Billy Squier Sampled in New Eminem Song
If you happen to hear what sounds like Billy Squier's 'The Stroke' blasting out of your local Top 40 radio station over the next few weeks, your ears aren't deceiving you.
Squier's hit 1981 single, which broke the Top 20 of Billboard's Hot 100 and rose to No. 3 on the rock chart, is heavily sampled in Eminem's new song 'Berzerk,' currently making the rounds as the first single from the rapper's upcoming 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2.' You can check it out above.
While Eminem is certainly the highest-profile hip-hop artist to sample 'The Stroke,' he's hardly the first; the song's grinding chords and stomping beat that have made it a perennial favorite on rock radio have also helped turn it into a building block for rap tracks like Grandwizzard Johnny'O and the Mighty Sorcerer Crew's 'When It Breaks' and Mickey Avalon's 'Stroke Me,' as well as 'Friday Night' by mash-up artist Girl Talk. 'The Big Beat,' from Squier's 1980 solo debut 'The Tale of the Tape,' is one of the most-sampled songs in history.
Originally culled from Squier's second solo album, 'Don't Say No,' 'The Stroke' helped cement his status as one of the bigger rock acts of the early '80s. Even though he continued to record well into the '90s, he hasn't released an album of new material since 1998's 'Happy Blue.' Maybe 'Berzerk' will help lure him back into the spotlight.