Samples are awesome! I’ve gotta give a hat-tip to Kevin Cole @ KEXP for showing me this one. It starts out with a classic punk-rock staple that we all know:
This is released in 1982, at the tail-end of The Clash’s arc. The song was the US single topping the release Combat Rock. The next single off of that album was Rock the Casbah, another track we all know and love.
Fast forward eight years, to 1990, and Big Audio Dynamite release this one:
The sample is obvious and the song wears its pedigree on its sleeve. Sure, it’s cheating because Big Audio Dynamite is a project lead by Mick Jones, the former lead guitarist of the Clash. But the interesting part is to look at the evolution shown in two songs that are almost the same yet wholly different.
The music has picked up an electronic tinge with lush synths in the BAD version. The Clash version is definitely low-fi when you listen to them back to back. Should I Stay is drums, guitar and vocal and all of them in your face while The Globe has a lot more depth but is less aggressive in its presentation.
Anyway, play these back-to-back for your friends and do it at high volume!
I am Galt 