Mark Ronson on Sampling and Music

Mark Ronson, the producer behind Winehouse’s “Back to Black” shows off his prestidigitation with technology and sampling and creativity. I had always regarded sampling, at the time, as a sort of creativity infringement. I think that Ronson makes me think otherwise.

I also think that the postmodern aesthetic also supports sampling. I remember Eddie van Halen complaining upon hearing a Tone Loc song that “Those are Alex’s Drums!” (in “Funky Cold Medina” from Van Halen’s “Jamie’s Cryin’”). I think that’s exactly the point. Tone could have gotten any drummer to play that big tom-tom fill, but it’s that they were Alex van Halen’s tom fills that were used that seems significant. I think we see this a lot in internet memes. It’s not just that it’s some adult saying “Hey fellow kids,” it’s Steve Buscemi saying it.

Mark Ronson: how sampling transformed music