live mash-ups

May 20, 2005 1:23 PM

Smashup Derby performs mash-ups live. As in, an actual band plays one song while a singer sings another.
For example, here's their rendition of "Smells Like Billie Jean."
posted by me3dia (29 comments total)

no talent required.
posted by rxrfrx at 1:31 PM on May 20, 2005

i mean, these are good.
posted by rxrfrx at 1:32 PM on May 20, 2005

wow...it worked really well up to the chorus...
posted by Kifer85 at 1:33 PM on May 20, 2005

I the singer's got a ton of potential. I hope he doesn't limit himself to doing this kind of thing. Not that this kind of thing wasn't pretty fun.
posted by Wolfdog at 1:47 PM on May 20, 2005

smells like billy jean makes more sense when considered along with the morphine celebration...
posted by nervousfritz at 1:51 PM on May 20, 2005

I think it's interesting that this sort of takes mash-ups full circle -- from live performance to recording to remixed recordings back to live.
posted by me3dia at 1:58 PM on May 20, 2005

Wow, this one turned out really cool.
posted by knave at 2:21 PM on May 20, 2005

I think Tainted by You is my favorite though. Thanks me3dia.
posted by karmaville at 2:40 PM on May 20, 2005

franz ferdinand/take me out + talking heads/burning down the house
that knave pointed out is really amazing and does show the singer's talents too..
i bet david byrne is not an easy one to emulate..
posted by zenzizi at 3:31 PM on May 20, 2005

Nice!
posted by Smedleyman at 3:57 PM on May 20, 2005

Pretty cool, thanks! "Tainted by You" sounds like a real, sort of unique song. Very fun to listen to.
posted by livii at 4:10 PM on May 20, 2005

If you're in or around Portland, OR, USA, you can hear live mash-ups every Wednesday at Dante's by these guys:

http://www.stormlarge.com/ (NSFW)

The lead singer has some amazing pipes.

Disclaimer: I subbed on bass with them last night.
posted by nonmyopicdave at 4:31 PM on May 20, 2005

cool--and probably really hard to do live. : >
posted by amberglow at 4:43 PM on May 20, 2005

Live must be hard as the singer, but it makes the end result not suck, since they tend to adjust to match better.
posted by smackfu at 5:06 PM on May 20, 2005

I wait endlessly for someone to do the world's most perfect live performance mashup ever: The Monkee's "Pleasant Valley Sunday" lyrics with music from U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday".

And I'll keep on waiting, I suspect.
posted by davejay at 7:06 PM on May 20, 2005

(and yes, I know that technically that's not a mashup. It still amuses me.)
posted by davejay at 7:07 PM on May 20, 2005

well, how about "Sugar, Sugar'" (the Archies, music) with "Nothing Compares to U" (Sinead's version, lyrics)?
posted by amberglow at 7:54 PM on May 20, 2005

One song to the tune of another? They've been doing that on BBC Radio 4 for over thirty years.
posted by infidelpants at 10:34 PM on May 20, 2005

But yeah, "Talking Franz" is brilliant.
posted by infidelpants at 10:45 PM on May 20, 2005

I love mashups.. these guys have their hearts in the right place, and the Billie Jean/Smells Like Teen Spirit track is SO FUCKING CLOSE. This would be an absolute kick to hear live. I think that's the dividing line here... some people are going to love what they might hear these guys do in a live setting, while others are going to compare them to what they paid to hear on their iPods.
posted by BoringPostcards at 11:37 PM on May 20, 2005

Dunno if these are exactly mashups, but Elvis Hitler once recorded "Green Haze" -- the lyrics of the theme song for the TV show "Green Acres" to the tune of Jimi Hendrix' "Purple Haze" -- and then there's "O Little Town of Bethlehem" to the tune of The Animals' "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Amazing Grace" to the tune of the theme song from "Gilligan's Island."
posted by alumshubby at 7:15 AM on May 21, 2005

Good stuff. Interesting to note that this isn't considered valid art by some people.
posted by nthdegx at 10:49 AM on May 21, 2005

Dread Zeppelin also did this, albeit to a different level of granularity, with tracks like "Heartbreaker (At The End Of Lonely Street)". More here.
posted by kcds at 11:31 AM on May 21, 2005

Alumshubby, what they're doing isn't just playing one song to the tune of another, as you're describing. The singer sings the melody of one song over the tune of another song.
posted by me3dia at 4:05 PM on May 21, 2005

Two words........ BIG DADDY!
posted by Guish at 12:23 PM on May 22, 2005

And if I actually pay attention to what I'm doing, try here and listen for yourself
posted by Guish at 12:47 PM on May 22, 2005

I wonder what the copyright issues are here. Is it like sampling? Do they actually get to make money from this?

I sure hope so. This is pretty clever.
posted by Jon-o at 7:53 PM on May 22, 2005

Pretty cool. It simultaneously made me feel confused yet oddly intrigued.
posted by PrincessLara at 8:26 PM on May 22, 2005

I bet they have to pay double royalties.
posted by smackfu at 1:36 PM on May 23, 2005