"We Are Family" is a song recorded by American vocal group Sister Sledge. Composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, they both offered the song to Atlantic Records; although the record label initially declined, the track was released in April 1979 as a single from the album of the same name (1979)[1] and began to gain club and radio play, eventually becoming the group's signature song.[2]
"We Are Family" went gold, becoming the number one R&B and number two pop song on the American charts in 1979 (behind "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer).[3] Along with the tracks "He's the Greatest Dancer" and "Lost in Music", "We Are Family" reached number one on the BillboardDance Club Songs.[4] It has been re-released two times in new remixes; in 1984 and 1993. In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5]Billboard magazine named the song number 20 on their list of "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time" same year.[6] In 2023, the magazine included it in their "Best Pop Songs of All Time".[7]
Origins and meaning
"We Are Family" was the first song that Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards wrote for any act other than their own band Chic. After their first hit, "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)", Atlantic Records President Jerry L. Greenberg encouraged the pair to write and produce for other acts on the label. However, Rodgers and Edwards did not feel confident enough to work with big, established recording artists and performers.[8] They also felt that if they worked as Greenberg had suggested, the label would not give them proper credit for their work.[8] To build up their reputation, the pair asked Greenberg to let them work with the least established act he had signed; if they got a hit record, then they could take on the challenge of writing for someone bigger.[8]
According to Rodgers, the verses were mostly verbatim based on how Greenberg described Sister Sledge to him and Edwards when first commissioning the work.[8] Rodgers/Edwards then simply walked immediately to the studio, rearranged their notes from the meeting into lyrics, and wrote a song melody underneath them.[8] The chorus (and therefore the title) makes reference to the fact that the group are the four sisters of a family,[8] and sought to reintroduce the group to mainstream audiences after their two unsuccessful prior albums.
The song has since gone on to be used more generally as an expression of solidarity in various contexts, notably as the anthem of the We Are Family Foundation, which is named after it. Notably, the lead vocals were recorded in a single take by then-19-year-old Kathy Sledge.[9][10]
Critical reception
Original version
American magazine Billboard wrote that "We Are Family" has "an upbeat, catchy melody" and "heavy bass, funky guitar and pulsating percussion."[11]Cash Box said that the song has "caressing, exuberant lead vocals backed by Sister Sledge's infectious harmony vocals."[12] Richard Smith from Melody Maker commented, "Everybody from the women's movement to troupes of cheerleaders claimed the mighty "We Are Family" as their own anthem, but it's always has a special place in the hearts of gay men. Appropriation or intention? Chic were quite canny - it was New York's gay clubs that had broken them and songs like this were a way of paying back the debt."[13]
1993 remix
In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote, "Your eyes do not deceive you. At a time when the 1970s are suddenly hip again, one of the best soul disco records ever made return in a new set of mixes for 1993."[14]Paul Lester from Melody Maker felt it's "perfunctorily remixed", adding, "It remains the last word in identikit-robot-girls-sing-gospel-tinged-melodies-over-machine-beats pop and proves that rock crits have always had guilty consciences about the records they (claim to) like."[15] Alan Jones from Music Week stated that the song "gets a new treatment from the Sure Is Pure dream team. The result, while less distinctive than the original with much of Chic's sterling instrumental work suppressed, is a hot and contemporary garage track."[16] Another Music Week editor, Andy Beevers, named it Pick of the Week in the category of Dance, adding, "This most enduring and endearing of club classics should make the Top 40 for the third time thanks to a wonderful and suitably reverential remix by Sure Is Pure."[17]
Music video
A music video was filmed in 1979 to promote the single, featuring the group wearing red outfits and dancing to the song in a street-like setting. It was later made available on YouTube in 2013 and had generated more than 6.4 million views as of January 2023.[18]
Impact and legacy
The 1979 World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates used "We Are Family" as their official theme song. It was chosen by Willie Stargell as the team waited out a rain delay on June 1, prior to a game in which they would mount a ninth-inning comeback to win.[19][20] After the team adopted the song, it rose to second on the charts, whereas previously it had not gone above fourth.[21]
In 2008, the 1979 release of the song on the Cotillion / Atlantic label was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[22]
Billboard magazine ranked "We Are Family" number 18 in their list of "The 35 Best Disco Songs Ever" in 2016[23] and number 20 in their list of "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time" in 2017.[24]Rolling Stone ranked it number 34 in their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" in 2022.[25] In 2023, Billboard ranked "We Are Family" number 444 in their "Best Pop Songs of All Time".[7]
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Cover versions
Many artists have covered the song. Among the more notable versions is one by Babes in Toyland, which was a dance club hit in the U.S. It peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1995. In addition, Nile Rodgers organized a re-recording of the song in 2001 as a benefit record for the September 11 attacks. This in turn led to his co-creation of the We Are Family Foundation, a global charity named for the song and designed to inspire and educate young people to find solutions to problems such as hunger and illiteracy that impede world peace.
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