Throw Down - We Say Whatever the Hell We Want

Who is DJ Sammy?
No, really...who is "he"?
by Azaroth

Lately, it seems, almost everyone is raving about DJ Sammy. Man, who doesn't dig his newest cut featuring Yanou? "Heaven" has torn up the international as well as domestic charts as of late. I think it's cool. I dig this tune.

I was recently vacationing in Cancun. Had a great time. But the music down there is all dance. You've got house, techno, jungle, the list goes on. I still have visions of sitting by the pool, a cerveza in one hand and a daquiri in the other. So calm...except for the constant boom, boom, boom, boom of the kick drum on those dance cuts. One just stuck out, though. It was "Heaven." I dug the tune quite a bit.

When we returned to the States, the song was nowhere to be found. Until one day I'm cruising the radio stations...and BAM!! There it was. At first I liked it because it reminded me of Cancun. But the song kinda grew on me.

Now, before anyone starts to think I'm just writing this to kiss someone's ass, I'm just getting to the point.

You ask 10 kids on the street about this tune and at least 8 of them will think that (1), DJ Sammy is a girl, and (2), 'she' wrote this song.

FYI, this song was first written by Canadian rocker Bryan Adams. And it was done on his album, Reckless, back in 1984. The song brough him moderate fame, but the song, "Summer of '69" was on the same album and eclipsed the track. Needless to say, 1984 was a great year for Bryan Adams.

Also, DJ Sammy is a Spanish born DJ that released HIS first single, "Any Questions" in 1994. He had been working clubs for about 6 years before that as well. He had a few hits around Europe and down into Australia. When he began work on "Heaven" he got permission from Bryan Adams. Adams is even quoted as saying, "Tell them I love it, Sammy!"

So, sounds great, right? Well, it is. DJ Sammy is even going to work on a record with Bryan Adams here soon. Here's what pisses me off, though.

Last night, I'm listening to the radio. On comes the THIRD remix of this song that I've heard! There's the dance version, a guitar version using the guitar effect that made an impact in the 'original' dance version, then there's this third one. It's Yanou, the vocalist on the track, accompanied by a piano. It sounded pretty good. But it was the DJ that spun the track that got me going.

"This one's got the phones ringing. I predict this to be THE wedding song for 2003." Then it goes into this new cut of "Heaven." So, 19 years after it was originally released it's finally okay to use it in a wedding?!? Poor Bryan Adams is stuck up in Canada writing and performing his OWN songs while some DJ from Spain waltzes right in and suddently makes his old hit a real hit!! That's bullshit!! I'm as a big a fan as any when it comes to tributes and covers, but when retarded f'n DJ's start saying stupid crap like this...it pisses me off!!

So, as happy as I am for DJ Sammy and Yanou, I really hope that the culturally dimwitted and forgetful Americans that buy music can pull their heads out of their asses and realize that there is more to this track than they think. The 2 lessons I want the morons out there to realize are: DJ Sammy is A MAN, and "Heaven" was written nearly 20 years ago by Bryan Adams...not some chick named Sammy.

This is my old project, THROWDOWN.

A group of friends and I put together this little project in 2003 as an outlet of out collective rage and anger about the subjects that each of us cared about. I was the editor-and-chief and games writer back then.

It was a blast to do and it to be involved in a great collaborative effort using the strengths of my friends was simply amazing. I hope you have fun reading our work as much as we had in creating it.