03-02-2005, 02:02 AM
Occhidiangela,Mar 1 2005, 04:23 PM Wrote:For my money, whatever sonofabiscut first thought that sampling someone else's music for their own was a good idea needs to be fed into a woodchipper. Sure, it is the same idea as the classical composer's habit of concocting "variations on a theme" by "so and so" but the modern shape of that strikes me as having hit the point of diminishing returns right out of the gate.
My distaste for that habit started when MC Hammer abused Rick James' "Super Freak" (a great party tune) and was not helped by such messes as made with rapping/sampling "Walk This Way." (With Steve Tyler's full endorsement and participation.) Bah, it sells, sure, but BAH, it smells!
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I have mixed opinions on DJs and sampling. It allows a lot of freedom for lyrical focus. It also allows great dance mixes. I think the "problem" is that the MC gets the cover, but the mainstream (read: young white surburban American) is less interested in the lyrical art of rap than they are in good dance tracks (this may be changing, but it was certainly the case at the time of the examples you give). The end result is that Hammer turns into a star by being a front man for a DJ who picks good source material. Meanwhile, the street poets struggle at the open mic nights. However, is this really any different from Paula Abdul or Madonna getting the credit for singing dance tracks made by slick producers? I think it's just an inevitable consequence of musical recording/editting/playback processes getting good enough to be useful. The singer/rapper in front gives the music the basic lyrics and personality that people cling to, which are probably the main things that holds techno back.
People will always want to dance, so the popular music will always accomodate that. All other music is the stuff on the perimeter that mix together to influence the direction of dance music.