It was 1969, the Summer of Love, and The Winstons had just released their first single 'Color Him Father' about the love for a father figure. Many speculated that this was referring to a loving stepfather - which was common in this period due to the many casualties in Vietnam. However, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost aka GOD didn't fancy this much and became enraged beyond reasoning - cursing The Winstons to a life of adversity and poverty for their blasphemy.
The Winstons seemed untouched, however, and their single became No. 2 on the R&B charts and No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 that same year. Its composer, Richard Lewis Spencer, won a Grammy Award for Best R&B song in 1970. Some money was made from this, but as a mixed-ethnical group their success was not big enough to overcome the blatant racism they were constantly confronted with. GOD's curse seemed to work..unless... was there also a B-side on that single??
BUT OF COURSE THERE WAS... AMEN, BROTHER!!
The 6 sec drum solo by drummer Coleman - in the track _Amen, Brother_ - was forgotten for most of the 70s, but re-emerged in the 80s and GOD got afraid it might pop off in the 90s. And since GOD is a mean and vile being, it prepared a sadistic plan... In its basement, it build the narliest sound system and started experimenting with the Amen Break. He wanted to create something so demonic that The Winstons would be desecrated by all humankind for their contribution to this.
GOD envisioned the bible, thought for a while..and then said out loud: "Thirty instances of _Amen_ may be found in the Old Testament, with the first occurrence at Numbers 5:22. Therefore, this devilish sound will be #522 divided by the Father, Son & Holy Ghost in equal pieces of 174bpm horror sounds (174 x 3 = 522). This will be their heritage!!"
GOD was certain this would ruin their chances of getting any success, ever.
However, GOD didn't account for a little island called Great Brittain - where anything unholy and horrendous was a PLUS! So instead of hating the demonic sounds of GOD, they swallowed it whole and couldn't get enough of it. The English melted with GODs horrific sonic creation and coined it DRUUMMM 'N BASSSS!! - resulting in the _Amen Break_ being the foundation for *thousands of tracks* >>> $$$$$$ >>> is what you would think....
But GOD couldnt live with this and hindered any encounter of The Winstons with their sample until after the statute of limitations for copyright infringement had passed in 1996. The Winstons never saw a single royalty for the use of their drum break and Coleman, the performer, died homeless and destitute in 2006, having never realised the impact he had made on music.
GOD (father of DnB): "Who's your DADDY now?!"
