Friends of Dave #348: little pink pineapples 🍍
Embracing and appreciating the creative, liberating freedom of mashups.
NOTE: as I write this I am enjoying the latest punk-pop single from my son (the one who may be a horrible driver but can write lyrics, sing and play guitar) and his college bandmates that they recently dropped on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, AND the Official Friends of Dave Playlist (he also still fronts a band he formed in high school when he is home for the summer)…sure to soon be an earworm for fans of the genre if I have my way.
Long time readers know that music is a common theme in this newsletter.
I’ve always loved the creativity, the vibes and the feelings that you can get from listening to all sorts of music. I also enjoy learning the history of popular genres and artists and understanding their influences.
For example, this past week I found myself staying up way too late one night watching a documentary about rapper/DJ (the recently deceased) Biz Markie.
Here’s my quick review: yes, Friends, it got what you need….
HEADS UP: if you aren’t into music, you might want to just scan this one.
But if you share a similar affinity to mine, this preamble will probably take at least an hour to fully enjoy and digest. In fact, I’m predicting that most of you will need to come back to it a few times to do so.
For some reason, this summer, I have found myself getting into MASHUPS (not to be confused with “cover songs”). I’m not 100% sure what started it, though it is probably due to the increased discussion, activity and sharing of Instagram Reels and Tik-Toks in our family group text chat.
If any of you are in a regular group chat with Gen-Zs or younger (or you have been to a wedding recently), you probably understand. Their world is largely about communicating in memes and short video clips. And on their most widely used social media platforms, it is common that video clips are accompanied by short snippets of mashed up, remixed music — usually clips of an older song combined with a newer song, like this.
The funny thing is that usually they have no clue about the origins of the older song — and their minds are blown when you play the full version of the original for them.
I personally love the concept of mashups — they are essentially a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of music. First it is like, ew, you put my hip hop with your classic rock…but then it is like…hold on, wait a minute, that actually sounds great!
The creativity, talent and fearlessness it takes to envision how two existing songs can possibly fit together by adjusting tempo and tone, and still be pleasing to the ear is awe inspiring for me. It may take more thought and patience to pull off a good mashup than it took to produce the original — but the result can often lead to something even better.
When I think back, one of the first instances of a successful mashup I can personally remember is Rapper’s Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang. The base beat is taken from the funk/disco hit by Chic called “Good Times,” repeated over and over while overlayed by lyrics rapped by Wonder Mike, Master Gee and Big Bank Hank.
This song essentially brought rap music off the streets and into clubs and to the masses and is now regarded as one of the most influential and significant songs of all time.
Here is a clip:
Looking back, while this was ground breaking, it is important to remember that the audience for both songs were not entirely different. Young urban listeners, the earliest fans of rap, already had a built in familiarity with the funky Chic song, so it was a pretty easy sell.
Fast forward a few years to the mid-eighties. Rap had started to gain a foothold as an accepted music genre, but still was lacking widespread acceptance amongst the suburban audiences.
Looking for a “white song that could become a rap song,” a young producer, Rick Rubin, knew what to do and put together a mashup that was meant to break down barriers and unite both mainstream rock and rap communities. And, combined with the rising popularity of MTV, it did just that.
It was the Aerosmith (who had been out of the spotlight for a number of years due to Steven Tyler’s various addictions) / Run DMC (then a new, up and coming rap group) collaboration on “Walk This Way.”
The creativity, conviction and fearlessness to produce such a risky, genre bending mashup still amazes me to this day. If it fails (and it had greater odds to do that than get traction), it tanks ALL of their careers. But if it hits, like it did, it changes the trajectory for the groups and the producers and for music itself — like it did.
A decade or so after this collaboration was released, with the proliferation of PCs and the advent of the Internet, music listening and distribution began to change. Suddenly we were able to buy CDs online (which were portable, higher quality and lasted longer than tapes) from just about anywhere without having to go to an actual store, making access to inventories of new music so much easier.
We were also able to easily digitize or “rip” the contents of CDs for storage on computers. More importantly, we could also turn them into MP3 files with the idea that we could take hundreds of them with us where ever we went — without having to lug around actual CDs.
I know most of you remember this time — but now think about how this relates to mashups. The combination of widespread access to computers and actual digital music files soon lead to two big advancements: development of personal software to edit music, and development of a platform to allow people to freely discover and share music (hello Napster!).
Now anyone with some ingenuity and creativity anywhere in the world could be a Rick Rubin. And the ability to produce, record and share the next wave of awesome remixes, cover songs and mashups and get them in the hands (and ears) of global audiences became that much easier and limitless.
Like many of you, I was all over sharing services like Napster, Limewire and Kazaa in the late 90s and early 00s. Our music collection must have tripled in size with all of the downloads we made — especially with mashups. The music industry was caught by surprise with how fast this innovation happened and had no business models in place to capture revenue (and protect copyrights) or an easy way to stop the sharing from happening. The time was definitely the Wild West for music lovers.
One of the first mashups I remember discovering on a sharing platform, liking WAY better than the original and then downloading was a hip hop song by Nelly (featuring Justin Timberlake) that someone thought to mash up with ACDC’s classic “Back in Black” called “Work It.”
Now under normal, traditional circumstances back then, I would never have bought the Nelly CD with the original version of this song.
But this version? It was great for an MP3 player and working out. We also played it in on our mix CDs in the car all of the time on trips — so much so our kids (who were little back then) remember it.
BTW, there is absolutely no truth to the urban myth that we almost named our fourth kid Nelly (featuring Justin Timberlake)……
The fun quickly ended by the late 00s as the music industry adjusted and found ways to shut down the sharing platforms, curtail those violating copyrights with unauthorized and uncompensated use of existing music (part of the reason why you cannot find the mashup version of “Work It” above on any paid platform today) and threaten those downloading the pirated copies of files.
But home Internet transmission speeds kept getting faster and more efficient, digital file storage kept getting cheaper and music producing software easier to use. And then came the iPhone….
Now, today, as we know, the economics of the music industry are completely different. Electronic distribution is now the primary model for music. Artists can quickly and easily produce their music, get compensated from streaming services AND from independently (and legally) produced and distributed remixes and mashups. Songs are widely available and shareable (now actually ENCOURAGED) on social media (particularly on Tik-Tok and Instagram) as well as YouTube in addition to services like Spotify and Apple Music.
And so mashups are becoming embraced as a thing again…..Armed with Google and a few hours to kill, you too can go down a creative, earworm filled rabbit hole to both tantalize your senses and blow out your speakers.
Perhaps inspired by the success of the Nelly/ “Back in Black” mashup (and the fact that the main chords are simple, recognizable and can be easily sped up to match tempo of other songs and still sound good), the amount of “ACDC mashup” entries alone is impressive.
So because, you know, who doesn’t love a good Bee Gees hit, I’ll get you started with this one (turn up the volume):
Tell me that doesn’t work, right?
Oh, we aren’t stopping there….here’s Metallica and, naturally, Huey Lewis and the News…..buckle up!
I KNOW, RIGHT?!?!?
Next, Earth Wind and Fire and……..of course, KISS:
And now Adele and Survivor collaborating on an Eye of the Tiger / Rolling in the Deep mashup:
Okay for you more hardcore, classic rock fans, here’s a little Black Sabbath + Led Zeppelin:
And finally… the pièce de résistance for the serious music fans……guaranteed to be on repeat until they take it off of YouTube…..
I give you….THE BEST THING YOU WILL LISTEN TO TODAY…..
not just one mashup but an ENTIRE 45 minute, multi-song ALBUM of……
wait for it…..
Wu Tang Clan + Led Zeppelin…..
Yes, Friends, trust me, if you like rap/hip-hop and classic rock, it WORKS from start to finish and is unreal (and definitely NSFW).
Like a fine wine, this one hits the musical palate with a variety of tastes that at times includes hints of other popular musical artist styles that you will notice. I can attest it takes multiple sips to fully appreciate the absolutely masterful mashup craftsmanship.
So what was the point of all of this?
You’ll have tune in next week for the pay off, Friends. Until then, I hope you enjoy these mashups and this preamble inspires you to go out and discover some other good ones. As you can tell I am game for a good mashup, so if you find one, share the wealth and pass it along!
XOXO
Dave
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