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Songs that made great samples
- Thread starter Gopherbassist
- Start date
There is no greater sample than this one. How many songs have used the little snippet of a drum fill? Tens of thousand? Hundreds of thousands? No song has ever been copied more.
The Winstons - Amen, Brother
The Winstons - Amen, Brother
My understanding is that "The Funky Drummer" by James Brown is one of the most sampled songs ever.
This is 18 minutes long but is a fascinating audio piece on the Amen Break. Some of the references are dated because it was produced 20 years ago.
whosampled.com logs 2200 samples of "Funky Drummer" but that's not even the most-sampled track that James Brown produced ("Think About It" by Lyn Collins, 4400 samples).
Combined they don't match The Winston's "Amen Brother" (7700 samples).
Since whosampled works on user contributions it's pretty well guaranteed to be incomplete.
How fortunate that modern 'musicians' don't have to think up entirely original music.
Or play well. In time. In tune. Or sing well.
Cut
Paste
Quantize
Auto-Tune
Press Play.
Shooting virtual fish in a digital barrel.
Or play well. In time. In tune. Or sing well.
Cut
Paste
Quantize
Auto-Tune
Press Play.
Shooting virtual fish in a digital barrel.
Amen, Brother has been sampled well more than that. How many dance club songs have used it with no attribution and without being cataloged? How many songs have used it without anyone noticing? How many songs have been created without the author even knowing the song Amen, Brother even exists?
Nah, you're doing it the hard way...
Log in to Suno
Type vague description of what you want
Copy/Paste the lyrics ChatGPT wrote for you
Hit "Download"
I know people have been "Saying it for decades", but can we FINALLY admit that it takes no talent to do that?
Sure. I qualified my post by saying more or less that.
But if we can assume the ratio of reported/missed is fairly consistent across each example, we can still get a sense of how much more popular one source is compared to another.
Wow! I've been playing bass for over 50 years and have been listening to music most of my 68 years on earth and I don't recognize any of these or have a clue what this is all about. 
Bob James has a few songs sampled over 1,000 times including “Nautilus”. Kraftwerk too with Trans Europe Express and Autobahn.
Here's a few:
Without getting too political...
This one helped put hip hop on the map:
Miami:
Without getting too political...
This one helped put hip hop on the map:
Miami:
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
And... how many were sampled and the original artists never got properly compensated? I know quite a few people who call themselves 'producers' who find records, sample stuff, never credit the original artists, and act like they're creating something 'new'. IMO, if you're going to use samples - sample things you capture yourself.... nature sounds, percussion sounds/loops you create. Sampling IS an art, but it's often used as a crutch
Michael McDonald's I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near) famously sampled by Warren G as Regulate.
First the sampled one
and here's the original:
First the sampled one
and here's the original:
Michael McDonald's I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near) famously sampled by Warren G as Regulate.
First the sampled one
and here's the original:
I had no idea Warren G sampled Michael McDonald! Mind blown!
One of my favorites has always been Lens sample of Andrea Tru Connection's More, More, More (sample at approximately 2:20) in Steal My Sunshine :
Much less cheesy than its famous cover... 
However. Kudos to Nazareth for making this their own...
However. Kudos to Nazareth for making this their own...
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