The practice of sampling has democratized music production because instrumental dexterity is no longer required in order to produce compositions. The forms of sampling can be broken down into four general areas: sampling recognizable material that calls the listener's attention to its new context; sampling both familiar and arcane sources; a process dubbed "quilt-pop" by Chuck Eddy of the Village Voice, in which a new product is stitched together entirely from samples; and the use of samples to create alternate versions of tracks called "club mixes." Sampling falls into a gray area between the Postmodern aesthetic and the Romantic notion of the autonomous creator. The Copyright Act of 1976 fails to address questions of authorship and ownership which arise in sampling procedures and needs to be amended accordingly.

Works: Public Enemy: Yo! Bum Rush the Show (349), It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (349), Fear of a Black Planet (349); Grandmaster Flash: Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel (350); De La Soul: Transmitting Live from Mars (354); Beastie Boys: Yo Leroy (354); John Oswald: Plunderphonics (358-59).

Sources: James Brown: Funky Drummer (349); Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers (songwriters), Chic (performers): Good Times (350); John Deacon (songwriter), Queen (performers): Another One Bites the Dust (350); Deborah Harry and Chris Stein (songwriters), Blondie (performers): Rapture (350); Sugarhill Gang: 8th Wonder (350); Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: The Birthday Party (350); Spoonie Gee: Monster Jam (350); Jim McGuinn and Gene Clark (songwriters), The Turtles (performers): You Showed Me (354); Jimmy Castor: The Return of Leroy (Part I) (354).

Index Classifications: General, 1900s, Popular

Contributed by: Amanda Sewell