# Which hit single was most dependent on a sample? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745 "2019-06-19T15:32:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/21 "2019-06-19T19:32:28Z")
The aforementioned “I’ll Be Missing You” and “U Can’t Touch This” are two of the biggest hits that come to mind for me. And I agree that samples can be wonderful and creative af (I think “Jump Around” is a creative mix), but those two examples strike me as quite lazy. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/22 "2019-06-19T19:35:34Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Ice, Ice Baby. Thread should have been closed right here. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/23 "2019-06-19T20:52:49Z")
[Tone Loc’s Wild Thing](https://youtu.be/387ZDGSKVSg) rests heavily on the sampled Alex Van Halen drum roll riff. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/24 "2019-06-19T21:29:49Z")
What was the Beastie Boys song that ripped off Zeppelin’s, “The Ocean”? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/25 "2019-06-19T21:31:45Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Personal opinion #1: I disagree, I think the sampling makes the song. > > Personal opinion #2: I’m having so much fun learning new things in this thread that I kinda wish the question asked was not “which hit single was most dependent on a sample?” but simply “which hit single used which sample?”. Maybe the thread will go that way anyways. Go try out [WhoSampled.com](https://www.whosampled.com/Will-Smith/Wild-Wild-West/) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/26 "2019-06-19T21:38:30Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > What was the Beastie Boys song that ripped off Zeppelin’s, “The Ocean”? [She’s Crafty](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tif1C6dwH6o). The Beasties had a soft spot for [Led Zep](https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beastie-boys-led-zeppelin-licensed-to-ill/). ETA: Not mentioned in the article: The drum lead into [What Comes Round](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNfdgxUDEGA) is from Moby Dick. Not that Led Zep ever ripped somebody off… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/27 "2019-06-19T21:58:17Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > \ Not that Led Zep ever ripped somebody off… \ Heaven forfend. 🙂 Did the Beasties’ “You Gotta Fight (For Your Right)” or “Girls” have sampling in them? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/28 "2019-06-19T22:07:35Z")
Winner and still champion even after 60 years: [The Flying Saucer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Saucer_(song)). It samples from 17 songs of the time, and reached number 3. Without the sampling, the song does not exist. [Here’s the song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCrn6QXvHLg) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/29 "2019-06-19T22:15:50Z")
^ Oh, no! that’s Dickie Goodman, who had some hits in the early '70s (like “Mr. Jaws”) using the same technique. You’re a monster, **Chuck**! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/30 "2019-06-20T11:11:08Z")
[Symphonies - Dan Black / Kid Cudi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWWG75lLemA) samples the soundtrack to the film “Starman”. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/31 "2019-06-20T14:49:07Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Winner and still champion even after 60 years: [The Flying Saucer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Saucer_(song)). It samples from 17 songs of the time, and reached number 3. Without the sampling, the song does not exist. > > [Here’s the song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCrn6QXvHLg) I wouldn’t call that sampling tho - not in the same sense as the aforementioned IceIceBaby and others that try and ‘hide’ the samples as their own - ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/32 "2019-06-20T15:15:16Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I wouldn’t call that sampling tho - not in the same sense as the aforementioned IceIceBaby and others that try and ‘hide’ the samples as their own - 1. As mentioned, Ice Ice Baby’s riff is not a sample, it’s a plain ripoff of Under Pressure, but one that was played ‘fresh’. 2. ‘Sample’ does not mean ‘ripoff’. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/33 "2019-06-20T15:37:23Z")
Just FYI: If we’re talking hip-hop, be aware that almost 100% of every hip-hop song ever produced is built on one of just ten major “break beats”: [https://www.whosampled.com/news/2010/04/29/the-10-most-sampled-breakbeats-of-all-time/](https://www.whosampled.com/news/2010/04/29/the-10-most-sampled-breakbeats-of-all-time/) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/34 "2019-06-20T15:50:14Z")
Pretty much everything from WIll Smith. Not just the aforementioned MiB, but also Wild Wild West and more. Does anyone remember that song that was almost a beat-for-beat ripoff of “Ignition”, but didn’t sample it. All it did was mirror the tone almost exactly. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/35 "2019-06-22T14:32:05Z")
Sample also doesn’t have to mean “another song”. [Me So Horney - 2 Live Crew](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYqSgWFgGxM) [Joker and Rafterman meet a prostitute - Full Metal Jacket](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EKqDCFcIck) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745/36 "2019-06-22T16:15:02Z")
I don’t think the EMF song _unbelievable_ would have been much of a song without the Andrew Dice Clay samples. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hit-single-was-most-dependent-on-a-sample/835745.md?page=1)