The 10 best samples in rock music
In an era where music is prized for its multifaceted nature, sampling has become more crucial than ever. Across genres, producers and artists are shaping their sounds by weaving together tapestries of popular culture and crafting new contexts. While sampling has gained fresh prominence thanks to the accessibility of modern technology and is most commonly associated with hip-hop and electronic music, rock bands have also been employing this technique for decades.
Off the top of our heads, it’s easy to recall some iconic and effective samples. For instance, M.I.A.’s ‘Paper Planes’ cleverly repurposes the drop from The Clash’s ‘Straight to Hell’, while A Tribe Called Quest famously borrowed Herbie Flowers’ iconic ascending and descending portamento basslines from Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ for ‘Can I Kick It?’. Though it might seem ironic, using the work of others has long served as a source of inspiration for artists, offering a way to add something truly distinctive to their creations—even if they didn’t come up with it themselves.
Although rock music is often associated with the traditional band setup of singer, guitarist, bassist, and drummer, creating original material based on shared inspirations, the genre spearheaded a cultural and sonic revolution in the 1960s. Practically every modern musical development can trace its roots back to it. The Beatles, for instance, pioneered the use of the studio as an instrument, crafting authentic, eclectic, and experimental songs that reflected their personalities and reshaped popular music overnight. A key element of this innovation was their use of what we now call samples—slices of audio taken from recordings and repurposed in new compositions.
A simple but effective option, since those fairly rudimental days, the sample has been taken in a range of different directions, with an array of influential rock songs employing it. Today, we’re listing ten of the best. Find them below.
The 10 best samples in rock music:
10. The Verve – ‘Bittersweet Symphony’
It’s best to start with one of the most iconic songs included in this list. Most music fans know The Verve for this number, and it’s a classic of the Britpop era that appeals to those from all walks of life. While there are several famous parts of this hit, from Richard Ashcroft’s rousing delivery to the baggy groove – not to mention the music video – it’s safe to say that the track’s brilliance hinges on the stirring strings.
The Wigan legends developed it from a sample of a 1965 cover of The Rolling Stones hit ‘The Last Time’ by their manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s side project, The Andrew Oldham Orchestra. It’s from The Rolling Stones Songbook album, and while relatively raw given the recording techniques of the era, it’s clear how much it underpins The Verve’s song, from the beat to the strings.
The Verve’s heavy use of the 1965 track prompted a lawsuit from The Rolling Stones’ subsequent and notorious former manager, Allen Klein. This resulted in The Verve forfeiting all royalties, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards afforded writing credits. Things would turn out for the best, though, and in 2019, a decade after Klein passed on, Jagger, Richards, and Klein’s son handed the rights back to Ashcroft.
Ironically, ‘The Last Time’ might be credited to Jagger/Richards, but the chorus is identical in lyrics and melody to ‘This May Be the Last Time’, a traditional song recorded in 1954 by The Staple Singers. Richards has since admitted this to be true.
9. Pink Floyd – ‘Fearless’
‘Fearless’ is undoubtedly one of the highlights of Meddle and ranks among the finest Pink Floyd efforts. Featuring one hell of an acoustic riff from David Gilmour, a generally summery, stoned vibe, and one of the band’s most potent vocal melodies, it was also the track that connected the quartet to football forever. This is thanks to the field recording it uses of Liverpool FC fans singing their world-famous anthem, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ the 1963 cover by Gerry and the Pacemakers of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song from Carousel.
It’s interesting that the band should choose to use the Liverpool anthem, given that three of the four classic lineup members are avowed by Arsenal fans. However, its use, while strange, is majorly effective, with it floating in and out of the mix until it finally washes over at the end, and you feel the hairs stand to attention, even if you’re not a fan of the reds.
8. The Beatles – ‘I Am The Walrus’
The Beatles were masters at pushing the studio to its limits and using the technology as an instrument, a simple but majorly innovative stroke of genius. This saw them delve into experimentalism in the second half of their career and start piecing together multifarious, highly layered music. The 1967 psychedelic rock staple ‘I Am The Walrus’ is one of frontman John Lennon’s most surreal compositions and has many different aspects, including the oddball vocals from The Mike Sammes Singers.
However, the most striking part of the track is the sample of the reading of William Shakespeare’s King Lear (Act IV, Scene 6), lines 219–222 and 249–262 at the end. It was recorded directly from an AM radio Lennon was toying around with, after he settled on the evening broadcast of the play on the BBC’s Third Programme, the precursor to BBC Radio 3. Amazingly, Lennon didn’t even know it was King Lear, till years later.
7. The God Machine – ‘Home’
The God Machine are one of the most overlooked bands of the 1990s. They supported some of the other greatest guitar acts of the era, released two cult albums, and looked set for big things before the tragic death of their bassist, Jimmy Fernandez, in 1994. Naturally, it ended the group, leaving their singular fusion of alternative rock, metal, and industrial, unknown to many. Since their heartbreaking cessation, frontman Robin Proper-Sheppard has gone on to refine his work and demonstrate just how exceptional he is as a composer with Sophia, but it was clear back then, too.
The trio’s best-known moment is the single ‘Home’ from their 1993 debut, Scenes from the Second Story. While the band made use of a handful of atmospheric samples in their short time, this song contains a classic example of how to do it. The hard-hitting track used the start of ‘Pilentze Pee’ by the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir from the influential cult album Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, and it was an ideal convergence of two distinct acts that were perfect partners. That middle section where it builds, riding on the sample, is incredible.
6. Nine Inch Nails – ‘Reptile’
Nine Inch Nails have so many great tracks that some get overlooked, and ‘Reptile’ is certainly one of them. A highlight of their 1994 second album, The Downward Spiral—one of the darkest and most consequential records of its time—perhaps it does not get its dues because the best version is the live one from Woodstock that year. There, the beat is louder, the guitars heavier, and Trent Reznor’s performance is more captivating.
The sample in this one is slightly more ephemeral than in other cuts. Still, as a testament to Reznor’s vision, execution and cinematic grasp, it makes a hell of an impact and ramps up the already unsettling, stygian nature of the song. The break, starting at 5:06, contains an audio sample from the notorious 1974 slasher, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Pulling from such a movie makes sense in light of the bleak themes of the record at large.
5. Trapped Under Ice – ‘Believe’
There are many reasons that make Trapped Under Ice one of the best hardcore bands this century, from Justice Tripp’s delivery to the guitar tones. They’re also no strangers to using samples, and this particularly effective and witty one recently came up in a discussion with friends in the pub. It’s another esteemed example of how to use them.
Not only is this blistering cut just under two-and-a-half minutes of pure hardcore glory, but it takes a more muscular turn towards the end, as frontman Thaddeus Stamps of fellow Baltimore heroes Stout delivers an appropriately hard verse. As a track that delves into the horrors on the streets of their native city – particularly addiction and violence – brilliantly, in the end, following Stamps’ bars, it ironically uses a sample of the song, ‘Good Morning Baltimore’, from the hit musical Hairspray, which paints an optimistic picture of the city through the protagonist, Tracy Turnblad.
4. Radiohead – ‘Idioteque’
If anyone doubts Radiohead’s innovation, you can send them straight to ‘Idioteque’ from 2000’s Kid A. Following the success of their masterful soundtrack for the dawning digital age, OK Computer, they delved deeper into dystopian electronica, IDM, and techno, which was perfected on ‘Idioteque’. Concocted while experimenting with modular synthesisers, it uses not one but two samples.
Initially, guitarist and technology whizz Jonny Greenwood struggled to remember where he got the glacial four-chord synth phrase from, but eventually realised it was sampled from American composer Paul Lansky’s ‘mild und leise’, a computer music piece, written in 1973 at Princeton University on an IBM mainframe computer using FM synthesis. It was released on the 1975 compilation, First Recordings – Electronic Music Winners, which Greenwood discovered when crate-digging in the US.
Greenwood wrote to Lansky with a copy of the song, and he allowed them to use the sample because he loved their imagination and invention. Furthermore, he lifted the progression using the Tristan chord from Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. Taking the other sample for ‘Idioteque’ from Electronic Music Winners, the band also used Arthur Kreiger’s ‘Short Piece’.
3. Beck – ‘Loser’
1993’s ‘Loser’ is the hit that introduced Beck to the world after years of struggling as an obscure anti-folk musician. Born out of Beck’s frustration with audiences at the time and co-written with Rap-A-Lot Records producer Carl Stephenson, this is another composition with several essential layers, including Beck’s goofy attempt at Chuck D-styled delivery, the slide guitar riff and Stephenson’s sitar.
Aside from the slide guitar, the song’s central component is the beat. You know where we’re going with this. The drum track is sampled from left-handed blues guitarist Johnny Jenkins’ cover of fellow bluesman, Dr. John’s ‘I Walk on Guilded Splinters’, which appears on his 1970 debut album, Ton-Ton Macoute!. This hit also includes another sample, using dialogue during the break from Steve Hanft’s 1991 film Kill the Moonlight. It was a clever means of building a song that launched Beck to superstardom and love from greats such as Tom Petty.
2. Primal Scream – ‘Loaded‘
No list of the best samples in rock would be complete without including Primal Scream‘s definitive track and a pioneering fusion of dance and guitar music, ‘Loaded’. The lead single from their 1991 third album, Screamadelica, as soon as the song was released, it was clear that the possibilities were endless for technology and the traditional band configuration.
With acid house innovator Andrew Weatherall producing this track – a remix of one of the band’s earlier cuts, ‘I’m Losing More Than I’ll Ever Have’ – everything was in place for Bobby Gillespie’s group to make their mark on culture. The entirety of the song is iconic, but it was set up perfectly by Weatherall, including the sample of Frank Maxwell and Peter Fonda from the 1966 biker film The Wild Angels: “Just what is it that you want to do? / We wanna be free…”
1. My Bloody Valentine – ‘When You Sleep’
The story of Loveless, the 1991 magnum opus by shoegaze pioneers My Bloody Valentine, is notorious. It is a maddening tale featuring one of the most arduous production processes in music history, wherein the band splintered and leader Kevin Shields blurred the line between maniac and genius, but somehow, against the odds, which included pushing their label, Creation, to the financial brink, produced one of the most essential albums of all time.
A deeply layered, narcotic work that used the studio as an instrument in ways not seen since The Beatles, there are so many different things to talk about. One of them is that ‘To Here Knows When’ contains a subtle but compelling sample from a BBC sound effects record of a minor disaster in the background. It’s looped the whole way through and acts as the bass frequency in the track.
