Seven seconds that changed music. The “Amen break”, a four bar drum solo from a funk instrumental, lay hidden for two decades. Re-popularised in the 1990s by the producers of what was coming to be known as “jungle”, it has since been used on hundreds, possibly thousands of records—and probably some you own.
The Economist writing about the Amen break gives me a strange sense of vertigo, of confusion, sorta like when an old person couldn’t figure out how to program a VCR in the 80’s. The cognitive dissonance of this feels very peculiar to me. My 1992 self is having its mind blown right now.
