Weekend Recommendations #9 - Mash-ups

Mash-Up:

-Music: a recording that combines vocal and instrumental tracks from two or more recordings

-a combination or mixing of dissimilar elements especially content from different sources

Dictionary.com

I love mash-ups. They are a source of great fun, humor, and creativity, and stimulate the right brain to strut.

There have always been “mash-ups” though they have taken on an entirely new power in the time of the Internet. One that comes to mind that shows the power of a strong mash-up is one that launched an iconic TV series.

I was fortunate to be an early executive at MTV from pre-launch through the first four years. It truly was a powerful and transformative social and creative force. The elevation of the music video to cultural influence affected not only the music business but the TV and film business as well. Long, beautiful sequences with a rock sound bed, and quick-cut editing that became known as MTV jump cuts; the beginning of short-attention-span- TV began.

MTV was so profound, that the most powerful and influential TV network programmer of the time, Brandon Tartikoff, head of entertainment at NBC referenced it in a note at a programming meeting [supposedly, I wasn’t in the room of course] with:

MTV Cops

And Miami Vice was born.

I am sure many of you have taken wormhole rides down some topics on YouTube. Well, I spent a good bit of time looking at mash-ups the other day for this column.

There are of course a lot of music mash-ups. Below are links to a few of the best. Also, there was a whole slew of the father of the bride and bride dances and the wedding first dance.

A category that I love is the pairing of rap music with movie dance sequences from the 1930s,40s, and 50s. A few of the best are below.

NOTE: Weekend recommendations are for paid and founding member subscribers only, so only they will get to view what I have curated below. That said I do want to give free subscribers a couple of fun ones before the paywall below. IF you do enjoy Evolutionshift and want to support me in this effort to bring the future to you more fully, please consider now as a good time to become a paid subscriber. Thank you! Enjoy!

I have been a fan of the TV “The Blacklist” The lead character – played perfectly by James Spader- is named Red Reddington, the number one criminal in the world. The man at the top of the FBI wanted list for years, who works with the FBI to bring in criminals. He is a violent man who freely uses it as needed. The perfect soundtrack is by the recently deceased Coolio. One of the great songs of the 1990s.

 

One of the reasons that TikTok has taken over the Internet and social media worlds is that it is a quintessential mash-up medium.

Now for some fun and creative mash-ups