For a few years, I’ve suspected that Bravo’s Top Chef theme song uses a small sample of a Prince track. With season 7 more than halfway through, hearing that intro finally drove me to compare the two tracks side by side.
Yes. Subtly mixed into the rock guitars at about 28 seconds into the theme, Tevin Campbell’s intro vocal to “Round and Round,” from the soundtrack to Prince’s Graffiti Bridge movie, cries, “yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhh.” But the reality show’s opening song cuts Campbell off before his tight legato at the end of the phrase.
Released in 1990, the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack’s third single peaked at number 2 in the R&B charts. The album itself hit 6 in both U.S. Billboard and R&B Albums. Unfortunately, Graffiti Bridge the movie, the sequel to Purple Rain, received ridicule from the critics and never reached the cult status of his other two films Under the Cherry Moon and Sign o’ The Times. But to his credit, Prince never really tried to make a Purple Rain II, even with the sequel.
So why did the composer of the Top Chef theme chose to sample the Prince/Tevin Campbell song? Why did Prince let Bravo use it? It’s not like he needed the money. Wait. Does Prince even know? I can’t imagine him watching a show about food. But I think he’d make a great guest judge or part of a challenge: prepare a vegan dish for Prince and his entourage.
We listened to it and rick couldn’t believe you caught that. I said, “this is Hal we’re talking about. i dont think anything even remotely Prince related could slip past you. haha
LOL! Thanks for listening yourself and drawing your own conclusion. It’s always stood out to me, but by the time I’m in Top Chef mode, I’m already deep in the couch so far away from the CDs. But this time, I couldn’t take it any more. I still think it’s so bizarre that the sample was cleared, especially if Prince allowed it to happen. I hope someone besides Warner Brothers got paid for that, or at least a free meal. Prince needs some meat on them vegan bones.
Only you, my friend, would pull this off. Now all you have to do is contact Prince and figure out how you can get cut into a royalty payment deal. Hal, I think you might’ve found your next career: digital sample investigator. Or something like that.
I will take this comment as letter of recommendation to apply for that position. I love spotting samples. With hip-hop, a single song is actually multiple portals to different songs you already know or new ones to discover. I’m sure I’ll talk a lot about samples and originals on this blog. When done clever and tastefully, sampling can be a beautiful thing.
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