I'm mostly thinking about late 60s / early 70s British bands like Zeppelin and the Stones sampling US music although any examples are welcome. What are the best songs ever created by British bands that had roots from US rock/blues/etc.?
Beings Zepplelin ripped off just about every song they ever did from some other band it is hard to tell.
I've always known that Zeppelin sampled a lot of other's music, which never stopped me from liking them. I heard someone say on Sirius last week that the Stones also did. They mentioned how guys like Willie Dixon wrote many great songs that were later popularized by other bands. My opinion is that it was a match made in musical heaven. Great blues songs written by US musicians that were brought to the next level during the British explosion and created a sound that hasn't been duplicated since.
the Beatles were heavily influenced by American music,.. check out the album cover ..and they stole from the king a Buddy Holly song
No doubt, just because they are a bunch of rip off artist doesn't make me not like the music. Most of those songs would probably never have been heard by more than a few hundred people if not for LZ. I've never looked into the blues angle and I probably should because Zep was a great blues band when they wanted to be. Same with GnR and the Stones. This gives me something to do on a rainy day.
A lot of 60's and 70's British rock bands were heavily influenced by American Blues and Jazz. Pink Floyd was even named after 2 different blues bands I wanna say.
All bands cover other tunes from time to time. Some are very good at it. It's not ripping anybody off. Elvis made a millionaire out of Carl Perkins by covering Blue Suede Shoes. "Sampling" is something else altogether. That is stealing pieces of someone's actual recording. The best cover of all time is probably Santana's cover of Fleetwood Mac's Black Magic Woman . . . or . . . Santana's cover of Tito Puentes' Oye Como Va. Maybe Joe Cocker's cover of The Beatles With a Little Help From My Friends. Or Ike and Tina Turner's cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's Proud Mary.
My all-time favorite cover is ELO's version of Roll Over Beethoven. The perfect band to do that song, IMO.
A great collaboration between British musicians and a legendary old bluesman is the London Howlin' Wolf Sessions with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_London_Howlin'_Wolf_Sessions
mctiger,.. have you heard ELO's album,.. Eldorado,.. one of the greatest albums ever, imo at the Kennedy Center,.. rock n roll, rules the world!
