My Favorite Mashups

There is no denying the total hip-factor of mashups. Clubs use them all the time to blend tracks of different styles (or to enhance an already hot club beat) and Youtube fanatics create them all the time, simply for the fun of it. Even respectable indie producers in the music biz, such as Danger Mouse, can create something so shocking and gripping that the bootleg can create a craze in the Industry, such as DM’s “The Grey Album,” a mashup of Jay-Z’s “The Black Album” with samples from The Beatles’ “The White Album”. “The Grey Album” definitely remains to be one of my favorite mashups, simply for its striking originality (is that an oxymoron?) and twisted take on music that most consider to be classic. It really shows the abilities of a producer that can create something such as “The Grey Album”, and then go on to create the summer Gnarls Barkley smash “Crazy”, and then switch gears again and mashup Adult Swim’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” into a remixed blend. Danger Mouse: I salute you.

I’m also a really big No Doubt fan, so it would be totally unlike me to not mention some really awesome mashups that have been done with their music. Though the DJ’s and producers remain unknown to even the intensely fanatical No Doubt fan community, Everything In Time has some of the best unofficial No Doubt mashups created. Two of my favorites can be found at the very bottom of this page: The first is a mashup of No Doubt’s “Hella Good” with Madonna’s “Music”, which is pretty rad. The second mashes No Doubt hit singles with the music from Gwen’s solo career (cleverly titled as the “Mega Mix”). The best parts of the latter: “Just A Girl’s” guitar riffs alongside a lyric from Gwen’s “Hollaback Girl” and also the “Back it up! Back it up!” lyric from “Crash” mashed with the music of No Doubt’s cover of Talk Talk’s “It’s My Life.” A-a-a-amazing.

Another notable mashup for me include this video on Youtube of Kylie Minogue vs. Prodigy called “Slow My Bitch Up”. I love the production of Prodigy; it’s a shame they aren’t as popular in the States as they are elsewhere. Kylie too, for that matter (she’s a solid pop artist and performer). It’s a great mashup, both in sound and video.

Lastly, I enjoyed the Linkin Park/Jay-Z mashup. Though not a big fan of either artist separately (“Minutes to Midnight” killed Linkin Park for me. What a terrible record!), their mashups proved to be solid. The vocals came together really well with the tight production of Mike Shinoda and Jay-Z. Since Linkin Park has hip-hop elements, both vocally and musically, this awkward-on-the-surface pairing really put out a great EP: “Collision Course”.

I’m looking forward to any comments anyone might have, and will also be reading everyone’s own favorites tomorrow! Hopefully, I’ll be turned on to many more exciting, remixed, mashed-up, and totally awkward pieces of artsy creativity.

*Edit: Should’ve added these in sooner, but I just figured it out!