"What were the skies like when you were young?": How The Orb's Little Fluffy Clouds showed the world that sampling could be an art form

Alex Paterson of The Orb, portrait, London, United Kingdom, 1991.

In the 21st century, sampling has become an essential technique in pop music’s toolbox: from Britney Spears’ Toxic to Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso, modern chart history is lined with hits built on snippets of other songs or ready-made loops from commercial sample packs.

Back in the ‘90s, though, sampling was still a new frontier in music-making. Having entered the vocabulary of mainstream music in the ‘80s via the groundbreaking efforts of American hip-hop producers, sampling's abundant creative potential inspired a generation of electronic musicians on the other side of the Atlantic, armed with bold new ideas and music technology that was becoming more sophisticated and affordable with each passing year.