Roland TR-909

By disman00911
updated 2 days ago

Songs that use the classic 909 drum machine. Just about every house/techno/dance record from the late 80s, 1990s, and the early-to-mid 2000s used this machine.

Putting the "non-dance" tracks in the front of the list as not many hip hop, downtempo, R&B, or rock tracks used the 909 (not counting dance remixes of certain songs). At page 5 (showing 25 tracks at a time) is where all the club/house/techno/etc records from 1985 onward start to kick in.

TV/Movie/Video Game themes & music that used the 909 but aren't on discogs
- Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993-1998 tv show)
- Booker T's theme from WCW and WWE (can you dig it sucka!)
- American Idol (2002-present reality show)
- Koopaling boss battle in New Super Mario Bros Wii (2009) & NSMBU theme in Super Mario Maker 1 & 2 (2014, 2019)

  1. Based on the release year (1984), this was first known album to produce tracks that used the 909.
    "Glass Houses"

  2. also uses the dmx. Was probably the first song with some use of the 909 that made the US top 40 charts.

  3. Think this was the first song with mainly 909 (excluding Phil's actual drums towards the end) to a pop hit in both the US and the UK since "Sussudio" used both the 909 and DMX

  4. samples Phil Collins's "Take Me Home", which uses the 909

  5. "Ladies", "Bassline", and "Hardcore Hip-Hop" only. The rest uses the 808

  6. "Larry's Dance Theme" only. The other track in this release uses DMX instead.

  7. the sampled Soul II Soul loop break in this bootleg/mashup uses a 909

  8. samples the looped break from the white label remix of Edie Brickell's "What I Am", which uses a 909

  9. the hi-hats from this song sound like an 909

  10. "Bring the Beat Back" uses both 909 and 808
    "Yo Mama" uses both 909 and E-Mu Drumulator

  11. "Gordy's Groove" only as "Beat of the Street" uses the DMX