Christine Boone wrote her doctoral dissertation on the defining characteristics and musical properties of mashups. She writes that there are a total of five rules that make for a mashup, all of which Clubhouse's record also had back in 1983. As technology became cheaper and more widespread, social media made it easier for pieces to go viral. Today, it's just standard to run across one of these every so often.
Two records from 1983 achieved minor novelty fame, and then faded away, only to emerge 20 years later as the originators of a curious genre of pop music in the age of social media. This peculiar genre raises questions about how we should think about genre, musical aesthetics, and artistry in the time of industrially-produced music and digital reproduction. Guest voices include Jordan Roseman, aka DJ Earworm, Steve Stein, aka Steinski, philosopher Chris Bartel, and musicologist Christine Boone.
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