With the term remix culture in mind, when I think of cultural aspects of popular music, I instantly think of the mash-up. As most of you probably know, mash-ups are typically songs that have been created by mixing many pre-recorded songs together to create "original works" (I put the words "original works" into quotations due to issues surrounding copying, copyright laws, and other issues). For the past few years, the infamous DJ Earworm, also known as Jordan Roseman, has released short mixes of the top songs of the year that he has titled the United State of Pop mashups. At the end of 2010, DJ Earworm released his latest mashup, which can arguably be said to be better or worse than the previous years, but I'll leave that for you to decide. If interested, feel free to check out the video for DJ Earworm's mash-up below!
I think mashups like this one have only recently started to become fairly popular. I am more familiar with mashups that combine only two songs that, when the lyrics are combined, can produce a different meaning out of what was originally intended by each song independently. Many of the songs that are featured in the television show Glee are mashups. Some of these mashups are combinations of two or more songs while others are more of a modernized version, or remix, of an older song. DJ Earworm does a great job at combining the Top 40 songs in such way that highlights the most recognizable parts of each song. Mashups are a good way to expose audiences to new material because usually the intended audience will not be completely familiar with every song included in the entire mashup. By featuring new bands and new artists, mashups have the potential to broaden the musical tastes of their listeners.
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