Ridley Scott's masterpiece Blade Runner was first released in cinemas 35 years ago today, on the 25th of June 1982. The dystopian film, which is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel, 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?', has been sampled over 80 times, with the score and dialogue from the film being widely utilised across the spectrum of music.

The movie's original electronic score was written by Vangelis, who created a distinctive sci-fi atmosphere through his exemplary synthesiser work. One of the most notable samples of Blade Runner is in Company Flow's 'Info Kill II', which samples 'Los Angeles November 2019' from the film's official soundtrack:

The powerful 'Tears in Rain' speech, performed by Rutger Hauer as the replicant Roy Batty, is one of the movies key scenes and comes at the climax of the action making it ripe for sampling by the likes of London Elektricity, Neil Cicierega and Zomby. The scintillating dialogue is used here as a brooding introduction to draw the listener in before dropping into the breakbeat, with the dialogue returning later to provide a short respite before the beat returns in full force:

The haunting 'Rachel's Song' has been sampled 10 times so far, with the emotive vocal performance of Mary Hopkin being repurposed to great effect across many different genres. One of the most outstanding uses of this piece is in The Future Sound of London's 'My Kingdom', the vocals providing a beautiful counterpoint to the driving drums and prominent bassline:

Possibly the most indelible piece of music in the soundtrack is the 'Main Title', which as the first piece of music to play in the film, provides the viewer with an impression of what is to come. The piece evolves and builds slowly into a thick synthesized audio landscape, revealing the instantly recognisable main tune of the piece. The tense atmosphere the song provides has been utilised by DJ Trace and Nico (Drum & Bass) for their 1999 white label release 'Replicant':

It is safe to say that Blade Runner has solidified its greatly influential position on both film and music, and with the sequel Blade Runner 2049 due to be released in October this year, it seems that this influence will only continue to grow...