Legitimate mashers

Thinking about lecture yesterday, I realized there are a lot of legitimate mashers in our remix culture as well. Fatboy Slim, for example, is a legitimate remix artist who takes old forms of music and sort of "modernizes" them. For example, his song "Weapon of Choice" uses a sampling of Sly & the Family Stone's "Into My Own Thing."

But he doesn't just stop at sampling; Slim has also reinvented the song "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf, under the alias of The Mighty Dub Katz. I remember listening to this song many years ago, and thinking, “Wow...what an interesting take on this song!”

Mashing isn't strictly an illegal practice; with the rights and permission of the original artists, it's a legitimate art form.

Here’s Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice,” starring Christopher Walken in the music video. Classic.