← Back to home← Bromley

Megamix

A megamix is a remix that stitches together multiple songs, playing them in rapid succession. It's a sonic tapestry, often featuring a diverse array of artists, woven together with a deliberate, almost obsessive, precision. You might only hear a single verse, a fleeting chorus, or sometimes just fragments—samples—of these songs. And not just any samples, mind you. Often, they're manipulated, twisted, or even used to poke fun at the original material. To bind these disparate sonic threads into a cohesive whole, a single, unobtrusive backing beat might be laid down as a foundation. This beat is usually kept deliberately simple, a mere whisper of rhythm to facilitate the intricate mixing without overpowering the featured music. These creations aren't fleeting snippets; they are substantial works, typically running for several minutes, but capable of stretching to half an hour, an hour, or even longer.

Eduardo Navas, a scholar of this particular sonic alchemy, explains that megamixes share principles with medleys. However, where a medley typically relies on a single band to perform excerpts of compositions, a megamix leverages the skills of DJ producers. These producers meticulously sample recognizable portions of songs, then arrange them into what Navas describes as an extended collage. It's an electronic medley, built from the sonic remnants of pre-existing works. The true purpose of the megamix, he argues, is to present this musical collage, unified by a persistent groove, creating a form of pastiche that serves as a sonic time capsule, evoking an entire era rather than focusing on a single artist or song.

Companies like Ultimix are particularly known for their "flashback medleys." They churn out at least one or two annually, drawing from the most popular songs of the year. Each of these typically clocks in around 15 minutes, often packing in an equivalent number of songs, if not more.

Then there are the "album megamixes," which take every track from a specific album and meticulously edit and compile them into one seamless, continuous medley. The "artist megamix" is another popular variant, curating songs from across a musician's career. Prolific artists, such as Michael Jackson, have had multiple artist megamixes created, often by different remixers. As an example, Duran Duran crafted a megamix single, "Burning the Ground," comprised of their own hits, released on their 1989 greatest hits compilation, Decade. Following their lead, artists like Madonna, Britney Spears, and Janet Jackson have also issued megamixes as singles, typically to promote their greatest hits albums or, in Janet Jackson's case, a studio album. It’s worth noting that a significant number of megamixes exist as bootlegs.

Origins and Influence

The genesis of the megamix can be traced back to the foundational practices of sampling that emerged from disco and hip-hop music. Navas points to the 1981 track "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" by hip-hop artist Grandmaster Flash as a pivotal influence. Specifically, the way this track masterfully cuts and transitions between different songs laid the groundwork for megamixes that were subsequently produced in music studios using actual samples. He cites the 1984 electro funk track "Tommy Boy Megamix" as a prime example, which ingeniously incorporated samples from the most popular tracks released by the influential hip-hop label Tommy Boy Records.

Writing in 1997, James Masterton observed that megamixes held considerable popularity among DJs in continental Europe. The summer of 1988, in particular, saw megamixes reach peak popularity in Europe, with a rendition by Boney M achieving massive success. The United Kingdom, however, remained largely indifferent to this trend until the turn of the 1990s. It was then that megamixes from artists like Technotronic, Black Box, and Snap! began to gain traction, paving the way for subsequent megamix hits from Gloria Estefan and Boney M. By 1997, Masterton believed the megamix fad had largely subsided in the UK.

Navas further elaborates that during the 1990s, the aesthetic sensibilities of the megamix found expression in the burgeoning forms of bastard pop and bootleg culture, often intertwined with culture jamming. He identifies Negativland as one of the era's most recognized proponents of this approach. He also noted that the mashups prevalent today [as of 2012] adhere to the fundamental principles established by the megamixes of the 1980s.

Musical Acts with Official Megamixes

This section, frankly, feels like a rather exhaustive inventory. It requires more than just a passing mention to verify its completeness. Material here, without proper citations, is ripe for challenge and, frankly, removal. It's a shame, really, how easily information can be lost. But if you're determined to improve it, by all means, consult reliable sources. Don't just throw in random names; contribute something of substance.

See Also