Apache (instrumental)

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"Apache"
"Apache" cover
single cover
Single by The Shadows
B-side "Quartermaster's Stores" (Trad: arr Bill Shepherd)
Released July 1960 United Kingdom
Recorded 17 June 1960, Abbey Road Studios, London Flag of England
Genre Rock, Instrumental
Label Columbia DB4484
Writer Jerry Lordan
Producer Norrie Paramor
The Shadows singles chronology
"Saturday Dance"
1959		 "Apache"
1960		 "Man of Mystery"
1960
Cliff Richard and the Shadows chronology
"Please Don't Tease"
(6/1960)		 "Nine Times Out of Ten"
(9/1960)

"Apache" is a classic instrumental written by Jerry Lordan and recorded by British group The Shadows in June 1960. It was released two months later. The song topped the UK singles chart for five weeks.

It has been covered many times. The tune is considered influential, both in its time and in following years, and, in its 1973 version by the Incredible Bongo Band, has been called "hip-hop’s national anthem".[1]

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Apache" at number 96 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

Contents

The Shadows' recording was done at the EMI Abbey Road Studio in London. Hank Marvin was developing the "Shadows sound". Singer-guitarist Joe Brown had just bought an Italian-built guitar echo chamber. He didn't like it and gave it to Marvin. Marvin developed a new sound using the chamber coupled with heavy vibrato using the tremolo arm of his Fender Stratocaster. Bruce Welch borrowed an acoustic Martin guitar from Cliff Richard, which was a revolutionary step for a rock and roll band. These sounds, with a heavy melodic bass line by Jet Harris, created a revolutionary sound. Percussion was provided by Tony Meehan (drums) and Cliff Richard, who plays a Japanese drum at the beginning and at the end to provide a Red Indian atmosphere. The record producer was Norrie Paramor. He preferred the flip side of "Apache", an instrumental of the old army song "The Quartermaster's Stores", now called "The Quatermasster's Stores" after the TV series Quatermass. Paramor wanted to make that the A-side, but changed his mind after his daughter preferred "Apache".

The name reflects the source of Lordan's inspiration for the song: the 1954 American western film Apache.

The original Shadows version was considered revolutionary for its twangy use of guitar and its innovative tribal rhythms. It has been cited by a generation of guitarists as inspirational and is considered one of the most influential 45s of the pre-Beatles era. The song has also been cited by Afrika Bambaataa as an important early element of hip hop music with the record being sampled and scratched by many DJs.

But it wasn't the Shadows' version that Bambaataa, Kool Herc and the like turned into "hip-hop’s national anthem": it was the 1973 version by Michael Viner and an ad hoc group called the Incredible Bongo Band. It would be further reworked by hip hop performers "ranging from the Sugarhill Gang and L.L. Cool J to The Roots and Nas," not to mention sampling by techno performers Future Sound of London and Moby and drum and bass acts J. Majik and Goldie.[1]

  • Early British guitarist Bert Weedon also recorded "Apache" in 1960; it made it to number 24 on the charts.
  • Jørgen Ingmann, originally a jazz guitarist from Denmark, also produced a cover version of "Apache" that, billed to "Jørgen Ingmann and his guitar," made it to number two on the US pop chart in the United States in 1961, thereby preventing the Shadows's original from charting there.
  • Sonny James recorded a vocal version in 1962.[1]
  • Los Pekenikes Spanish rock band covered "Apache" in 1961.
  • The Ventures covered "Apache" in 1962.
  • Davie Allan and The Arrows recorded "Apache '65" in the named year.
  • In 1970, The Edgar Broughton Band released "Apache Dropout", an inspired pairing of Captain Beefheart's ‘Dropout Boogie’ with The Shadows instrumental hit.
  • In 1972 the Moog-based band of session musicians called Hot Butter released a cover version of "Apache" as follow-up to their hit "Popcorn".
  • In 1973, the song was covered by the Incredible Bongo Band, who added the distinctive bongo drum intro and added more percussion throughout the song. Though not a huge success, the song drove the album Bongo Rock to #58 on the Billboard Black Albums chart.
  • In 1976 the electro-rock French band Rockets, in their first eponymous album, released a version featuring synthesizers, disco-rock drumming, and heavily treated guitars.
  • In 1977 a disco-styled music video of "Apache" featured The Tommy Seebach Band. Set on a rocky hillside, it featured scantily-clad dancers adoring a grinning keyboard player. This version was recognized for its kitsch value and made the rounds of the Internet in early 2005. It is widely considered the worst music video of all time.
  • Ska-Dows recorded a ska version of "Apache", including some lyrics, mostly the word "Apache!" shouted repeatedly.
  • In 1981, the rap group Sugarhill Gang covered the Incredible Bongo Band version of the song, on their second album 8th Wonder. In addition to using the distinctive beat and bongo drums, the Sugarhill Gang added rap lyrics on top, with some of their signature references, including:
    • The Lone Ranger is referenced extensively in this song. One memorable lyric states, "Tonto, jump on it! Jump on it! Jump on it!" One of the rap segments is from the perspective of the Lone Ranger himself; the phrase, "Hi-ho Silver (is what I say)" ends this segment.
    • The lyric "What you hear is not a test" references the song "Rapper's Delight".
    • The "Popcorn" song by Hot Butter is referenced via this lyric: "What's that? Hot butter popcorn!"
    • The "Monster Mash" is mentioned in this song.
  • DJ Grandmaster Flash interpolated parts of the Incredible Bongo Band song "Apache" in his song "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel".
  • West Street Mob, a group on the Sugar Hill Records label, made a song which interpolated parts of the "Apache" song by the Incredible Bongo Band; this song was called "Break Dancin' (Electric Boogie)".
  • The Prodigy song "Breakdance Electric Boogie", from their 1999 Dirtchamber Sessions Volume 1 album, includes an extrapolation of the West Street Mob song listed above.
  • Vanilla Ice sampled "Apache" in his hit song "Ninja Rap".
  • In 1996, Sir Mix-A-Lot played off of the lyrics to Sugarhill Gang's "Apache" in his hit version of "Jump on It".
  • Fatboy Slim recorded a remix song that mostly interpolated the Incredible Bongo Band version of "Apache" which was also used for the Snatch movie soundtrack.
  • In 2002 Portishead's Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley recorded a cover version which was released on limited white, green, pink and black vinyl 7" single under the name The Jimi Entley Sound.
  • Wyclef Jean's "Masquerade" includes the melodic hook played on violin as the song closes.
  • In 2005, the German music team Scooter covered this song in the album Who's Got The Last Laugh Now? in a dance music version. They also made a fusion with their another track "Rock Bottom" from the mentioned album.
  • It was used as the beat on the song "We Run This" on Missy Elliott's album The Cookbook.
  • Angel Parra Trio, a Chilean Latin jazz band, covered this song on his 2005 album Playa Solitaria.
  • In 2005, Switch[1] extensively sampled the covered version by Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band in A Bit Patchy (wordplay on Apache). It was met with rave reviews, and was picked up in 2006 by Data Recordings under the Ministry of Sound label and received popular remixes by Eric Prydz and Todd Terry.
  • In 2006, Jean-Pierre Danel recorded a version of "Apache" very close to the original. The album hit the French charts at number one and received a platinum disc. "Guitar Connection 2" features a duet by Danel and Hank Marvin on The Shadows' standard "Nivram".
  • Japanese beatbox trio Afra & Incredible Beatbox Band recorded a vocal-only, beatbox version on their 2006 album "I.B.B.".
  • Nas sampled "Apache" in his 2006 single, Hip Hop Is Dead
  • On the 2006 album Hier is Normaal, the Dutch band Normaal made a compilation of instrumental songs of their own and other artists. Apache is also in it. The song, "Varkens Pesten", means literally "bullying pigs".
  • Also in 2006, The Federation sampled a piece of the song for their single "I Only Wear My White Tees Once".

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The Sugarhill Gang version of the song is played whenever a run is scored by the minor-league Salem Avalanche during home games.
  • The Incredible Bongo Band version was used in Justin Eldridge's Part in the 2003 Girl Skateboards film Yeah Right!
  • The Shadows' version was featured in the British feature film Scandal.
  • Sugarhill Gang's version of "Apache" is featured prominently in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story as the theme to White Goodman's courtship of Kate Veach.
  • In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air sixth-season episode "Viva Lost Wages", Will and Carlton dance to the Sugarhill Gang's version of this song in the talent contest in Las Vegas, hoping to win enough cash to get them back to Bel-Air. They are ultimately awarded the "Booby prize".
  • The Fatboy Slim version of the song appears in the trailer for the Guy Ritchie movie Snatch(2000), while the montage introducing the title characters is played.
  • In the movie Drumline, the Morris Brown marching band plays Sugarhill Gang's "Apache" while in the stadium stands. Several of the drum majors also dance to the music.
  • "We Run This" (which samples Apache) was played in the trailer for the movie Stick It.
  • A form of The Sugarhill Gang's "Apache" is played every time an Atlanta Braves player hits a home run at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • The song was used in various forms in the pilot episode of the sitcom The Knights of Prosperity (2007).
  • A version of the instrumental is used in part of a trailer for the 2007 film Shoot 'Em Up.


Preceded by
"Please Don't Tease"
by Cliff Richard and The Shadows		 UK number one single
25 August 1960
(5 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ricky Valance


  1. ^ a b c Michaelangelo Matos, Abstract: All Roads Lead to ‘Apache’", Pop Conference, Experience Music Project 2005. Accessed online 5 March 2007

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