Very different 'Skinny Love' piano-cover I just came across.

Is everything a remix?

“Everything is a remix.” This is the sentiment expressed in Jordan’s post of the same name. I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this concept for one simple reason. What if something is not a remix? What if it looks like a remix or it sounds like a remix, yet intellectually we know that technically it simply is not a remix?

I want to focus on music here. To me, a remix needs to be based on the original textual or recorded material. If the original material is not partially present or maintained, at least to the point of being recognizable, then it is not a remix. Am I wrong?

What about cover songs where an artist creates an entirely new recording, often vastly different in style, of another artist’s song? This does not involve remixing or including the original audio tracks in any way. In fact, I am hard pressed to think of an example of a cover that includes any portion of the original recording of the song (excluding any posthumous duet involving Elvis, Nat King Cole, or Michael Jackson).

Let me illustrate with an example that I assure you is NOT a remix. Marilyn Manson’s rendition of the Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams”, while musically and lyrically the same (with due credit to the Eurythmics on the album sleeve) has absolutely no remixed relation to the Eurythmics recorded version.

Eurythmics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ9zycElysU&feature=related

Marilyn Manson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tm-1yRZtQg

I feel we need to be more careful of our labeling things as remix. Cover songs can be an art form unto themselves. I’m sure we have all heard countless remixes and samples from Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean”, like this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQWn9U985IM

In conclusion, here is a cover of “Billie Jean” that should be recognized as such and not a remix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epXN1eUkFGU

Everything is a Remix.

I was looking at a friend's blog last night and I stumbled upon this video called Everything is a Remix. You can access Part One here and Part Two here. My friend stated that she would have loved to study the art of Remix in her undergrad and potentially wants to go to grad school to study this subject so I thought it would be great to share and to know that this subject has growing interest as more remixes are being made in music, art, fashion, politics, etc.

I find thinking of everything as a remix as a really cool concept as remix in this sense is a tool for connection and binds us to one another. Then again, with remix, it can become very difficult to be yourself and express opinions and ideas that perhaps have not been expressed before. This might be going a bit far with the whole idea of remix, but, if everything is a remix, would it be possible that your life is a remix as you may be experiencing the same things as other people have just at a different time? Or would living your life serve not so much as a remix but as a translation of the past into the present?