The cost was Richie's departure as his solo career grew beyond the band's reach. Richie had written the ballads that made the band famous -- Easy, Three Times a Lady, Still -- and those songs became standards that crossed over to pop audiences the band had never reached before. As his solo career exploded with Truly and All Night Long, the band became secondary in the public imagination even though they continued recording. The remaining members kept touring and releasing albums through the 1980s, but the creative chemistry that had defined their 1970s peak never fully returned after losing their primary songwriter and frontman.

Brick House is the one. Built around a bassline that every funk band since has attempted to replicate, the song remains one of the most sampled grooves in hip-hop history, used by Dr. Dre, De La Soul, and dozens of other artists across decades of music. Machine Gun, their instrumental opener, became another staple for breakers and producers looking for the perfect breakbeat.

Easy became a standard covered by dozens of artists across multiple genres including country and jazz. Three Times a Lady showed the softer ballad side and went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The Commodores proved that a Black band from a small college in Alabama could master funk, soul, pop, and ballads without losing their identity in any of them, and their catalog has outlasted most of their contemporaries.