22 Songs You Didn’t Know Sampled Another Song
ABBA doesn’t mess around when it comes to their legacy.
“We get so many requests from people wanting to use our tracks, but we normally say ‘no,’” ABBA legend Benny Andersson once said of the group’s discerning approach to clearing samples.
Like most rules, though, this one has a few notable exceptions: One of which being for the “Queen of Pop” herself, Madonna. Ahead of her 2005 album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madge did her damndest to earn ABBA’s exceptionally rare stamp of approval, personally appealing to the Swedish superstars in a bid to sample 1979’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” in her song “Hung Up.” “(T)hey never let anyone sample their music,” Madonna recalled to BBC News. “Thank God they didn’t say no.”
This article not your thing? Try these...
After taking some time to contemplate the request, the pop icons struck a deal, one Andersson attributed to their appreciation of the “Vogue” hitmaker. “We said ‘yes’ this time because we admire Madonna so much and always have,” he explained. “She has got guts and has been around for 21 years. That is not bad going.”
Though getting the sample cleared was a major accomplishment, not everyone who listens to “Hung Up” is aware of ABBA’s contribution to the song. In that vein, Redditors have recalled other chart-topping hits they later discovered sampled another track, including Lady Gaga’s reference to disco legends Boney M. and the Black Eyed Peas’ homage to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.