MC Hammer/Superfreak/After The Fire
Chad 'Mr.B' Jackson
Everyone says that it's a rip-off of "Superfreak" by Rick James, but
to me it sounds more like After the Fire's "Der Kommissar"..
You know, the one that goes "Don't turn around, uh oh -- sha sha Der
Kommissar's in town, uh oh..." with our buddy Falco singing lead.
Oh, well. Different sounds I guess.
Chad 'Mr.B' Jackson
mis...@oak.circa.ufl.edu
"There's an angel standing in the sun"
nicest of the damned
>I've heard the new MC Hammer song "You Can't Touch This" once.
>Everyone says that it's a rip-off of "Superfreak" by Rick James, but
>to me it sounds more like After the Fire's "Der Kommissar"..
>
>You know, the one that goes "Don't turn around, uh oh -- sha sha Der
>Kommissar's in town, uh oh..." with our buddy Falco singing lead.
Wait a minute. Falco did the German-language (but with chorus, cited above,
sung in English) version of "Der Komissar"; After the Fire did a different
version with all English lyrics. I don't think Falco was ever involved with
ATF. Falco's rendition is especially memorable to me for its low-rent video,
which showed the singer running down city streets. It was painfully obvious
that he was just running in place in front of a screen showing stock footage...
You're right, though, "Der Komissar" does sound a lot like "Super Freak".
I guess that means it sounds like this new MC Hammer song, too, but I
haven't heard the latter.
-- Stewart
--
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Some people don't know shit about the air."
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Chad 'Mr.B' Jackson
>Someone who looked a lot like mis...@oak.circa.ufl.edu (Chad 'Mr.B' Jackson) said:
>Wait a minute. Falco did the German-language (but with chorus, cited above,
>sung in English) version of "Der Komissar"; After the Fire did a different
>version with all English lyrics. I don't think Falco was ever involved with
>ATF. Falco's rendition is especially memorable to me for its low-rent video,
>which showed the singer running down city streets. It was painfully obvious
>that he was just running in place in front of a screen showing stock footage...
my floor "clued me in" that Falco sang lead on it.
It STILL sounds a lot like it though.
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Jeff Dauber
>Ok...thanks for getting it straight. I knew ATF sang the song, but some guy on
>my floor "clued me in" that Falco sang lead on it.
Wrong. Falco sang his own original version of the song. After the
Fire then did a cover of the song.
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>I've heard the new MC Hammer song "You Can't Touch This" once.
>Everyone says that it's a rip-off of "Superfreak" by Rick James, but
>to me it sounds more like After the Fire's "Der Kommissar"..
Let me clear up a few misconceptions. MC Mallet isn't "ripping off" Rick
James in the sense of having his band play the riff. MC Hammer flat out
took the riff off the record. The riff is the precise one that Rick James
played when he recorded the song ten years ago. The process is called
sampling and is very widespread--especially in rap and industrial-disco
circles. There's a fair amount of controversy about it, a lot of people
believing that putting things on records that you didn't play yourself
is somehow immoral. Me, I'm not bothered when it's done well, and if
the original dudes are paid.
Secondly, the reason you're reminded of "Der Kommissar" is *it* is a
rip-off of "Superfreak". Everyone remarked on it at the time, as I
recall.
Thirdly, if you get an opportunity, look at the writer's credit on
"U Can't Touch This" and you will notice the both Rick James' name
and publishing company.
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John_Fereira
>The process is called
>sampling and is very widespread--especially in rap and industrial-disco
>circles. There's a fair amount of controversy about it, a lot of people
>believing that putting things on records that you didn't play yourself
>is somehow immoral. Me, I'm not bothered when it's done well, and if
>the original dudes are paid.
>
compose a song but the sampler just pulls a few parts out of it
and claims that it is original. Why don't they *write* something
original? Same goes for remixes. Creating an album seems to be
too easy. Just take a few samples from someone elses composition,
remix it several times and release it as an album. Get some fat guy
with an attitude and you can tour with it.
--
John Fereira
john%hp-...@hplabs.hp.com or jo...@hp-ptp.ptp.hp.com
nicest of the damned
>What bothers me about sampling is that that those "original dudes"
>compose a song but the sampler just pulls a few parts out of it
>and claims that it is original. Why don't they *write* something
>original? Same goes for remixes. Creating an album seems to be
>too easy.
Too easy for what?
Isn't it really the results that count? Did you like Boston's
"Third Stage" any better because they worked on it for an eternity?
-- Stewart
--
"Don't worry -- this is an ALL-TERRAIN vehicle!"
-- Homer Simpson
soren--Ms. Jackson if you're nasty
I don't see how it's that different from the way its always been. We've
no doubt all seen bands do so called "original" material which consists of
nothing but warmed over Chuck Berry riffs. It doesn't make that much difference
to me if they just take the riff off the record, instead of hiring some studio
hack to play it.
Also, where do you get the idea that sampling necessarily precludes "writing"?
Public Enemy or De La Soul work almost entirely with sampling, but they
create things which haven't existed before, even if the parts have all been
previously owned. I'm not saying that samplers aren't used unimaginatively--
they often are--just that there's no inherent reason why that should always
be the case, and that there *are* people who are doing good things with them,
just as there are lots of people doing really boring and derivative things with
traditional instruments.
John_Fereira
>Someone who looked a lot like jo...@hp-ptp.HP.COM (John_Fereira) said:
>
>>compose a song but the sampler just pulls a few parts out of it
>>and claims that it is original. Why don't they *write* something
>>original? Same goes for remixes. Creating an album seems to be
>>too easy.
>
>
Too easy for a group with little talent for composing a song for
creating a piece of recorded material that sells for way too
much money. I'm not picking out any particular group or any
particular genre of music. I like music that is well composed
and well played.
>Isn't it really the results that count? Did you like Boston's
>"Third Stage" any better because they worked on it for an eternity?
I'm not real familiar with Bostons "Third Stage" so I can't answer
your question.
Michael S Cluff
>
>>What bothers me about sampling is that that those "original dudes"
>>compose a song but the sampler just pulls a few parts out of it
>>and claims that it is original. Why don't they *write* something
>>original? Same goes for remixes. Creating an album seems to be
>
>Public Enemy or De La Soul work almost entirely with sampling, but they
>create things which haven't existed before, even if the parts have all been
>previously owned. I'm not saying that samplers aren't used unimaginatively--
I agree. Have you ever heard of "gestalt" in your psychology or philosophy
classes? The general claim of gestaltists is, "the whole is greater than the
sum of its parts." I think sampling, when used right, is gestalt music at its
best...
******************************************************************************
Mike Cluff * One who knows does not post;
v22964qs@ubvms or mike%luick@ubvms * One who posts does not know.
UB Language Perception Laboratory * (apologies to Lao Tzu)
******************************************************************************
nicest of the damned
>Too easy for a group with little talent for composing a song for
>creating a piece of recorded material that sells for way too
>much money. I'm not picking out any particular group or any
>particular genre of music. I like music that is well composed
>and well played.
Me too. We probably have differing ideas of what these terms mean, though.
>>Isn't it really the results that count? Did you like Boston's
>>"Third Stage" any better because they worked on it for an eternity?
>
>I'm not real familiar with Bostons "Third Stage" so I can't answer
>your question.
It's a godawful album that, from all indications, was extremely
difficult to make. They spent years making it, and I believe that
the members of the band sincerely worked hard on it; nevertheless
you couldn't pay me enough to listen to it all the way through.
The point, of course, being that I've never quite grasped the notion
that difficult implies good, or even the complementary notion that
simple implies bad.
-- Stewart
--
"You're lucky I don't use .signature quotes."
-- Matt Brocchini