The Music World’s Most Sampled Loop
Hallelujah for the Amen Break! Nothing in the history of dance music has been more heavily sampled, sped up, snipped, twisted, and edited! You may not have known it when you heard it, but if you’ve even gone to one Rave in your life, I can almost guarantee you heard the Amen Break! Even if you’re not someone who attends Raves or like Electronic Dance Music, the chances are still really high that you’ve heard it! The first time I heard it was in the 1980s, although I didn’t know that was what I was listening to… The shocking news here is that it has been sampled in a total of 6062 songs, is used in a host of movie soundtracks, is the background music for many commercials, and is even used in the theme song for the animated TV show, Futurama. There’s almost zero chance you have not come in contact with it as it has saturated popular culture!
What’s strange is that The Winstons, the band that originally performed the Amen Break on the Funk classic, “Amen Brother” in 1969, never received any royalties for those thousands of times it was sampled. Fortunately, a couple years ago, a GoFundMe page was set up for the members of the band and it raised a significant amount of money to financially show the world’s appreciation. It may seem ridiculous that they never received royalties, but sampled sounds from a song do not always carry the copywrite of the song if the sample is heavily altered. Sampling is relatively new to the world of music and did not come into regular use until the early 80s with the rise of synthesizers and samplers that could pull a section of sound from a prerecorded piece of music and store it so it could be replayed or adjusted to fit the whims of the music producer using the sample. That’s not to say that someone can sample anything or any amount of a song and use it.
The rules governing the use of samples have been strictly defined. Technically, an artist needs to receive permission from the original artist for the use of a sample in a new song. To be honest though, most artists look at sampling like they would jay-walking on the criminal spectrum. Sampling is heavily used and really only goes to court if the song using the sample becomes a major hit. Court cases of note have been against people like Jay Z, Vanilla Ice, and Nicki Minaj, not some bedroom producer living in his mom’s basement!
Oddly enough. “Amen Brother” is an unlikely hero – it was not the song the record was released for, but rather it was on the b-side of the 7-inch single of the Grammy winning song, “Color Him Father”. It won the Grammy for best R&B song for that year. However, it is “Amen, Brother” that has stood the test of time as an amazing song!
Time to listen to the Amen Break. The actual Amen Break that is the funky break sampled in various forms of EDM and other popular music starts at 1:26 in. Feel free to scan in to that point, but pay particular attention to the syncopated beat pattern the drumming makes…that’s the Amen Break. It’s sampled as a 4 measure, nearly 6 second breakbeat and is looped and sped up or slowed down and ultimately contextualized to provide the rhythm backbone for whatever song it is being used in. Here, take a listen!
Here is the link to purchase the original song on vinyl on a 7-inch single on Discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/release/423956-The-Winstons-Color-Him-Father-Amen-Brother
To pick up a digital copy of the song, use the link below for Amazon Music:
In the 1980s, the advent of the sampler and turntable made the drum loop attractive to Hip Hop artists as they cut, stretched, edited, and slowed down the loop. One of the very first uses of it was in the Hip Hop classic “Straight Outta Compton” by NWA. This is actually the first place I heard the sampled Amen Break, but at the time I had no idea that the drumline was not produced by NWA, but was rather a beat from 1969! Here, take a listen!
Here’s the link to purchase the vinyl on Discogs as a reissue of the album in 180 gram vinyl:
https://www.discogs.com/release/11001616-NWA-Straight-Outta-Compton
To pick up a copy of the song or ablum use the link below for Amazon Music:
Around 1990, the drum loop made its way across the pond to the UK and into dance music history. UK producers found the Amen Break and made hearty use of it in Rave music and Jungle. One of the standout uses of the Amen Break early in the Rave scene was on the single by the British group, The Prodigy, on their song, “Firestarter”. “Firestarter” was off their third album and was their first #1 single in the UK. Use by the hugely popular group, The Prodigy, further propelled the Amen Break into the public eye and into the studios of producers who sought to mimic their sound and their success! Take a listen to how the Amen Break was used in their song, “Firestarter”.
Here’s the link to purchase the vinyl 12 inch single on Discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/release/33198-Prodigy-Firestarter
For a digital copy of the song or album use the link below for Amazon Music:
Another Rave anthem that uses the Amen Break was the awesome, “We Are I.E.” by Lenny De Ice that dropped at Raves in 1991. It’s an epic tune that makes powerful use of the Amen Break to created a fast moving, infectious groove to the hit single. This is the first record sampling the Amen Break that I myself played heavily. The original is absolutely a classic and there are bunches of reworks, edits, and remixes of it that rely on the funky, groovin power of the Amen Break. Here, take a listen!
You can purchase the 12″ single using this link to Discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/master/1725573-Lenny-D-Ice-The-House-Crew-We-Are-IE
For a digital copy of the music, use the link below for Amazon Music:
The one place the Amen Break has been more dominant than all others combined is in the genres of Jungle and Drum-N-Bass. Bridging elements of reggae, heavy bass and high speed break beats into a new sound, music producers in the 90s created the sound of Jungle. The Amen Break is completely ubiquitous in the drumlines of that style of EDM. In the mid-90s it was used in Rob Dougan’s “Clubbed to Death”. which is a great song but owes some of its fame to being featured in the movie, The Matrix. This is the Peshay remix:
Here’s the link to buy the 12 inch single with the Peshay remix on Discogs. It’s a bit pricey!
https://www.discogs.com/release/21618-Rob-Dougan-Clubbed-To-Death-2
For a digital copy use the link below for Amazon Music:
Moving into the 21st century, the Amen Break has continued to be a prolific staple in modern Drum-n-Bass music. Take a listen to this 2004 song by Calibre & High Contrast, two phenomenal artists that teamed up for the song, “Mr Majestic”.,
Here’s the link to purchase the 12 inch single on Discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/master/9558-Calibre-High-Contrast-Mr-Majestic
For a digital copy use the link below for Amazon Music:
It has also found its way into Bass Music in the last few years. Bass Music is an offshoot blend of Drum-n-Bass and Dubstep but is its own stand alone genre of EDM and is one of the most popular styles of today. It is a mainstay at large music festivals, championed by artists such as Excision and Diplo. This particular song for you to peruse that uses the Amen Break is from 2019 and is by DJ Snake & Zomboy.
Here’s the link to purchase the viny album by DJ Snake that the song is on at Discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/release/14495309-DJ-Snake-Carte-Blanche
For a digital copy of the song, use the link below for Amazon Music:
The Amen Break has been such a dominant force in dance music that it really is in a league of its own. The only other drum loop that comes close is the Apache Break, by Incredible Bongo Band, which we will explore in an upcoming episode! We hope you both enjoyed this episode and the music we shared, as well as learned something that greatens your love and appreciation of EDM’s history and roots! It really is a fascinating and rich history! Don’t lose your curiosity and love for the music and scene! Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on future articles and posts. If you subscribe you can become the Cliff Claivin of EDM history trivia! Subscribe on the link below!
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Who knew that a six second drum break would come to shape and change the face of electronic music’s future forever .
Had no idea this all started with Amen, Brother! Another great article on this awesome blog!
All hail the Amen Break! â¤ï¸â¤ï¸â¤ï¸