The Zombies’ Rod Argent Loves Eminem’s ‘Time of the Season’ Sample
The more we learn about the musical DNA behind Eminem's new 'Marshall Mathers LP 2,' the more it looks like a classic-rock radio playlist. In addition to sampling Billy Squier and Joe Walsh for his latest album, he also ended up turning to a Zombies classic for support.
The band's signature hit 'Time of the Season' turns up in the 'MMLP2' track 'Rhyme or Reason,' and just as he did with Squier's 'The Stroke' and Walsh's 'Life's Been Good,' Eminem chose to pay homage in a fairly obvious way. Rather than lifting a small piece of the track for a subtle sample, he used it as the basis for his own song, turning the original lyrics into half of a call-and-response sequence that sets up another look at the rapper's dysfunctional past.
Zombies founder Rod Argent isn't taking affront, however. As he recently told Rolling Stone, he couldn't be happier. "I actually loved it," he said. "I loved the way he takes words and phrases from the original record and then spins off of the particular phrases. It kicks him off onto an avalanche of funny wordplay and invention. It's very amusing. It's a waterfall of words, and the associations just keep coming. When he's singing, 'There's no rhyme or no reason for nothing,' I love that it was almost identical in vowel sounds and mirrored the original, but at the same time completely inverted the sentiment of what was being said."
Asked whether he had any reservations about licensing the song, Argent said he embraced the opportunity. "I was supportive of the idea because I like things done in an inventive and creative way," he explained. "I was excited when I heard he wanted to use it because I knew it would be a completely different spin on the song and it would turn into something else."