As the worldwide pop mashup scene enters its fifth year, the signs of middle age -- forgetfulness, a decline of style, the occasional stretch mark -- are everywhere. Trends and fads die at the hands of their own success, and the mashup scene feel closer to an end than the beginning. To its credit, mashups have rekindled that ol' indie spirit that once gave pop music the only heart it ever had. The scene has also moved as fast as an overeager prom date: It took eight years for rap to work from NYC clubs to The Sugarhill Gang, yet "The Grey Album" could stand tall in any argument over the best album of 2004.
Over the past two years I've collected about 130 mashups, and listened to about 3x that number in the process. I'll let somebody else write the annotated history. Here's my four points:
- Lots of mashers dissed "The Grey Album" for overusing technology and taking the Cuisinart approach to the backing music. A traditional, high-quality mashup uses two tracks with a minimum of beat/pitch shifting and a not-so-obvious merging of melodies -- say the best of Mark Vidler, or DJ Crook Air's Junior Senior/Lauryn Hill combo. The very best mashups use even more, but keep the song as a whole from turning into techno-goulash.
- Hip-hop started out as essentially mashups of classic hooks and backup music with new lyrics, and its popularity guarantees plenty of raw material for the future. The reverse has been rare, but with hip-hop moving to more sophisticated productions, maybe that will change.
- Britain was the cradle of the mashup world, but San Francisco has become a hotbed of the best new American work.
- The mashups I keep coming back to tend to be the ones that are not just good, but have a sense of humor.
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