Chapter 8 of the Practices of Looking focused on Postmodernism, where the new is blended with the old to make something fresh. The chapter states, “…the rise of remix culture is the result of shifting postmodern sensibilities coupled with the emergence of a set of technological practices enabled by the web and digital media.” (p 315) While the chapter mainly talks about visual pastiche, the same concepts exist in the music world as well. DJs around the world create mash-ups songs (sometimes known as “bootlegs” or “bastard songs”) to give new life to songs that we may not even consider “cool” anymore by mixing them up with current hits.
Perhaps the most well-known of mash-up artists is DJ Danger Mouse, who created “The Grey Album”, a mash-up of The Beatles’ White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album. However, the owners of the Beatles’ copyrights, EMI, were not too thrilled with this creation and issued cease and desist orders. Is it fair to keep Danger Mouse, also known as Brian Burton, from expressing himself creatively through these mash-ups? With laws and rights it would be illegal for him to profit off of the Beatles’ work, but what if he didn’t? Burton gave copies of his creation to family and friends, and did not receive payment, but I personally believe a person should be allowed to remix and mash-up music all they want to express themselves creatively.
Siva Vaidhyanthan, author of “Copyrights and Copywrongs” says, "It's about demolishing the myth that there has to be a special class of creators, and flattening out the creative curve so we can all contribute to our creative environment." This flattening of the creative curve would allow people who aren’t even “musicians” to create music. Some DJs put together hour-long albums with hundreds of samples. However, their requests for sampling rights are often denied, even from artists who use samples themselves.
Even if some people do not consider the laptop to be a musical instrument, it can at least be considered a social instrument. We know it is used for computer-mediated communication and as a source for information, but it is also a tool that can be used to create new sounds that get people excited about music—even if they’ve already heard it before.
Listening to mash-up music has introduced me to new artists that I might not have considered listening to before. Many songs include elements of songs that have been outplayed over the years, but with a new sound mixed it, the songs are given new life.
Here are my top 5 mash-up artists:
1) Girl Talk (photo at top)
2) team9
3) DJ Danger Mouse
4) DJ Earworm
5) The Legion of Doom
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