| Mashup | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Mesh, mash up, mash-up, blend, bootleg, bastard pop |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1990s, 2000s; Europe, North America |
| Derivative forms | |
| Regional scenes | |
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Amashup (alsomesh,mash up,mash-up,blend,bastard pop[1] orbootleg[2]) is a creative work, usually a song, created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, typically by superimposing the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another and changing the tempo and key where necessary.[3] Such works are considered "transformative" of original content and in the United States they may find protection from copyright claims under the "fair use" doctrine of copyright law.[4]
The 1967Harry Nilsson albumPandemonium Shadow Show features what is nominally a cover ofthe Beatles' "You Can't Do That" but actually introduced the "mashup" to studio-recording.[5] Nilsson's recording of "You Can't Do That" mashes his own vocal recreations of more than a dozen Beatles songs into this track. Nilsson conceived the combining of many overlaying songs into one track after he played a chord on his guitar and realized how many Beatles songs it could apply to.[6] This recording has led some to describe Harry Nilsson as the inventor of the mashup. Other recordings regarded as early examples of, or forerunners to, the mashup includeBuchanan andGoodman's "The Flying Saucer" (1956),[7][8]Marshall McLuhan'sThe Medium Is the Massage (1967),[9]the John Benson Brooks Trio'sAvant Slant (1968),[10]Grandmaster Flash's "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (1981),[11][12][13]Paul McCartney's "Tug of Peace" (1983),[14] the "Hip Hop Mix" ofClimie Fisher's "Rise to the Occasion" (1987),[15]Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers'Jive Bunny: The Album (1989),.[16] andColdcut'sJourneys by DJ: 70 Minutes of Madness (1995).[17][18]
Although described as a medley in its title, "Do It Again Medley with Billie Jean" by Italian music projectClub House could be described as one of the first ever commercially released mashups in 1983.[19] The song combines elements of "Do It Again", a 1973 top 10 hit in the US and Canada bySteely Dan, withMichael Jackson's number one hit from earlier in the year, "Billie Jean". It reached number 11 in the UK,[20] and the top 10 in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands.
Another early mashup appeared in 1985, whenThe Tubes released their studio album,Love Bomb. The second side of the album contained the track "Theme from a Wooly Place", which combined the tunes "Wooly Bully" in one channel and "Theme from A Summer Place" in the other.[21]
In 1990,Norman Cook reached number one in theUK Singles Chart with his actBeats International with "Dub Be Good to Me",[22] essentially a mashup of re-recorded vocals ofthe SOS Band's "Just Be Good to Me" withthe Clash's "The Guns of Brixton", making it the first mashup to achieve significant mainstream success.[23]
The 1990John Zorn albumNaked City features a version ofOrnette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" set over the bassline ofRoy Orbison's "Pretty Woman".[24][importance of example(s)?]
In 1991,the Source featuringCandi Staton released "You Got the Love", based on a mashup created by DJ Eren Abdullah that had been an underground club hit since 1989, placing a Candi Staton a cappella over an instrumental version ofFrankie Knuckles andJamie Principle's house track, "Your Love".[23] It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart,[25] and had continued success over subsequent years with several remixes and a cover byFlorence + the Machine.
In 1994, the experimental bandEvolution Control Committee released the first modern mashup tracks on their hand-made cassette album,Gunderphonic. These "Whipped Cream Mixes" combined a pair ofPublic Enemy a cappellas with instrumentals byHerb Alpert and theTijuana Brass. First released on home-made cassettes in early 1992, it was later pressed on 7" vinyl, and distributed byEerie Materials in the mid-1990s. The tracks gained some degree of notoriety oncollege radio stations in the United States.[26][independent source needed]
The namePop Will Eat Itself was taken from anNME feature on the bandJamie Wednesday, written byDavid Quantick, which proposed the theory that because popular music simply recycles good ideas continuously, the perfect pop song could be written by combining the best of those ideas into one track. Hence, "pop will eat itself".[27][importance of example(s)?]
Pre-empting the rise of the mashup in the 2000s, German trance actFragma reached number one in the UK and the top 10 in Australia and across Europe with "Toca's Miracle", a mashup of their previous single "Toca Me" andCoco Star's 1996 single "I Need a Miracle", initially created by British DJ Vimto in 1999.[28]
The mashup movement gained momentum again in 2001 with the release of the2 Many DJs albumAs Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2 bySoulwax's Dewaele brothers, which combined 45 different tracks; the same year a remix ofChristina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" was also released byFreelance Hellraiser, which coupled Aguilera's vocals with the guitar track of "Hard to Explain" by New York'sthe Strokes, in a piece called "A Stroke of Genie-us".[29]
In 2001, English producerRichard X had created a bootleg mashup ofAdina Howard's "Freak Like Me" andTubeway Army's "Are "Friends" Electric?", titled "We Don't Give a Damn About Our Friends", which became a successful underground dance track under his alias Girls on Top. He could not get permission to use the original vocals to release the mashup commercially, so he enlisted the English girl groupSugababes to re-record the vocals. It was released in April 2002, giving the group their first UK number one single, and drawing further recognition, acclaim and mainstream success for the mashup genre. Richard X had continued success with two more mashups reaching the UK top 10: "Being Nobody" (number 3), with pop groupLiberty X combining vocals ofChaka Khan andRufus's "Ain't Nobody" withthe Human League's "Being Boiled", and "Finest Dreams" (number 8), featuring American vocalistKelis singing the vocals from the SOS Band's "The Finest" over an instrumental of the Human League's "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of".
At the2002 Brit Awards held on 20 February 2002, Australian pop singerKylie Minogue performed a mash-up version of her number one hit "Can't Get You Out of My Head", combined withNew Order's song "Blue Monday". The live performance is cited as one of the first by a mainstream recording artist to utilise a mashup, and was ranked at number 40 onThe Guardian's 2011 list of 50 Key Events in the History of Dance Music.[30] The mashup, titled "Can't Get Blue Monday Out of My Head", was later released as the B-side to "Love at First Sight" and was included on Minogue's 2008 remix albumBoombox. In the years that followed, mash-ups became more widely used by major artists in their live performances, particularly to update previous material to meld with the themes and sounds of their more recent work. For example, on her 2006Confessions Tour,Madonna incorporated elements ofthe Trammps's "Disco Inferno" in the performance of her 2000 hit "Music", to assist the song in blending in with the tour's disco theme. On her 2008Sticky & Sweet Tour, she performed a mash-up of her 1990 hit "Vogue" with the instrumental of her recent single "4 Minutes", to update it with the more urban sound of herHard Candy album.
In August 2003, Madonna's single "Hollywood" was remixed with "Into the Groove" and performed withMissy Elliott under the title "Into the Hollywood Groove" as part of a promotional campaign for clothing retailerGAP, prompting criticism for exploiting theunderground culture of the mash-up for commercial gain.[31]
The mid-2000s saw a massive surge in popularity for the mashup, including single releases that climbed high into the dance charts and even the mainstream top-40 charts. Such hits includeLinkin Park andJay-Z's "Numb/Encore", Party Ben's "Boulevard of Broken Songs",Alex Gaudino's "Destination Calabria",Mousse T. vsthe Dandy Warhols' "Horny as a Dandy" (originally mixed and produced by Loo & Placido) andMylo vsMiami Sound Machine's "Doctor Pressure". In 2001, "Every Breath You Take" bythe Police was mashed up with "Peter Gunn" byHenry Mancini, for the 27th episode ofThe Sopranos, "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood".The Grey Album, which mashed up recordings byJay-Z andthe Beatles, also became notoriously popular.
With the release ofGuitar Hero in 2005,Rock Band in 2007, and those games' sequels, numerous mashup artists discovered that every song in the games had multitracks with instrument stems and acapellas, meaning that these songs could easily be sampled and kept uncompressed and clear. Among others, American comedianNeil Cicierega used this method to produce his four mashup albums,Mouth Sounds,Mouth Silence,Mouth Moods andMouth Dreams.
DJ Earworm's annual "United States of Pop" mashups became season events, with his 2009 edition alone garnering critical acclaim as well as racking up more than 53 million views on YouTube. Mashups also helped launch the careers of acts such asGirl Talk andMadeon, with the latter's "Pop Culture" accruing more than 55 million views. Acts such asDJs from Mars andMashd N Kutcher would go on to make mashups a huge part of their creative output.
Launched in San Francisco in 2003,Bootie was the first recurring club night in the United States dedicated solely to the burgeoning art form of the bootleg mashup, and as of 2019 hosted monthly parties in cities around the globe, including Los Angeles, Paris, Boston, Munich, and New York City. The party's slogan, "Music for the A.D.D. Generation" also inspired the creation of "A.D.D", Israel's first mashup-dedicated party.[32] TheBest of Bootie mashup compilation series is produced by Bootie creatorsA Plus D. Released every December since 2005, the compilations are annual Internet sensations, with each album requiring 5,000 GB+ of download bandwidth.[33]
Even though mashups mostly remained underground and barely got noticed aside from a few exceptions (notable examples include Bill McClintock[34]), people have never stopped remixing other artists' music without getting their prior agreement. It's been increasingly difficult to get noticed in the music industry due to a combination of relative obscurity and an increasing difficulty in keeping them available online due to automatic copyright detection (throughContent ID) and cease and desist orders from the original artists.[35]
DJ Hero is a 2009 rhythm video game developed byActivision that includes over 90 pre-made mashups, where the player scores points by hitting notes on the turntable controller.[36]
Fuser is a 2020 video game developed byHarmonix that allows the player to create mashups of over 100 songs, using fourinstrument stems from themaster recording.[37]
In December 2023,Fortnite introduced a new game mode titledFortnite Festival. In the Jam Stage andFortnite Battle Royale, players can make mashups of over 100 songs.
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