All Media, All Malleable - Page 4

Perhaps the most famous mash-up was also one of the easiest to do: a group named DNA scored a big hit in the mid-1990s by taking Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner", originally sung a cappella, and building a techno mix underneath it. Vega gave their version her blessing by appearing prominently in its promotional video.

Increasingly, artists and record labels are inviting listeners to make their own mash-ups as a way to promote new recordings. Earlier this year, David Bowie worked with Sony to allow home musicians the ability to mash-up his songs. He described the concept as "a great appropriation idea waiting to happen."

Even when it doesn't involve computerized slicing and dicing, more open-ended music seems to be the future. In 1992, Todd Rundgren released "No World Order", the first CD-ROM where the user could manipulate music mixes to achieve any instrumentation he wanted. Eventually, this could become the norm for music, with perhaps both completed and open-ended versions released simultaneously. The experiment of bundling Acid loops with the Standing in the Shadows of Motown DVD could also become commonplace, with artist loops frequently bundled with DVDs to allow for listeners to make their own versions of the songs they just heard.

When Stanley Kubrick was hip-deep in the editing and reediting of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke gently brought him back to planet Earth (so to speak) by reminding him of the aphorism, "No work of art is ever finished, it is only abandoned."

But more and more, works of art aren't being abandoned: they're becoming all the more pliable in their audience's hands. I'm not sure what Michelangelo--or even Stanley Kubrick--would say, but something tells me they wouldn't be averse to tinkering with their past works, using today's technology.

Article Author: Ed Driscoll

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