The Amen Break - Historic Content

Mar 23, 2008 at 7:31 PM
2 comments

Originally published at ::: Vibes N Scribes :::. You can comment here or there.

From YouTube: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.

2 comments

Comments

fascinating video fresh - we particularly liked the stuff about zero-g - we had a huge run in with time and space - time and space distribute for zero-g who in turn distribute for yamaha - we nearly ended up taken them to court - we managed to sort stuff out though when karlos settled things with Ed who set up both companies. They sent us some virtual software as fair compensation for trying to rip us off. The copyright issues on their products were just so absurd, we respect the majority of rights and agree that there does need to be regulation and laws but some of the copyright issues are just taken too far. We made the point that if we obeyed all their copyright law to the letter, we could not actually use the product they sold to us and none of us would be able to even use the english language ever again because essentially, like musical notes, they have been used before and appear on vinyl and cd's and so if madonna sung the lines, quicker than a ray of light, by applying the full rules, no one else can say quicker than a ray of light ever again without madonna's permission. No one would be able to play a g-minor chord and no one would be able to play a c-power chord ever again. To adhere to the rules, before you release anything, you would have to check with companies like Zero-G whether or not they have any products in their warehouse that contain the same notional arrangement or the same chord progression. They even state that you cant use the same sound or something similar to a sound that is contained on one of their library cd's. So if you have any instrument at all that they have on a cd which is most of them, artists are breaking the law. So really, none of us are allowed to play a guitar or a piano or synthesizer without breaking the law and if any one does, time and space and or zero-g can take them to court and the defendant would have to pay time and space's and zero-g's lawyers wages and all court costs. That's the deal in the uk right now. Unless of course you can get them to send you free software instead ; ]

The Amen break is one serious drum kick and the dude that hit that up was on fire. Great post fresh..... we will be checking your podcast sunday if it's finished up and loaded.