# Most iconic samples **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254 "2014-05-26T00:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/1 "2014-05-26T00:34:23Z")
The “remakes you didn’t know were remakes” thread mentioned famous songs that sample obscure ones. That got me thinking about the most iconic samples, the ones that appear in numerous tracks although virtually no one knew the original song. For example, remember that hi-hat sound that appeared all the time around 1990? The one that appeared in songs from “Girl You Know It’s True” to “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss”? [Well here it is at 3:31.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAgY5MqpUq4) What other samples have been used multiple times in various songs? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/2 "2014-05-26T01:20:50Z")
[Ice Ice Baby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE&feature=kp). ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/3 "2014-05-26T01:22:29Z")
Sorry, I read the thread title and posted before reading the whole OP. I don’t think my suggestion counts. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/4 "2014-05-26T01:37:42Z")
There is a sound that has been sampled to death, and I don’t know it’s origin. It was everywhere in the 90’s. I call it Hamster Being Punched In The Gut. It’s a single syllable, kind of a shout, kind of a surprised shriek, sounds to me like a critter losing it’s wind. I will look for examples… ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/5 "2014-05-26T02:24:58Z")
[The Amen Break](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen_break), probably the most commonly sampled drum beat in hip-hop history. Trivia note: neither the original writer nor performer ever earned any royalties from its use. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/6 "2014-05-26T15:06:37Z")
The “Yeah! Woo!” break from Lyn Collins’ “Think (About It)” List of songs sampling it from Wikipedia (most famous example probably being “It Takes Two” by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock): [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeah!\_Woo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeah!_Woo)! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/7 "2014-05-26T15:11:34Z")
I would’ve said Apache, by the Incredible Bongo Band: > **[Apache (instrumental)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_(instrumental))** > > "Apache" is a song written by Jerry Lordan and first recorded by Bert Weedon. Lordan played the song on ukulele for the Shadows while on tour and, liking the song, the group released their own version which topped the UK Singles Chart for five weeks in mid-1960. The Shadows' guitarist Hank Marvin developed the song's distinctive echo and vibrato sound. After hearing the Shadows' version, Danish guitarist Jørgen Ingmann released a cover of the song in November 1960 which peaked at number 2 on t A ... > [@](#): > > “Apache” has been cited by Afrika Bambaataa as an early element of hip hop music with the record sampled and scratched by DJs. But it wasn’t the hit version by the Shadows, Ingmann or Weedon that Bambaataa, Kool Herc and the like turned into “hip-hop’s anthem”: it was the 1973 version by Michael Viner and an ad hoc group called the Incredible Bongo Band. They added a bongo drum intro and added more percussion. The drum break was played by legendary drummer Jim Gordon. This version was not a hit on release but became the sampled foundation of rap and hip-hop classics, reworked by hip hop performers such as the The Sugarhill Gang, L.L. Cool J, The Roots, Nas, and techno performers Future Sound of London, Moby and drum and bass acts J. Majik and Goldie.[5] > > The 2013 documentary Sample This, directed by Dan Forrer and narrated by Gene Simmons, recounts the story of the The Incredible Bongo Band and its recording of “Apache”.[11][12] ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/8 "2014-05-26T16:58:38Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > The “remakes you didn’t know were remakes” thread mentioned famous songs that sample obscure ones. That got me thinking about the most iconic samples, the ones that appear in numerous tracks although virtually no one knew the original song. For example, remember that hi-hat sound that appeared all the time around 1990? The one that appeared in songs from “Girl You Know It’s True” to “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss”? [Well here it is at 3:31.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAgY5MqpUq4) What other samples have been used multiple times in various songs? Here is a brief webpage about that sample, with a list of some other songs that used it: [http://www.crapfromthepast.com/millivanilli/thatbeat.htm](http://www.crapfromthepast.com/millivanilli/thatbeat.htm) > [@42fish](#): > > The “Yeah! Woo!” break from Lyn Collins’ “Think (About It)” > > List of songs sampling it from Wikipedia (most famous example probably being “It Takes Two” by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock): [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeah!\_Woo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeah!_Woo)! I thought it was originally from a James Brown song. Turns out that we’re both right: James Brown wrote and produced “Think About It.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/9 "2014-05-26T17:10:14Z")
My first thought was the Amen break, and, of course, [The Funky Drummer break](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5DTznu-9v0). I can’t imagine any other sample beating out either of those two. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/10 "2014-05-26T18:49:58Z")
I just stopped by to note I recently read that Phil Collins “Gated drum sound” defined the 80’s. I have to completely disagree. If we stick to ‘just drums’, then it would be electronic drums such as heard on The Cars “Heartbeat City” album. Or that ‘pong’ sound heard on Ultravox’s [We Came To Dance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiGv6qvvOQI) I don’t remember hearing much gated drum outside Phil Collins, that includes of course his appearances on a Frida and also on a Peter Gabriel album. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-iconic-samples/689254/11 "2014-05-30T12:45:24Z")
Sorry, it doesn’t meet the OP’s definition but [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSTBFZ-To2E) sampled [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSSIn55f6ow). Bizarre.