What are some of your favorite uses of samples (riffs copied from another, usually older, song) in recent pop music?
Mine would have to be Someone To Call My Lover by Janet Jackson, which loops the opening riff from America’s Ventura Highway. This song has a great beat and wonderful vocals (though the line about the “funky car” is kind of awkward.) I think that is a very classy and graceful use of a great classic riff.
On the other end, there’s that shitty song by Jessica Simpson that samples Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp. That one does NOT make a good use of the song, in my opinion.
In the world of rap, I’d have to go with De La Soul and their song Eye Know which samples the horn riffs from Peg by Steely Dan (actually I think it’s a replica, not a straight-up sample.) But it’s used very well.
As much as I should dislike Rihanna - she embodies much of what I loathe with a passion in Top 40 music - I still love the use of Tainted Love in her second single, SOS. The song uses so much of the sample that it is probably more accurate to call it an hommage, but call it what you will, it’s damn catchy.
Totally different songs. The Queen/Bowie version went ding ding ding dingy ding-ding. Vanilla’s went ding ding ding ding dingy ding-ding. Show Vanilla some respect. That ding is all original, baby.
Jill Sobule’s ‘Cinnamon Park’ uses the basic piano line for Chicago’s ‘Saturday in the Park’ to celebrate getting stoned at a park and listening to a battle of the bands. GREAT song made all the better for the sampling.
Spoon’s song “Back to the Life” is either sampling or doing an incredible job of covering John Bonham’s drumbeat from “Black Country Woman.” It gives the song exactly the lurching rhythm it needs, so good on them for making it work.
Soho’s “Hippy Chick” samples the opening guitar riff of The Smith’s “How Soon is Now,” which is one of the coolest guitar bits around. But that was a while ago.
I don’t know if it counts as a sample, but Billy Paul’s Me and Mrs. Jones started with a horn lead in that was the music from Doris Day’s Secret Love. I thought that was very effective.
Also, Sublime’s use of Gershwin’s Summertime worked very well in that band’s work by the same name. It also contains one of my all time favorite gotcha lyrics, “I want to hold her…head under water.” I didn’t see that coming.
ETA: Sorry, you asked for recent, but I am going to leave the post.