Kraftwerk has influenced a tremendous number of musicians, but it’s also remarkable how many musicians have directly sampled the seminal electronic band’s music.
This short video documents some of the musicians that have used samples of Kraftwerk in their music, ranging from Sir Mix-A-Lot to Pink to New Order to DJ Shadow, and in the 80s, 90’s, 00’s through today.
The sequence is missing what Coldplay did with one of their song on Computer World.
Technically, that’s not actually a sample. They only used the melody. It’s called plagiarism. Still doesn’t make it right. It disgusts me how these artists not only steal other’s work, but brazenly claim it to be their own! I’ve played songs to new friends who don’t even realise the origins of music they love. Shameful
Not a huge Coldplay fan, but in their defense, they did actually ask for, and receive permission from Kraftwerk to use the “Computer Love” riff for “Talk”.
Kraftwerk also (obviously) received a songwriting credit.
Between Kraftwerk and the Gary Numan version of the same all I can say is does anyone make original music anymore? and if they did would anyone care?
Urgh. There’s always new, original music being released. You just have to look for it yourself. Try non-English speaking regional scenes for a start (Durban & Shanghai had some great club music scenes going).
In terms of care, Resident Advisor gave Svbcvlt label of the month in January. Pitchfork reviewed Slikback last October & heaped praise on him. Bleep gave Jlin’s Black Origami album of the year in 2017. Those are pretty mainstream websites with large audiences.
Please don’t mix up personal taste with originality, it’ll close your mind to all kinds of interesting things.
something something origin of detroit techno
unfortunately kraftwerk never sampled anyone with the exception of their own voices.
What about when they sampled Texas Instruments Speak and Spell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgNAqh4Mg9Q
I personally have no problem with sampling. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve discovered the original artists because riffs and rhythms have been used in hip hop tunes. Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, DJ Shadow all come to mind for bringing all sorts of music to my attention. That said I’m interested in where these things come from. Maybe the average pop punter in the street just takes what they’re hearing at face value and doesn’t check out the original artist?
Here here, that era of & approach to hip hop is a gateway to all kinds of great music. Sampling’s an underrated artform.
To be fair to the average punter, its not like producers who sample are always clear about their sources. A lot of them didn’t credit the source partly so the they didn’t get hit with publishing fees & partly out of the old DJ thing of hiding what you’re playing so the punters go to you for the tunes.
The liner notes to any of the great & accessible sample based albums (first that came to mind were Endtroducing & Donuts). The vast majority of what Shadow used isn’t credited & Dilla/Stones Throw didn’t credit anything. It takes a certain kind of nerd to go & track down where those breaks & riffs came from.
Here here. That era of & approach to hip hop is great. I’ve also discovered a bunch of amazing music I’d never hear elsewhere through sampling. David Axelrod RIP.
But a lot of those producers deliberately didn’t credit their sources partly to avoid royalties or to compromise their work, and partly because of the old DJ thing of not letting people find out what they were spinning so they maintained their following. It’s not like they made it easy for the average punter.
Go have a read of the liner notes for any of the easily accessible & highly regarded sample based albums (Endtroducing & Donuts came to mind first). Shadow didn’t credit much & Dilla/Stones Throw didn’t credit anything.
It takes a special kind of nerd to find out what that break or riff’s from & then search out the original.
Sorry if this is a double post, think I stuffed the first go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgNAqh4Mg9Q