I want to be Party Ben
Given my slight geekiness, my love of music, my delusions of creativity and my happiness at spending hours upon hours noodling on computers, there is little doubt that if I was suddenly 19 again, I would spend all my time making music on computers.
I mean, why sit there trying to write a book that no-one will ever read, when you can try to make an album that no-one will ever listen to? Same machine - much cooler outcome (musicians - even failed ones - get invited to much better parties than authors).
I would however, find that starting from a blank slate is far, far too much effort - and would end up resorting to bootlegging/ mash-ups etc. And one day - after many years, I might be as good as Party Ben.
He did the whole Boulevard of Broken Tunes thing with Green Day and Oasis, which was so simple and effortless - and just, well, right..that you now can’t hear one song without expecting the other to cut in.
On Sunday he posted a mash up of Snoop Dog’s Drop It Like It’s Hot, and Led Zepp’s Whole Lotta Love (3MB MP3) to Boing Boing (sidenote: the Led Zep re-re-revival is heading for the mainstream…you have been warned), which is enormous fun…and sent me back to his site where I found he’d done a mix of the Killers Somebody Told Me with The Clash’s Rock The Casbah: Somebody Rock Me (he’s also done an Adamski vs Killers vs Basement Jaxx).
Excellent. Now that’s what I’d like to do for a living!
Anyway - it’s all available on his downloads page.
All of which takes me in another direction - Dont’ you think that Somebody Told Me is one of the all time great pop songs ever…definitely the best single of the last 12 months? Whenever it pops up I have to put it on repeat about 50 times. I’ve actually taken detours in the car just so I can hear it another time on the CD player. I find it strangely life-affirming to be able to get that excited about a song at my advanced stage in life. Or should I keep that quiet?