Q: Your favourite stolen track?
Yesterday by bike was stolen. To be fair, although I loved it for its sheer practicality, it re-entered the system whence it came from (I had bought it for 10$ from an ex-tuna fisherman on Hastings, and it must have been stolen and re-stolen a thousand times over since its rightful purchase in ca. 1973), and I should rejoice and not mourn the loss (cue in soft-edged pictures of my bike being kissed by elated new owner, a Postman who will ride it to work every day).
But I take this as a prompter on the theme of appropriation (ahem) in music.
Now, I really can't stand blatantly stolen music. If you can't come up with anything original, don't bother, and for Blind Willie's sake don't nick other people's stuff (it's the saving grace of notorious thieves like Led Zep or the Stones that they by and large did). The one kind of theft that I cheerfully condone and enjoy, however, is the Sample, and its much bolder big sister, the Mash-up. Good Mash-ups are like pinching luxury cars, parking them on City Square and having a beer on the hood. This one by Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions is one of my favourites. It opens artistic dimensions the originals were never in sight of:
a. the noise and violence of Whitney Houston over loud guitars is unbelievable, an assault that puts Cannibal Corpse to shame
b. famous appropriators Radiohead (remember 'Thief', I mean 'Creep'?) re-enter the karmic free-for-all with a riff of their own here
Turn it up.
A: GHP - Radio Houston (unreleased, 2003)
But I take this as a prompter on the theme of appropriation (ahem) in music.
Now, I really can't stand blatantly stolen music. If you can't come up with anything original, don't bother, and for Blind Willie's sake don't nick other people's stuff (it's the saving grace of notorious thieves like Led Zep or the Stones that they by and large did). The one kind of theft that I cheerfully condone and enjoy, however, is the Sample, and its much bolder big sister, the Mash-up. Good Mash-ups are like pinching luxury cars, parking them on City Square and having a beer on the hood. This one by Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions is one of my favourites. It opens artistic dimensions the originals were never in sight of:
a. the noise and violence of Whitney Houston over loud guitars is unbelievable, an assault that puts Cannibal Corpse to shame
b. famous appropriators Radiohead (remember 'Thief', I mean 'Creep'?) re-enter the karmic free-for-all with a riff of their own here
Turn it up.
A: GHP - Radio Houston (unreleased, 2003)
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