Or rather, song connections I didn’t know about.
Sampling songs has been around for a while, and is an acceptable practice if done right. I am not sure how many of the ones I’ve listed here are legally done, but here are some that caught my attention.
Messing Around — Pitbull feat. Enrique
This song was playing at a club on a friday night. Something in me told me I knew this song and I Shazammed it immediately. It said Pitbull feat. Enrique. But I knew it from somewhere else. I got home and looked it up and it was ‘Take it on the run’ by REO Speedwagon. Turns out Messin around includes a sample from the 80s hit, from the album Hi Infidelity.
| I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who
Heard it from another that you been messin’ around |
Nevermind — Nirvana
I’ve been a huge fan of Nirvana. Their song Nevermind is almost a slowed down replica of Eighties by the band Killing Joke. Apparently, Nirvana initially considered holding off releasing the song as a single. Killing Joke considered legal action, but the unfortunate death of Kurt Cobain, stopped them from doing it. The lead singer of Killing Joke later said, “…It’s a short f — king life, mate — we could be going fishing or doing something sensible,”
One of my favorite vocalists, Dave Grohl, the drummer of Nirvana and the front man of Foo fighters, happens to be a big fan of Killing Joke, and he chose to help them out by playing drums on their 2003 album titled Killing Joke.
The Pretender — Foo Fighters
The intro to these songs does sound similar— and I found this gem. I was so glad to see there were other people who saw the similarity. I don’t know if this could be really categorized as ‘sampling’, but every time the intro to The Pretender plays, I end up humming Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin instead.
Best Song Ever — One Direction
#Donttouchbestsongever
OK! THE WHO has to be the greatest band that’s out there, and I never thought anyone could have replicated or sampled their songs.
But turns out One Direction has done it. The song Best Song Ever (Really? Don’t think so) sounds like one of my favorite songs of all time — Baba O’ Reily. Although I am a huge fan of Harry Styles now, I was never particularly a fan of One Direction. I never listened to any of their songs.
The Who were quite furious when they learnt about this song, and wanted it to be taken off of YouTube. But the One Direction fan base took to twitter and started the #Donttouchbestsongever trend. The song is still up on Youtube with a whopping 652 Million views.
Locked Out of Heaven— Bruno Mars
The first version of Locked out of Heaven I heard was Khaya Cohen’s audition on The X Factor USA 2013. She rendered an acoustic, slow version of the song. I went to YouTube to find the song. When I heard the original, I found the guitars to be glaringly similar to Roxanne by The Police.
When I started reading about it, I discovered Bruno Mars had in fact no problem with the comparisons. Neither do I, both songs are great 🙂
It’s My Life — Bon Jovi
This is not particularly about sampling music, but if It’s my Life is your only favorite song by Bon Jovi (because it played on repeat on iTV), then you’re missing out on some really good music made by the band. The lyric in the song, “…It’s for Tommy and Gina who never backed down”, is actually a reference to a song from the 80s called Livin on a Prayer.
Livin’ on a Prayer hit №1 in 1987, and stayed there for four weeks. It’s the tale of a working class couple, Tommy and Gina, who struggled to make ends meet and vowed to ‘…hold on to what we’ve got’. Ever since, the names of the two characters have become a part of rock mythology.
Wild Thoughts — DJ Khaled ft. Rihanna, Bryson Tiller
When I first listened to this track, I realized it was literally Maria, Maria by Santana. The song basically samples Maria, Maria, and you can’t miss it. For a second I thought maybe Wild Thoughts was bringing back this classic hit of the late 90s.
This song has been a catchy hit ever since its release, but a lot of young people listening to this new song probably wouldn’t know the connection, so here it is. Carlos Santana is counted among the 25 Greatest Guitarists of all time.
Have you discovered any other songs that sound similar? Let me know.
Hope you enjoyed reading this. I will be writing more content like this.
Love,
Rad All Day.
Rad All Day 