ROCK Sex says, Refine the past to redefine the future.
This is the catalyst for all culture and creativity.
In 1969, a Funky Soul group called The Winstons had a Top 10 hit with their song "Colour Him Father". The B-side was an instrumental called "Amen, Brother", and its drum solo became the basis for at least 1500 songs across the following decades!
You've heard it in everything, and you don't even know it.
Nate Harrison breaks it all down in his excellent video thesis.
- "I find this quite interesting. Hundreds of tracks, dozens of DJs, a number of clubs and events, in effect an entire subculture- based on this one drumbeat. I mean, based on six seconds from 1969."
- NATE HARRISON
-"Video explains the world's most important 6-second drum loop" (2004)
(excerpt:)
- "During the '80s, when DJs plundered old Jazz and R'n'B records looking for samples, HipHop music in particular and Electronic music in general were not the Pop phenomena and moneymakers we know them as today.
- There seemed to be a brief few sort-of glory years back then, when the novelty of sampling and the rate at which it was being employed as a new technique proved faster than the rate at which any sort of copyright bureaucracy could maintain the law. Older bits of sampling were appropriated, perhaps under the assumption of their being able to be freely used, in the spirit of a pledge to new forms.
- In other words, sampling was not seen as simply rehashing past sounds, but as an attempt to make new from something old, an artistic strategy as time-honored as creativity itself.*
- Only when these Urban forms started receiving a lot of attention and making a lot of money did people and -more importantly- Corporate bigwigs who held the copyrights to much of the back catalog of contemporary American music start cracking down on copyright violation."
© Nate Harrison, 2004.
> Nate Harrison's thesis and installation
*(italics mine)
Like the "Apache" break beat, the "Amen Corner" break is a timeless creation continually being redefined into the future.
© Tym Stevens
See Also:
• ROCK Sex: "APACHE", HipHop's Sacred Secret Beat! - Bongo Band > Bambaataa > EVERYONE EVER
• "Sing A Simple Song" - Sly Stone > Jimi Hendrix > James Gang > P-Funk > Chili Peppers > Public Enemy
• "Good Times!" - Chic > SugarHill Gang > Queen > Defunkt > Ting Tings
• ROCK Orgy: "Genius of Love"
• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist
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