Saturday, December 13, 2008

The World's Most Important 6 Second Drum Loop



This fascinating, brilliant 20-minute video narrates the history of the "Amen Break," a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music -- a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures. Nate Harrison's 2004 video is a meditation on the ownership of culture, the nature of art and creativity, and the history of a remarkable music clip.

4 comments:

steenbeck said...

Ooh, thanks Blimpy. Fascinating indeed. I think Ejay linked to this on RR a while back, but it feels good and right to have it on the 'Spill, doesn't it?

Luke-sensei said...

That really was interesting!

I recognised the 'break' straight away...there's at least one Shitmat tune that uses it extensively...

goneforeign said...

El Blimpo: I found this to be an interesting video but I couldn't help but wonder 'why'; surely someone with the most basic talent could have programmed a drum machine to create something almost identical?

Blimpy said...

hi gf - a good point - what i found interesting is how the mutations from one drumbreak pretty much spawned a new musical genre (jungle/drum and bass) which was completely different to the genre from whence it came.

i