20th Century Songs Sampled into 21st Century Hits: The Top 5

When I listened to certain songs from the 00s and 10s there's something familiar in them I know I had heard before, but couldn't place them. I wouldn't call them remakes, because that is not the case. Instead, it is what's known as sampling. I'll hear a song from this current century that parts of it was taken from the previous century from a well-known hit or obscure track.

Incidentally sampling is not a new phenomenon brought on by early hip hop music. It occurred as early as 1967 when The Beatles released "All You Need is Love" with a sample of the French national anthem in the intro . There are five contemporary hit songs that have samples from songs coming from the mid-to-late 60s, 70s and late 80s. The links will feature the current hit and the original song where the sample came from. You will be amazed how the samplings fit right in.

5.) The Heavy/Dyke and The Blazers - "How You Like Me Now?" and "Let A Woman Be A Woman"

If you watched the 2010 Super Bowl you were introduced to the song by The Heavy titled "How You Like Me Now?" It was the Kia Sorento car commercial with children's toys like the Sock Monkey, Muno from "Yo Gabba Gabba", Mr. X, Robot and a cuddly teddy bear. These toys were going for a joyride in the Kia as a dream fantasy sequence. This song and commercial were a huge hit for the English band heavily influenced by R&B. The sampled song that opens "How You Like Me Now?" came from a 1960s minor hit titled "Let A Woman Be A Woman" by Dyke and The Blazers. That group did have a hit in 1967 with "Funky Broadway."

4.) Rihanna/Michael Jackson - "Don't Stop the Music" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"

Her 2007 hit single, "Don't Stop the Music" featured at the 2:35 mark, has the sampling from Michael Jackson's 1982 hit "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" chant of "mama-se, mama-sa, ma-ma-koo-sa." It's a great moment in the music video when the whole dance club is getting into that African mantra.

3.) Black Eyed Peas/Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes - "The Time (Dirty Bit) and "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"

To me this is more of an example of a remake rather than a sampling, even though they only sample the chorus line in it. Otherwise, this song by the Black Eyed Peas, "The Time (Dirty Bit)" released in 2010 does sound like something only space aliens would listen to. The featured chorus sample is from the closing song, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" in "Dirty Dancing", a film released in 1987. The original song is by a member of The Righteous Brothers, Bill Medley, and the female vocalist is a singer/songwriter who had another duet hit from a motion picture.

2.) Madcon/Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - 'Beggin'"

Every time I heard this song on TV I kept thinking to myself "it sounds like Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons are in it." That's because I was right all along. The Norwegian hip hop/rap duo had a huge hit in 2008 with their "Beggin'" remix/remake/sampling, whatever you'd like to call it, in their native country of Norway and throughout Europe. It did not fare very well on the charts in the U.S., but has since become better known for being featured on TV programs, commercials and a movie trailer. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were the topic of the Tony Award-winning musical "Jersey Boys." They had a minor hit with "Beggin'" back in 1967. When you listen to both versions they each sound equally amazing.

1.) Beyonce/Chi-Lites - "Crazy Love" and "Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)"

From the moment I first heard Beyonce's massive debut hit song "Crazy In Love" from 2003 I knew there was some sampling in it based on those horn riffs. It sounded too 1970s funk otherwise. When Beyonce first heard the sampling by the Chi-Lites, featuring the horns she was not liking it, since no one uses real instruments like that in 21st century recordings anymore. After a while she was sold and the rest is history. In the sample recording "Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)" the opening features that horn section much like Beyonce's version.

Did you know the most sampled artist is James Brown and Jay Z is the most sampling artist?

SOURCES:

Sampling, WhoSampled.com

Songs That Use Samples, SongFacts.com

Broadcast Yourself, YouTube.com