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Nov. 22nd, 2005 12:00 amSo I'm washing the dishes while listening to the Kanye West CD that I picked up (in a mid-life crisis kind of moment) on my way home from work. I'm thinking about Eminem, and how as much as there's plenty about him I could criticize (um, songs about choking his estranged wife?), his undeniable skill at what he does still wins me over.
And that reminded me that he sampled *Martika*, and I have to give him huge amounts of credit for realizing that would work, because if I were free associating from Eminem, Martika might not be the *last* person I'd think of -- that might be, I don't know, Frederica von Stade -- but she'd be right over there holding hands with Frederica in the far side of my brain from Marshall Mathers.
So *then* I was thinking about how, as much as non-musicians often use musical preferences to separate people into groups, *actual* musicians are much more eclectic in their tastes. I mean, I have known a lot of people who are kinda snobby about music -- just about every guy I knew in college was *exactly* like the guy in High Fidelity who judges everyone on the basis of their record collection -- but the musicians I have known aren't like that at all, they find good music across all genres.
So while I'm thinking about this, Kanye's next track starts up, and what does it sample but "Diamonds Are Forever," the James Bond theme song sung by Shirley Bassey. I *love* it when a theory is validated.
And that reminded me that he sampled *Martika*, and I have to give him huge amounts of credit for realizing that would work, because if I were free associating from Eminem, Martika might not be the *last* person I'd think of -- that might be, I don't know, Frederica von Stade -- but she'd be right over there holding hands with Frederica in the far side of my brain from Marshall Mathers.
So *then* I was thinking about how, as much as non-musicians often use musical preferences to separate people into groups, *actual* musicians are much more eclectic in their tastes. I mean, I have known a lot of people who are kinda snobby about music -- just about every guy I knew in college was *exactly* like the guy in High Fidelity who judges everyone on the basis of their record collection -- but the musicians I have known aren't like that at all, they find good music across all genres.
So while I'm thinking about this, Kanye's next track starts up, and what does it sample but "Diamonds Are Forever," the James Bond theme song sung by Shirley Bassey. I *love* it when a theory is validated.