually Megatron from Transformers.

The Stooges – Responsible for hits like Search And Destroy. Recently reformed, The Stooges now play concerts exclusively at wakes and pet bar mitzvahs.

War - Responsible for hits like Spill The Wine. One of War’s songs was performed at the end of Lethal Weapon 4. For allowing this to happen, everyone in War is legally a twat.

You’re welcome.