Bangers & Mashers

Check out this article from the New York Times, on the phenomenon of "mash-ups".

"Spreading by the Web, Pop's Bootleg Remix"

I had heard the wickedly brilliant remix on the Sopranos 2 soundtrack, Every Breath You Take/Theme From Peter Gunn (Mr. Ruggerio's Remix), which combines The Police hit with the Henry Mancini classic (unfortunately, the sound clip from the Columbia web page doesn't do it justice. You have to hear it from the beginning, where the two riffs merge), but I wasn't aware that this "mashing" thing was a widespread phenomenon, more popular in Europe, but catching on here in the new world.

So I hopped over to the web site mentioned in the NYT piece ñ Base58.com ñ to check out some of these mash-ups. I downloaded several, including Conway's "Smells Like Missy" which combines the guitar and rhythm track from "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with vocal tracks from Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On".

But the one that really blows my mind, is Osymyso's "Intro Inspection" (extended version Jan 2002). Twelve minutes of Spot The Sample! But it's not just a bunch of disparate samples thrown together. It's a brilliant interweaving of musical strands that flows and ebbs and tickles your brain. There's one section, at around the 9:30 mark, that starts with the guitar riff from Free's "Alright Now", which then mutates into the guitar from "Teen Spirit" while blending the bass and rhythm track from "Stayin' Alive" and adding vocals from Desmond Dekker's "The Israelites". ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!

This just fills my brain with all sorts of little dancing music-lovin' endorphins.

Here's a list of the samples used:

Boney M - Rivers Of Babylon
The Troggs - Wild Thing
Lionel Richie - Hello
Simply Red - Fairground
Beatles - Hey Jude
Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody
Ultravox - Vienna
Beach Boys - I Get Around
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry
Elvis Presley - Hound Dog (You Aint Nothin But A)
Bran Van 3000 - Drinking In LA
Nena - 99 Red Balloons
Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
The Cure - The Love Cats
Lou Reed - A Walk On The Wild Side
Barry White - Can't Get Enough Of Your Love
Spandau Ballet - True
Shangri-Las - The Leader Of The Pack
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 - The Message
Spice Girls - Wannabe
All Saints - Pure Shores
Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger
Flying Pickets - Only You
INXS - I Need You Tonight
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Fatboy Slim - Praise You
Men At Work - Down Under (unconfirmed)
M/A/R/R/S - Pump Up The Volume
Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Thru The Grapevine
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax
KLF - 3am Eternal
Kylie Minogue - I Should Be So Lucky
Human League - Dont You Want Me
Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You
Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive
? - ? (faint off key piano) Isaac Hayes - Shaft
Henri Mancini - Theme From The Pink Panther
Duran Duran - Is There Something I Should Know?
Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart
Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams
Yello - Oh Yeah
Blur - Song 2
New Order - Blue Monday
Madness - Baggy Trousers
The Kinks - You Really Got Me
Guns n' Roses - Sweet Child Of Mine
The Surfaris - Wipeout
Offspring - Pretty Fly
Prodigy - Firestarter
Aqua - Barbie Girl
Cowcube - If It Ain't Country It Ain't Music
Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK
Charlene - I've Never Been To Me
Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Pulp - Disco 2000
Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen
The Trammps - Disco Inferno
Madonna - Like A Prayer
T'Pau - China In Your Hand
Depeche Mode - I Just Cant Get Enough
Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
Eminem - My Name Is
Lulu - Shout
Chaka Khan - I Feel For You
Abba - Take A Chance On Me
Huey Lewis & The News - The Power Of Love
Adamski - Killer
Michael Jackson - Bad
Eric Idle - Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner
? - ? (bassdrum and snare intro)
Roy Orbison - Pretty Woman
Stevie Wonder - I Just Called To Say I Love You
David Bowie - Lets Dance
Free - Alright Now
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Bee Gees - Stayin Alive
Desmond Dekker - Israelites
Snap - The Power
Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance
Etta James - I Just Wanna Make Love To You
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
The Who - My Generation
Berlin - Take My Breath Away
UB40 - Red Red Wine
Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
Tom Jones - Its Not Unusual
Chuck Berry - Roll Over Beethoven
Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
Hollies - He Aint Heavy (He's My Brother)
John Lennon - Imagine (unconfirmed)
The Orb - Little Fluffy Clouds
10CC - I'm Not In Love
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart
Heaven 17 - Temptation
Frank Sinatra - My Way
Fleetwood Mac - Albatross
The Doors - The End

You gotta hear it to believe it. It's wild! It's crazy! I love this stuff!

Not only that, I wanna make stuff like this. Gotta get my hands on that software. Been trying to find that Acid software on the web, but no luck so far. Only I'd rather steer clear of dance music. Why not mash up some rock, country, classical tracks?

Ooooooh, the possibilities...