The history of sampling the sounds of preachers is pretty much the history of sampling in general, as many of the most prominent names in sound collage, from the avant/electronic world to mashup/dance djs, have used 'em. And considering the classic status of so many of these tunes, how can you blame them? Passionate, loony, exciting, hilarious religious orators make for great (inadvertent) guest vocalists. The '80s industrial crowd seemed particularly fond of this strategy. I remember reading (the L.A. Weekly, probably) around '87 or '88 that the sampling of preachers had officially become a cliche. No way - we weren't even half-way there yet! Part 2 takes us up thru the Internet/mashup era. [Preacher's name, if known, included in brackets.]
SUNDAY MORNING SOUND COLLAGE 1
1 Steve Reich [Brother Walter] - It's Gonna Rain (Part II) [1965]
2 John Oswald [unknown preacher - R.W. Schambach maybe?] - Power [1975]
3 Brian Eno and David Byrne [Kathryn Kuhlman] - Into The Spirit Womb [1979]
4 Chris & Cosey [Dr Gene Scott] - Put Yourself In Los Angeles [1981]
5 Cabaret Voltaire [Dr Gene Scott] - Sluggin Fer Jesus (Part One) [1981]
6 Zoviet France [R.W. Schambach] - Ram [1984]
7 Adam Cornford and Daniel Crafts - Fundamentals [1985]
8 Tackhead - Mind At The End Of The Tether [1985]
9 Front 242 [R.W. Schambach] - Angst [1987]
10 Negativland [Rev. Estus Pirkle] - Christianity Is Stupid [1987]
11 John Adams/Edo De Waart: San Francisco Symphony Orchestra - Christian Zeal & Activity [composed in 1973/recorded 1987]
SUNDAY MORNING SOUND COLLAGE 2
1 Praga Khan [R.W. Schambach] - Injected with a Poison [1991]
2 KMFDM - We Must Awaken [1992]
3 The Tape-Beatles - Home Problems [1993]
4 Lecture on Nothing - Truckload Of Bibles [1997]
5 Reality Engine - Blame The Kingdom Of God [1999]
6 Escape Mechanism - Worship [c. 1999-2001]
7 Fatboy Slim [Reverend W. Leo Daniels] - Drop The Hate [2000]
8 The Evolution Control Committee [Elder Marshall Taylor] - Don't Miss the Great Snatch [2003]
9 Celebrity Murder Party [12 year old preacher Rev William Hudson, III] - God vs the Gays [2007]
10 dj lobsterdust [Pastor Gary Greenwald] - It's Fun To Smoke Dust (Queen vs. Satan) [2009]
11 CutUpSound - God In a Linoleum Roll [recorded ?; released 2013]
I was amused to find out that two British acts, Chris & Cosey, and Cabaret Voltaire, both sampled L.A.'s infamous, frizzy-haired, cigar-chomping, foul-mouthed televangelist Dr Gene Scott. I wondered: how in the heck did they know about him? Turns out that Werner Herzog, no less, made a documentary about Scott called "God's Angry Man" in 1981 that provided much yucks (and sample fodder) for those wacky industrialists:
9 comments:
Fantastic post!
I've heard many of the tracks here but am looking forward to hearing the rest.
Many thanks
Another example is "Ministère Alberto Carbonne" from Propergol's 2000 album United States....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdzD2v73VwI
You're welcome! And thanks Samuel, I'm sure there must be plenty more...
This is a great post!
Thanks for the inclusion (Tim, Reality Engine)
Although some progressive house act has stolen my name. Grr.
Oh and Blame Them although on a 1999 tape, was actually from 1994 or 5!
Dr. Gene had two TV stations back in the 70's-80's, one in LA, one in Connecticut (I guess to serve the NYC area.) I grew up with his rants on TV, pre-cable his was one of only a handful of stations available over the airwaves. Of course he also had (and I think still has) a shortwave station in the Caribbean. I actually know a number of people sampled his rants.
Thanks unimportatnt, but that is, in fact, some very important info there - wuold you happen to have those other songs that sample Dr. Gene?
Mmmm, any chance for a re-up on these. Sorry I missed 'em!
-Xtm
Post a Comment