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When is a cover not a cover? When it’s a sample! Yes, some artists cover songs without just putting their version on the full original but reinventing it completely. Often just a snippet of a song isenough to inspire a brand new version. It was certainly enough for well known rapper Eminem who took the chorus to a well known Black Sabbath song and used it for the inspiration of his very own version. I am, of course, talking about ‘Changes,’ a song that has become the legacy of Ozzy Osbourne and inspired many an artist. For Eminem, it acted as the basis for his very own song about changes, quite unimaginatively entitled ‘Going Through Changes’ – I wonder where he got that one from?!
You What?
‘Changes’ was first released in 1972 by Midlands rockers Black Sabbath and became a memorable part of the band’s Volume 4 album. It was very much a stab in the dark for Sabbath as it represented the very first time the group had performed a slow, downbeat and melodic ballad as opposed to a track that rattled along at high volume with a loud clattering of guitars. It was to be agamble that paid off for even now, 40 years later, ‘Changes’ is still synonymous with Black Sabbath, despite being covered and sampled by a number of other artists.
The idea to produce a ballad came about as a response to drummer Bill Ward’s difficult experiences in the seventies. He was goingthrough a difficult divorce at the time and ‘Changes’ was written to reflectthe relationship loss suffered by Bill – something that many people have been through.
OK, tell me about it…
Just two years ago Eminem sampled Sabbath’s ‘Changes’ for his song ‘Going Through Changes’ which was a part of his much-hyped comeback album Recovery. Ninety per cent of Eminem’s version was original material which just sampledthe popular chorus of the original – could you picture Ozzy talking about ‘rolling for delph like Philly’?
Eminem’s sample even retained the vocals of Ozzy Osbourne, for Ozzy’s original lyrics opened the song before Eminem rapped his own lyrics in the first verse. The classic Sabbath penned chorus then returns throughout the track.
How did it fare?
‘Going Through Changes’ was never released as a single but did become a recognised album track for Eminem. Recovery the album carrying the track did achieve overwhelming success. It earned Eminem no less than ten Grammy Award nominations at the 53rd annual Grammy awards, including Album of the Year and Best Rap Album. Rolling Stone magazine named the album in its definitive Best Albums of 2010 list and ‘Recovery’ was also nominated for TopBillboard 200 Album in April 2011.
The awards success was reflective of the album’s sales. Recovery sold 8,000,000 copies worldwide and enjoyed number one chart positions in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland – a comeback album if ever there was one!
Volume Four was just as successful an album, earning Black Sabbath a UK chart position of 8. It sold over a million copies and enjoyed platinum status.
However, it was with another cover altogether that ‘Changes’enjoyed the most success, when it was covered by Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne backin 2003. The father and daughter team emulated the original when their duet reached the top of the UK singles chart, selling over one million copies and also reaching number one on the Kerrang! download chart.
Who else covered it?
Ozzy Osbourne loved this song – so much that not only did he cover it with his daughter in 2003 but 10 years earlier he released it as a soloist when it reached number nine on Billboard’s rock chartbut failed to chart in the UK. When Ozzy did let other artists have a crack at the song, it was covered by the likes of The Cardigans, Overkill, Fudge Tunnel and HI-STANDARD.
Give me a listen then...
Here is Eminem’s sample in all its glory:
You What?
‘Changes’ was first released in 1972 by Midlands rockers Black Sabbath and became a memorable part of the band’s Volume 4 album. It was very much a stab in the dark for Sabbath as it represented the very first time the group had performed a slow, downbeat and melodic ballad as opposed to a track that rattled along at high volume with a loud clattering of guitars. It was to be agamble that paid off for even now, 40 years later, ‘Changes’ is still synonymous with Black Sabbath, despite being covered and sampled by a number of other artists.
The idea to produce a ballad came about as a response to drummer Bill Ward’s difficult experiences in the seventies. He was goingthrough a difficult divorce at the time and ‘Changes’ was written to reflectthe relationship loss suffered by Bill – something that many people have been through.
OK, tell me about it…
Just two years ago Eminem sampled Sabbath’s ‘Changes’ for his song ‘Going Through Changes’ which was a part of his much-hyped comeback album Recovery. Ninety per cent of Eminem’s version was original material which just sampledthe popular chorus of the original – could you picture Ozzy talking about ‘rolling for delph like Philly’?
Eminem’s sample even retained the vocals of Ozzy Osbourne, for Ozzy’s original lyrics opened the song before Eminem rapped his own lyrics in the first verse. The classic Sabbath penned chorus then returns throughout the track.
WATCH // 'Changes'
How did it fare?
‘Going Through Changes’ was never released as a single but did become a recognised album track for Eminem. Recovery the album carrying the track did achieve overwhelming success. It earned Eminem no less than ten Grammy Award nominations at the 53rd annual Grammy awards, including Album of the Year and Best Rap Album. Rolling Stone magazine named the album in its definitive Best Albums of 2010 list and ‘Recovery’ was also nominated for TopBillboard 200 Album in April 2011.
The awards success was reflective of the album’s sales. Recovery sold 8,000,000 copies worldwide and enjoyed number one chart positions in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland – a comeback album if ever there was one!
Volume Four was just as successful an album, earning Black Sabbath a UK chart position of 8. It sold over a million copies and enjoyed platinum status.
However, it was with another cover altogether that ‘Changes’enjoyed the most success, when it was covered by Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne backin 2003. The father and daughter team emulated the original when their duet reached the top of the UK singles chart, selling over one million copies and also reaching number one on the Kerrang! download chart.
Who else covered it?
Ozzy Osbourne loved this song – so much that not only did he cover it with his daughter in 2003 but 10 years earlier he released it as a soloist when it reached number nine on Billboard’s rock chartbut failed to chart in the UK. When Ozzy did let other artists have a crack at the song, it was covered by the likes of The Cardigans, Overkill, Fudge Tunnel and HI-STANDARD.
Give me a listen then...
Here is Eminem’s sample in all its glory:
WATCH // 'Going Through Changes'
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