My first comes from “Angel” by Shaggy & Rayvon. Never in a million years would I have thought that the guitar hook from Steve Miller’s “The Joker” and the melody from Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning” would have melded into a hip-hop tune, yet here we are. Well done, Shaggy & Rayvon.
My second comes from “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss” by PM Dawn. They took a melancholic Yacht-Rock song, combined it with the drum hook that is literally one of the building blocks upon which Rap and Hip-Hop are built, and produced a banger. PM Dawn should have been a much bigger band.
Oh boy, this could get me started, but the first one that came to mind is Beck’s “Jack-Ass”. He took the backing track of Them’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, especially the famous organ part, and built a new, also exciting song around it.
Guess who got the credit: Dylan. I bet Van Morrison was fuming…
I’ve heard it said that Paul’s Boutique, by the Beastie Boys, couldn’t get made today because of all the sampling they did. There are hundreds of examples. My favorite is probably the Jaws theme in Egg Man
Daft Punk’s “Face to Face” contains a number of song samples, though the group have apparently never officially listed the songs sampled.
A few of the songs were easily identified by fans early on: “Evil Woman” and “Can’t Get It Out of My Head” by Electric Light Orchestra, “House at Pooh Corner” by Loggins and Messina, and “Old and Wise” by the Alan Parsons Project. Internet sleuths have identified additional songs, by the Doobie Brothers, Poco, and Boz Scaggs, among others.
I must confess that I love a good mashup (hey, they’re not hiding that they’re sampling). One of my favorites that I go back to often is 2 Many DJs’ No Fun - Push It. Salt 'N Pepa and The Stooges are a great combo.
Honorable mention goes to DJ BC’s Beastles. Mother Nature’s Rump is particularly good.
Fantastic choice for your OP! Like Happy, I never realized “The Joker” was sampled on that song. I knew “Angel of the Morning.” The original was by Merrilee Rush. I still have my 45.
I once heard a mashup of “Riders on the Storm” by the Doors, and Blondie’s “Rapture.” They’re in the same key and have the same tempo, so the Doors’ vocal track was combined with Blondie’s music. It was weird, that’s for sure.
