I remember the first time I ever heard about YouTube. I was in the car listening to NPR (now I sound like my mother, citing NPR as the source of all new information) and there was a story about the rise of YouTube. The reporter talked about YouTube as a vast store of other artists' work - he looked up old recordings of his favorite jazz musicians, for example.
Obviously, YouTube has become much more than an archive. There are millions of video blogs, original films, and home movies posted to the site. There are also many tributes - type in any popular song title in the YouTube search box and you see several dozen kids sitting on their beds with acoustic guitars, turning in their best covers.
But there is another widespread, and often more interesting, phenomenon on the site - the mashup. Here the poster plays DJ and brings two different songs together to make a new tune. The best mashups are those that use two seemingly very different songs. Sometimes the effect of the juxtaposition is simply humorous, but other times one is surprised how well the two songs go together.
Here are three of my favorites:
Pump Up My Doorbell
Come Closer Together
Smells Like Billie Jean
4 comments:
i was hoping to hear a rendition of "The Monster Mash" when i saw your post. I was deeply disappointed.
Is it just me, or does the guy who sings "The Monster Mash" sound super gay?
"Monster Mash" is an amazing social commentary on the futility of commercialism in the context of the (then) current trends in global hegemony.
I think Nic just had hemorrhagic stroke from blunt force trauma and then typed the last comment. i think what he meant to say was 'Monster Mash was a really stupid song and dance and was only successful because everyone was high on cocaine and didn't really know what was going on.'
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