Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/01/24/the-most-sampled-drum-loop-in.html
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This is an older video, that goes into excellent detail on this same topic: (2004)
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Mary Mary, Michael Nesmith and the Monkees? Wot? https://youtu.be/JuBiVxEaRxw
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My guess was either Amen Brother or the Funky Drummer break
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It’s amazing, when you think about it, that someone can make a whole “explainer” video about this drum break and even talk about “putting a face” to the break and giving recognition for it… but then stopping at the guy who first put in into an industry compilation, with no mention of the drummer whose playing was the source of everything here! It was Gregory Coleman, and he died homeless in 2006. There’s your fucking music industry for you.
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EXACTLY!
Some guy copies something and gets all the kudos?
(Plus the 3,000 sessions no drummers got employed for?)
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I think the fact that the Amen helped create the entire jungle/drum-and-bass genre is what put it over the top. Funky Drummer, and Synthetic Substitution would probably come next.
They actually slow down the break on Ultimate Breaks and Beats-- the song plays at normal speed until the break when suddenly it’s at 33.3rpm for the drums, then comes back in at 45, which annoys people who buy the LP for the song, not the break.
The fact that Breakbeat Lou is not afraid to publicly acknowlege his connection to the UBB LPs is strange-- those LPs were bootlegs themselves, they didn’t license any of those tracks (and the fact that they later got re-bootlegged is pretty meta.)
(Also: peep the short cameo by Lord Finesse.)
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With that volume of referencing, does that mean The Winstons finally get tenure?
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So I assume Who Sampled uses the liner notes on songs to determine which drum sample was used. Because given the similarity between the Amen Brother break and Funky Drummer break, and the ways in which the samples were manipulated by various artists, I don’t know how else you could determine which was used.
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No interview with any of the members of The Winstons? Felt like a missed opportunity, at least quote their thoughts on the sampling
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I expected to find the drum solo completely strange to me (I’m really not very musical), but this time I was wrong. Yeah, that’s familiar all right.
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How the smallest thing can propagate and mutate through a thousand iterations without losing its identity is cool.
I first learned about the Amen Break from Cory’s 2006 post. Since then, I’ve noticed it everywhere.
PS: Is it ironic to read Mark’s article and think, “This sounds familiar,” when it’s regarding a break about which I think, “This sounds familiar”?
PPS: Wow, I’ve been reading Boing Boing a long time…
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This is a pretty nice overview on what’s probably the most popular sample ever - the Stravinsky Firebird orchestra stabs that showed up in practically every 80s/90s rnb/hip-hop song.
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Twenty Thousand Hertz did a nice podcast on this a while back - https://www.20k.org/episodes/amenbreak
No, WhoSampled is like Wikipedia, all info is put into the database manually.
Also, most people who use the Amen break don’t credit the original song.
It’s the Wilhelm Scream of pop music.
Once producers caught wind of the solo, it took off, going on to change music forever.
Did it? That’s a pretty expansive conclusion. Change. Music. Forever.
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That’s a great video. If only it wasn’t for the narrator’s Ambien voice.
Laugh now, but when there’s “Bill Graham Presents: Jungle Fest 600” on Alpha Centauri in the year 3096 you’ll be feeling dumb.
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