Much to my horror, around two months ago, I heard the opening bars to Bittersweet Symphony and wondered to myself why the Verve’s song was on the radio at the time. Little did I know that this was also the opening bars to Jason Derulo’s Ridin Solo. I’m not really sure why Jason felt like he needed to sample that song in order for Ridin Solo to be a success, but like I said in my title, everybody these days are sampling songs.
Back in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s song sampling was a rare occurrence. Most of the time it was used as a baseline or back-beat to a rap song. For example a good and legal use of sampling was Rick James’ Super Freak in M.C. Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This. Unlike Hammer Time, a completely bad and most likely illegal case of sampling was Vanilla Ice’s use of Queen’s and David Bowie’s Under Pressure baseline in his song Ice Ice Baby. Vanilla claimed that the baseline was different (see interviews on MTV), but it wasn’t. It was freakishly the same. Yet these days sampling is running rampant over the airwaves.
In 2009 and 2010 alone I can think of at least 10 sampled songs off the top of my head. According to www.whosampled.com in 2010, so far, there have been 365 songs that have used samples! Most of these songs are hip hop/rap but some of them may surprise you. Take for example, B.O.B. Many of you may not really think much of B.O.B since his only tracks to date have been collaborations with Bruno Mar’s Nothin On You and with Hayley Williams of Paramore in the track Airplanes from his upcoming release “The Adventures of Bobby Ray”. Now I was surprised at the track he sampled, mostly, because in some weird way I felt like a song should be around 10 years old before it is sampled. Then, in a way, a rebirth could make the song fresh again. But B.O.B doesn’t feel the same way. On his track Not Lost B.O.B and TI sample Coldplay’s Lost. That song came out in 2008! Seriously!
Then there are a few songs where the samplings aren’t as heinous in my opinion. Take for example Enrique Iglesias’s I Like It which samples the 80’s classic Lionel Richie’s All Night Long. Call me what you will, but I would totally party, carumba, and fiesta with Enrique.And yes there are a lot of reasons why I shouldn’t like his music, but I can’t actually help myself. So when he sampled Lionel I was totally cool with it. Again as stated earlier, the songs should at least be 10 years older, and he met that category head on.
One could argue that songs like Right Round by Flo Rida and Kesha which sampled another 80’s classic You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive, took what was a campy 80’s song(best known to the 2000’s generation, as the song from the beginning scene of wedding singer) and made it popular again. Adversely, one could say that they took a song which noone knows , and made it into their own song; So that ten years from now, when another artist samples Right Round, the generation 2000’s will be telling their children, “oh that song was by Flo Rida” (and not be Dead or Alive).
My worst sampling offender award goes to Eminem who sampled no less than 6 songs on his upcoming album “Recovery.” Don’t get me wrong, I love Em, and “Recovery” is one of my most anticipated releases for me this summer, but 6 songs seems like a lot. Couldn’t he get some more new material like he did for his song Love the way you lie as opposed to sampling such artists as Black Sabbath (Changes) and Leslie Gore (You Don’t Own Me)? The worst sampling choice he possibly could have made (some may argue it as a stroke of genius) was using Haddaway’s one crossover hit What is Love which is only known to me for its use in the Night At The Roxbury sketches. Really Eminem what were you thinking?
Obviously there’s the good and bad about sampling. I can’t say that I don’t get excited every time I hear the opening bars of Edge of Seventeen, only to find out that it is the Stevie Nicks version instead of the awesome Bootylicious. I also can’t say that Black Eyed Peas use of The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Maps amazing guitar baseline in their song Meet Me Halfway is bad at all. Yet, I’m still on the fence about a lot of samples like Justin Bieber’s hit Love Me’s use of the Cardigans classic, or Iyaz’s use of Janet Jackson’s song Again in his song Solo.
Getting back to Ridin Solo, as catchy as the song is (the song is being hailed by EW as the second breakout hit of the summer) I still feel semi offended by its use of Bittersweet symphony. But then I found out, while researching for this blog, that the Verve themselves used the Andrew Oldham Orchestra’s orchestral version of the Rolling Stones Last Time for the base of their entire hit. So who is Jason Derulo really sampling? The Verve? Or the Stones?
Food For Thought: Does Gaga’s Alejandro sample Ace of Base’s Don’t Turn Around? Check both of the songs out here and let me know. http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/19324/Lady%20Gaga-Alejandro_Ace%20of%20Base-Don%27t%20Turn%20Around/
*To hear all the songs mentioned in this article, check out the supplemental music box on the right. All the songs, when clicked on, will bring you to a youtube video of the song.
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