The Not-Pop Jukebox

If anyone can give Sean Kingston some flavor, can prove that the man would sound the same in front of a frenetic set of fiddles as he does a drum machine, it’s Fissunix. That’s precisely what the DJ has done with this Mashup of the Month: taken the R&B idol and backed him with the country-fried electro madness of Rednex and their take on Cotton-Eyed Joe.

If anyone happens to have a picture of Mr. Kingston sporting a beat-up cowboy hat and a pair of boots, I’d love to have it. This song practically demands one, particularly if it somehow gives the impression of his being at a hoedown.

As always, you can download the Mashup of the Month for free, this time from the official Fissunix web site. Here you can see a mockup of the picture I'm picturing, if that isn't too redundant. I think all of this Rednex is shrinking my vocat...uh, vocan...er, vocaz...my words. I'm off to read a dictionary. Let me know what you think!

I defy you, my darlings, to scowl through this song. I double dog dare you to resist the urge to pop your hips with Michael Jackson at the brilliance of the Prado Perez track that is the backing music to Lou Bega's Mambo No. 5. Beat It No. 5 shows you all precisely why I love mashups: Mambo Jackson that somehow still works, though you'd likely never have thought to yourself, "I wonder if the King of Pop ever did the mambo?"

This wondrous piece of smile-inducing mashup gold is, as are all my Mashups of the Month, available free of charge from it's sharp-witted creator, DJ Rozroz. Should you wander over to his profile you will see that he's a wizard with the oldies as well as a fan of the 80s.

The whole purpose of mashups is to bend genres, to blend decades into wholly new music that a wide audience can appreciate…in the form of getting down to songs that all but demand you dance. Forme has taken this to a new level by combining a nonsense song that personifies the 60s surf scene and mashing it with Skrillex.

Now, everybody’s heard about the bird if they’re over the age of 25 or so but I’d bet a good portion of those folks who know the word are unfamiliar with the Bangarang. Here we have a mashup to bring generations together, a real wedding-dance winner guaranteed to fill the floor. Okay, it does in my living room, where the kids and I pretty much take up the available dancing space.

Give it a shot yourself and see if it doesn’t get you moving. Whether you come to is as a fan of The Trashman or of Skrillex, Surfin’ Bird Bangarang gives you a lot to enjoy. Naturally, you can download this Mashup of the Month for free via the link on Forme's SoundCloud upload.

The neo-soul Duffy hit Mercy always struck me as a fantastic song that deserved a post here at The NPJ, though it would have to be of the True Confession variety considering its deserved popularity. As so often happens, however, a mashup has arisen that gives me an excuse to praise the song without dedicating a post to it alone.

DJ Y Alias JY took the sultry little songstress and ran her right into Robin Thicke, the masher, to create Blurred Mercy. Hey, hey, hey indeed! Naturally, you can download the Mashup of the Month for free from Official FM but be warned that the background is a screen shot from that full-of-himself Mr. Thicke and features a topless woman.

Have a listen and let me know if you think Mr. Thicke sounds like he’s leering at the comparatively demure Duffy while she begs for Mercy or if it it’s just my imagination. I somehow get the feeling he'd leer at pretty much any woman but I'm still jamming to Blurred Mercy.

Some days you need a massive mash to make your day. Today is one of those days. Conveniently for you, my darlings, I have here a 24-song mash-stravaganza from JT & C (that would be John Twig & Crowfield) guaranteed to get your bootie rockin'.

Save Them Mashups takes a pile of hits from the past decade or two in a few different languages and makes a big mess of awesome. There's Etta James, Skrillex, Daft Punk, Gorillaz, Lady Gaga, and Duck Sauce, to name but a few.

You can find the download link on the SoundCloud page linked above and below. JT & C are new to me so I'll be listening more. If Save Them Mashups is any indication, I'll be sharing more in the near future. In the meantime, have a listen and let me know if you love this one as much as I do.

Yet again, a mashup has introduced me to a song I've never heard outside it. I can't help but think the original Eric Hassle song will suffer by comparison. Dan Mei has used Katrina & the Waves cheer that mopey Hassle right up by shining a little sunshine on him. Voila! Hurtful Sunshine.

You can, of course, download it from Dan Mei Productions for free, as with all the mashups I post. As a side note, Mr. Mei and the rest of Mashup Industries has restarted their wonderful site filled with mashes, remixes, and more so you can pick up many of your favorite DJs from the same place. That's got me Walking on Sunshine.

From time to time it amuses me to realize that there are pop songs out there that I know thought I’ve never heard the original. When I think of Adele, for instance, I think of her as re-imagined by Marc Johnce (with all sorts of pop music) and DJs from Mars (with Robin S). I’ve heard her over thrash metal and slowed down to a lady Barry White. I have no idea how the song is “supposed” to sound.

Daft Beatles mashed Rolling in the Deep with Sweet Dreams. DJ Maya Jakobson added some classical and some Britney Spears to make ‘Til the Swan Lose Deep Control. Dan Mei chose to lay Adele over Fire and Flames to give her that 200-bpm, flame-broiled bite. ShyBoy slowed her and rolled her with Underworld to make Born in the Deep (Rolling Slippy).

Then there's Ryan Nellis, who rolled Adele through the Eye of the Tiger and the one that slew me, the piece de resistance, Wick-it the Instigator's Rolling in the Fire, which takes Rolling in the Deep and gives it some deep funk.

Naturally, you can download all of these for free. Just click the links above. I've got a set at SoundCloud so that you can hear them but Dan Mei's track isn't there so you get that one on a separate player. Have a listen and let me know which you like best, or if you're true to the original.

I've got something almost brand new for you for this month's MotM. It's Michael Jackson versus -M-, which turns out to make the King of Pop even poppier (as if that were a word). It doesn't seem possible, but last month had Rick James with extra funk so why not ViC making MJ bounce?

I defy you not to enjoy MoJo to the point of chair dancing strenuously, if not actually getting up and jamming. Go on, click play. And if the track alone doesn't do it for you (don't lie, darlings, I know it did) you can watch the hysterical video mashup as well.

So get ready for a massive, double dose of pop from the Not-Pop Jukebox. Not only can you listen to Mojo, you can download it for free right here thanks to official.fm and ViC.

If you could make Rick James even funkier, would you? DJ Zebra would. In fact, he did, by mixing him with LCD Soundsystem. I know, I didn't think it was possible, either, but here it is.

You can't get just Superfreak Is Playing at My House, but you can download a whole album's worth containing DJ Zebra's best of 2005 from his site. Naturally the Mashup of the Month is included.

As so often happens, I saw the combination in this Mashup of the Month and thought, “Really?!” But, yes, The Jackson 5 manage to make Naughty by Nature more fun than offensive, and about time somebody did. Thank goodness A Plus D were around to take some of the jerk factor out of a song celebrating getting someone’s significant other to cheat on him or her.

While OPP never was a favorite of mine, ABC long has been. And so I bring to you today this outrageous mix that still manages to work beautifully. As always, you can download ABC OPP for free from the A Plus D Bootie Mashup site for free. You’ll find a mess of other great mashups there, too. Take a listen to We’ve Got the Soulja Boy while you’re there for another example of genre bending.

As a tidbit, the reason the songs work so well together (and the reason that I've embedded a different mashup below for your listening pleasure as I couldn't find the A Plus D version to share) is that Naughty By Nature sampled ABC when they made OPP. And, yes, I did completely miss MotM day again this month. At least I still brought you a great song.

I bring you joyous news, this holiday season: Santastic VII has just been released. You can download the whole album for free from DJ BC's site but I thought I'd give you a particular recommendation because, well, Mojochronic's double-Ramones mash has been tickling me for days.

It's actually pretty rare that at mashup of holiday classics really works for me. In this case, however, not only have the songs been matched perfectly but the vocals have been combined in such a way that The Ramones sound as filled with Christmas cheer as those cheesy old chestnuts they're now backing.

Sadly, the version on Grooveshark is from four years ago and isn't nearly as polished as the new one that I linked above. Have a listen to get the idea and then download the new, extra-awesome I Wanna Be Dentated. Let me know if you agree, would you? And don't miss DJ Schmolli's Jingle Bells Pon de Floor while you're there.

I've been listening to Harder Better Faster Quasar for a week, now, and jamming to point of breaking my chair every time. Sadly, I cannot point you to a free download because it has since been removed from SoundCloud and I cannot find a web site for this Hardwell character.

The point of this post, however, is not to bemoan the fact that you can't have the song. It's to show you three things: that mashups can be more than the sum of their parts, that Hard Rock Sofa can do some seriously massive stuff when they set their minds to it, and that a technically unrelated song can stick something like the theme from Knight Rider straight into your head for days.

I've listened to so many mashes of Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger that I'd rather forgotten what the original sounded like. In truth, it needed a little heavy added to the background. Then along comes Hardwell with Quasar in hand, cranks up the bass, and voila! We get something better than either of the two originals.

However, Hard Rock Sofa either sampled the Knight Rider theme when they made Quasar or they were inspired by it because that's all I can think of when I hear either the original or Harder Better Faster Quasar. For today I've brought all four of the songs together for your musical edification, my darlings. Do let me know if you agree with any of that blather or if I'm daft and should just go back to my sofa.

Who’d have thought Ram Jam, Michael Jackson, and Taio Cruz would make such a dance-inspiring combination? MashMike, apparently, in this fantastic mashup of Black or White, Black Betty, and Dynamite over a Spartan back track that lets the vocals really shine.

You can, naturally, download Black or White Dynamite for free from SoundCloud. While you're there, have a cruise through some of the other fantastic mashes MashMike has done. I particularly recommend The A-Team Zumba and, if you, like I do, have a youngster fond of Gangnam Style, a fun torture tool called Gagnam Style for a White Guy.

(As a side note, I have apparently lost the ability to tell what day it is and have posted my MotM late again. Sorry! I'll have to add a reminder to my calendar or something. At least I didn't forget entirely.)

The Illuminoids put together this great mix of L7 and CSS, a sort of zombie song for the Halloween Mashup of the month. I included the video because it's pretty disturbing and makes the undead thing really work.

Sadly, the song is four years old and I couldn't find a single place to download it for free (except those freaky pirate sites where you're not altogether sure what else will hitchhike on your computer). The Mashuptown post lists a site for The Illuminoids but apparently it's dead. If you know where people can get it, please let me know. Until then, enjoy the song and the video.

I’ve posted sets of mashes before, notably the ever-popular smelly Nirvana hit and the perpetually geeky music of Star Wars, but I can’t resist building a little pile of such combinations. It tickles me to find different takes on the same song from various mashup artists.

It seems most of them have taken a swing at House of Pain’s Jump Around. For today I’m offering eight mashups, from such luminaries as FAROFF (three times), DJ Schmolli (twice), Party Ben, MashMike, and The Bootleague. As usual, those links take you to their respective sites where you can download each mashup for free.

Apparently House of Pain brings out the creative in DJs. We’ve got a klezmer band, AC/DC, Beethoven’s Fifth, Queen, Kriss Kross, Mick Jaggar, and Cee-Lo Green’s cover of Kung Fu Fighting. FAROFF even combined Jump Around with Cab Calloway. And then there are the massive Mash Together with Joan Jett, Cypress Hill, Rage Against the Machine, and The Beatles, as well as Super Bowl Anthem, which pits them against Tag Team, Madonna, LFMAO, Queen (again), the White Stripes, and Metallica. I was only able to find seven on Grooveshark so you'll have to have Jump on the Fifth via Soundcloud.

Note: In my infinite attention to detail, I missed Mashup of the Month day this month. The mega-post is my apology.

I had something else entirely planned for the Mashup of the Month when, in looking for a link, I bumped into Rock of Ages on DJ Schmolli's site. You'll just have to wait until next month because, let's be honest, 23 amazing hits crammed into a single, five-minute sing along trumps a whole lot of other stuff.

And so I bring you the whole, rockin' mess complete with video that not only demonstrates how bad hair has always been in music but how much goofiness there's always been in videos therefor. The link above takes you to the post where you can download the song for free and fill your day with even more of DJ Schmolli's mashup goodness. Yeah, you're welcome.

I've got a two-fer for you all today, the 70s hit Jeans On from David Dundas and what Fatboy Slim did to it a few decades later in Sho Nuff. The original song is cheery and inoffensive enough, with a bit of groove to keep you interested. But I defy you not to get all of the way down when the latter starts.

EDIT! I found this lovely addition from MashMike today and couldn't help but add it to the post. You can download this one free from his SoundCloud page, linked below.

You can find Franz Ferdinand mashed up with just about everyone by a whole lot of people. But there's only one place to find Franz Ferdinand vs Stealer's Wheel with bonus appearances by Nirvana, Def Cut, and Michael Jackson, and that's from FAROFF. While that post offers two separate versions of Franz Tranz (as well as a pair of Gwen Stefani mashes, The Ramones vs. Jet, and The Doors with Stevie Wonder) I have to agree with his assessment that the second version is better.

Have a listen to Franz Tranz 2 which pits Do You Want To against Stuck in the Middle and Bad. You can download it for free from the link above or from Official FM as linked below, along with a whole slew of wondrous FAROFF mashes. Who's bad?

It came to me the other day in posting about G3rst that I have almost as many Star Wars-related mashups as I do versions of that one Nirvana song. I thought it high time I shared them all with you all. Rather than blather about them individually, let me just tip my hat to DJ Zebra, FAROFF, G3rst, Party Ben, and Ithaca Audio for their creativity and ability to make me smile.

The links all over that last sentence are to the pages where you can snag your very own copies of these Star Wars mashups. Have a listen and let me know if you have a Star Wars mashup that I’ve missed. Carnival music, Daft Punk, and Joey Starr just aren't enough for one list! Besides, I’m always up for a new twist on the Imperial March or the cantina scene…unless it comes from George Lucas.

I completely forgot this beautiful piece of lunacy. While it's not a mashup, it does crack me up and it is LFMAO dancing to the cantina band song. That's good enough for me!

Hands up, those of you who have thought to yourselves, “Gee, I wish The Proclaimers had done 500 Miles way faster.” Now hands down, those of you who are big, fat liars. If anyone is left, have I ever got a mashup for you.

G3rst does good work but never so much as on 500 Miles of Motivation. He’s taken The Proclaimers, sped them up to a frenetic pace that makes the original sound like a lullaby, and laid it over Sum 41 to create something wildly motivating. Sure, it’s a little fast for World Sauntering Day, but you can saunter when you’re done listening, if you can slow down again.

Like each Mashup of the Month, you can download 500 Miles of Motivation for free from the G3rst web site where you’ll also find such delights as Dub of Fire, Hotel California in Fire and Flames, and We No Speak Cantina. I’m still going to do a Star Wars Mashup post and that one will definitely be on it. In the meantime, enjoy 500 speedy miles!