Music
The craziest YouTube mashups ever
by Jeremy Mersereau
February 18, 2017
Before definitively entering the public consciousness in, like, 2001 (*gets promptly shouted down by the literally dozen people who know about Negativland and Steinski*), splicing together two distinct pieces of audio into a cohesive whole was just seen as a novelty, and an illegal one and that. Now, in our enlightened, post-Girl Talk and Danger Mouse era, mashups are seen as a valid mode of expression, if a bit played out at this point. Still, a bit of music knowledge, taste, and technical knowhow can go a long way towards turning just playing two songs at once into a transformative piece of music.
But who wants to listen to those? These are not those mashups. These are the mashups that are even better than Slipknot and Justin Bieber, or uhh…Slipknot and Carly Rae Jepsen. These are the mashups that can make you believe in a just and loving universe. These are the mashups that… well, you get the idea. They’re really great.
P.S. try and hit both play buttons within a reasonable timeframe from each other for the full effect.
DMX vs. Mad Dog – “What These Bitches Really Want”
Sub in any DMX instrumental for more.
Avicii vs. Buster Bluth – “Hola, Mi Hermano”
Buster manages to make the absolute worst hit of 2013 tolerable.
The Weeknd vs. Jones – “I Can’t Feel My Foot”
Might take a second or two for Jones to line up with Abel, but when it does it’s magic.
Free Taco Boy vs. Gary Jules – “Sad World”
Forget Trump being elected and the general state of malaise currently infecting the world, this guy losing his taco to the Gears of War trailer music will really make you feel some primo melancholia. Note: would also work with this.
Meghan Trainor vs. Christian Bale hearing music for the first time in Equilibrium
Pro tip: you can pair literally any bad-to-mediocre song with that Equilibrium clip and the results will be worth it. Give it a shot.
Autechre vs. washing machine
I like Autechre as much as the next bearded sweater-wearer but even I find this song (in Larry David voice) “a little much”.
Johann Strauss vs. Seattle ice
It’s…so beautiful.
Guy Fieri vs. the Pixies
The perfect soundtrack to a trans fat-saturated man’s mental breakdown.
A man’s extreme pain is always more epic/hilarious when paired with John Williams.
I’ve always said that Ride The Lightning is the perfect high-impact workout.
And finally, let’s send things off with the classic mashup that started it all:
Usher vs. goat yelling like a man
^^ This was as important to millennials’ cultural development as like, All in the Family was in the 70’s.