easy_as_ wrote:I like my music too and I remember having a couple of good conversations with Sploshman about this type of subject, if not these actual examples !
For the record I like a bit of Rap / Hip-Hop . . . . . I even have De La Soul and Cypress Hill in my collection. Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five . . . . another great exponent . . . .
but also you had bands like Big Audio Dynamite sampling not only music but film dialogue from obscure films too ( Performance, starring Mick Jagger ! ) . . . . Stars on 45 and Jive Bunny were merely mixing tracks the latter being especially extremely annoying in the extreme ( sic ).
I think what might give some kind of credibility to sampling and looping, is for artists to create their own samples and loops . . . .
. . . for example Revoloution Number 9 on the White Album by the Beatles has any amount of samples and loop tracks on it.
Mostly created in the studio by George Martin and Paul McCartney, I think. It is, it has to be said, quite unlistenable if in the wrong mood.
Also, another famous example at the hands of George Martin, the second half of Strawberry Fields is replayed backwards with the singing on top . . . . . in a similar vein the Stone Roses did this with ' Don't Stop ' ( ' Waterfall ' in reverse ) on their lauded eponnymous debut album.
I am sure artists like Captain Beefheart ( with the exception of ' Safe As Milk ' ) and Frank Zappa have made experimental forays into this technology, as it was very new at the time.
The kit may have changed but the talent still has to be there, and while they didn't sample prominent artists of the recent yesteryear, there were artists in the 60's doing similar cover versions of some songs that to me are at best the same as the original.
In fact, there were numerous rip-offs of obscure Rock and Blues men, such as Arthur Cruddup who wrote ' That's Alright, Mama ' the Elvis Presely hit and ' Bear Cat ' by Rufus Thomas which for all the world sounds like it inspired another Presely hit . . . ' Hound Dog ' . . . . . . and if you go into how much Reggae and Ska has borrowed from each others tracks. . . . .
. . . . . erm, how long
do you have to spare ?
Nobody ever complains that the Rolling Stones were just a blues covers band and never really broke the mould too much for their own songs . . . or that Led Zeppelin were a Heavy Blues band, is that a new Genre ? Admittedly they rocked out too, but they indulged in the Blues throughout their albums.
Punk is just Rock 'n' Roll updated wih a new agression . . . . for the Sex Pistols, The Damned and The Clash read Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Hailey even Elvis.
Nothing is new or original, for example the latest cycle is to dig up the Eighties, Razorlight for example on their stonking new tune ' In The Morning ' borrows heavily from Blondie ( Atomic bassline ) Talking Heads ( Road To Nowhere drums ) . . . . and dabbles in Doobie Brothers territory for a little of Long Train Running . . . . admittedly that is a 90's hit ( originally recorded in 1973 ).
I might also add that The Killers on ' Hot Fuss ' particularly the first track Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine,
sounds like a hybrid of Duran Duran bassline and Robert Smith ( The Cure ) vocals.
A good thing.
Now for a bad thing.
Jet were, for me, the biggest culprit of recent times, with the admittedly catchy ' Are You Gonna Be My Girl ' with the Lust For Life drum beat. The whole album ' Get Born ' was a load of oh so clever musical references it lost any charm it might have had, or it could be seen as a rip off of certain tracks, two more examples of this are ' Look What You've Done ' ( Sexy Sadie - The Beatles ) and the tile of the last track ' Sgt Major ' references clearly a prominent lyric from a Paul McCartney and Wings song called . . . .
. . . . yes, you guessed it JET ! Hey,
Look what THEY'VE done !
See what I did there ?
Actually, to come clean on the Lust for life drum beat, you may have not realised but it appears on the Jam's ' A Town called Malice ' ( in the opening bassline )
and now I come to think about it I think even Cosy Powell might have used it on ' Dance With The Devil ' . . . .
. . and who can dare forget ' You Can't Furry Love ' by Phil Collins . . . . . and break !
The point is, after all that, is that there is enough to criticise on a plageristic basis in guitar and instrument based pop, let alone delve into the world of electronic music, dance music and sampling . . . . . . . christ there has been crap in that genre when a decent sample might have helped even.
Although God only knows ( the blasphemy not the the Beach Boys track ) what could have possibly saved Crystal Waters classic ' Gypsy Woman '
that has appalled me every single day since I first heard it. Oh the pain. To quote Joy Division . . . . When will it end ? When Will It End ?
Anyway, I now think it's time to go and sit in a dark room, and think of how I can mash Omibus ( The Move ) and Magic Bus ( the Who ) together,
including any lyric that mentions busses or bus stops, Madness's ' Cardiac Arrest ' has one such line . . .
. . . if you do not hear from me again soon, assume that I am busy on a masterpiece !!!!!!!
exhaustedly,
easy_as_
.
).
.
