“I was at a King Crimson show, I was signing autographs and somebody handed me Mariah Carey’s record and said, ‘Would you sign this?’” How Adrian Belew ended up on a number one single without even knowing
Belew’s playing on Tom Tom Club’s Genius of Love has been sampled 166 times by a host of artists, including Mariah Carey
Guitarist Adrian Belew has worked extensively as a session guitarist and touring musician – in addition to his tenure with King Crimson, he has toured with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, and Talking Heads, to name but a few. Another role on his resume? Being featured on a hit Mariah Carey track without him even knowing.
In a recent interview with Guitar World on the subject of his extremely well-worn Stratocaster, Belew discussed how that Strat has become one of the most-heard guitars on the planet… without him realizing.
“Maybe one of the most well-known songs [it was featured on] would be [Tom Tom Club’s] Genius of Love, which has been a huge hit now three times,” he says. “It’s been sampled 166 times by different artists, which is something I only learned recently when [Latto’s Big Energy] came out in 2022.”
“I was at a King Crimson show, I was signing autographs and somebody handed me Mariah Carey’s record and said, ‘Would you sign this?’ I said, ‘I don’t even know Mariah Carey. Why would I do that?’ They said, ‘Oh, you’re right here. It says you co-wrote this.’
“They opened it up and showed that I co-wrote [her 1995 hit Fantasy, which samples Genius of Love] with [Talking Heads’] Chris [Frantz] and Tina [Weymouth]. I was amazed.
“That’s exactly how I learned about it – otherwise I might have never known. It was the Number 1 record in the country at the time, but I don’t listen to mainstream radio. I called up my manager the next day, and he didn’t know, either. This guitar has crossed over a lot of people’s ears.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Belew told the story of how he got his go-to Strat from a used guitar store in Nashville for $285 in 1978.
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However, he didn't like its brown sunburst finish, so he enlisted the help of Seymour Duncan to give it a complete makeover, resulting in perhaps the first-ever relic'd electric guitar.
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Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.
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