“GENIUS OF LOVE” CONTINUES
TO RESONATE
“Genius Of Love,” One Of
The Most Sampled Songs Of All Time, Is Now Available To Stream On Dolby Atmos
While Their Classic Music Video Has Been Upgraded To 4K.
Tom Tom Club’s debut has
been certified platinum, fueled by the enduing success of the single “Genius Of
Love.” Husband-and-wife team Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth started the band as
a side project from Talking Heads.
The duo recorded Tom Tom Club in the Bahamas at Compass Point Studios with
friends and family. A hit in Europe and the U.S., the album reached #23
on Billboard, where two songs – “Wordy Rappinghood” and “Genius Of Love” –
reached #1 on the Dance Club Chart.
Released as a single in September 1981, “Genius Of Love” was embraced quickly
in clubs and on the burgeoning hip-hop scene. Since then, the song’s
distinctive rhythm track has been sampled nearly 200 times and featured in hits
from every decade since its release. To celebrate the song’s enduring popularity,
it’s available today to stream on Dolby ATMOS. Listen HERE.
In addition, the iconic music video for “Genius Of Love” has been upgraded
to 4K/HD. Watch it HERE.
A pop-culture touchstone for multiple generations, “Genius Of Love” has been
featured in films, television, and advertising and has been sampled numerous
times by other artists. It’s been featured in songs by Grandmaster Flash and
the Furious Five, Busta Rhymes, 2Pac, and Ice Cube. Most recently, Latto
incorporated it into “Big Energy,” a platinum-certified hit that
topped charts around the world. However, the best-known sample of “Genius
Of Love” appeared in 1995 on Mariah Carey’s global smash, “Fantasy.” In the U.S.,
the single was a cross-over sensation that topped multiple Billboard charts and
was certified quintuple-platinum.
Tom Tom Club will also
explore the song’s impact through sampling by partnering with WhoSampled, a
comprehensive database that identifies where song samples originate. The band
now has an official profile on the site, along with comments from band
co-founder Chris Frantz. WhoSampled also curated a playlist that details the
song’s sampling history. Listen HERE.
An excerpt from Franz’
WhoSampled commentary: “It's so wild that ‘Genius of Love’ has been sampled so
many times. When we were making the song, we had no idea – samplers didn’t
really exist yet! We were away from home touring a lot at the time, but when we
were back in New York we would listen to WBLS and KTU (later Hot97) in our
little Honda Prelude. At night time, WBLS would play the early hip hop, the Real
Roxanne and all that.”
