Megablast Mashed Up 7: 21st February 2024

  1. Phil ‘n’ Dog – Doctor Pressure (Miami Sound Machine – Dr. Beat, Milo – Drop The Pressure)
  2. Brighton Sonny – The Opposites Of Love (Huey Lewis and the News – The Power Of Love, Paula Abdul – Opposites Attract)
  3. Mighty Mike – Cry On Me (The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry, A-ha – Take On Me)
  4. Reconthuse – Know When To Texas Hold ‘Em (Kenny Rogers – The Gambler, Beyoncé – Texas Hold ‘Em)
  5. 10000 Spoons – Precious Bleeding Love (Depeche Mode – Precious, Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love)
  6. GaraGara – Dub Me If You’ve Heard This One Before (The Smiths – Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before, Scientist – Extra Time 1, Rusko – Love No More)
  7. PomDeter – Feels Like What Do I Get (Buzzcocks – What Do I Get, Kelly Marie – Feels Like I’m In Love)
  8. 10000 Spoons – Pink Suicide Boiler (The Special AKA – The Boiler, Suicide – Frankie Teardrop, – Pink Fluffy Unicorns)
  9. 10000 Spoons – Murun Buchstangsangur Anchorman (Theme from Murun Buchstangsangur, Half Man Half Biscuit – Bob Wilson Anchorman)
  10. ZXGuesser – Maggie and Smash (Mouth & McNeal – How Do You Do, Smash Mouth – All-Star)
  11. 10000 Spoons – Bizarre Inc Triangle (Bizarre Inc – Playing With Knives, New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle, OMC – How Bizarre)
  12. Wax Audio – Metallica Goes To Punjab (Metallica – The Four Horsemen, Panjabi MC – Mundian To Bach Te)
  13. Peggy P – Levitating Bricks (The Commodores – Brick House, Dua Lipa – Levitating)
  14. Torero – Shadows Up (Cameo – Word Up, The Rasmus – In The Shadows)
  15. Go Home Productions – Rapture Riders (Blondie – Rapture, The Doors – Riders On The Storm)
  16. GordyBoy – God’s Only Vapour Trail (Ride – Vapour Trail, The Beach Boys – God Only Knows)
  17. Badonkadonk and the Dirt Box Jury – A Message To You Pingu (Theme from Pingu, Grandmaster Melle Mel – The Message)

Megablast Mashed Up 6: 14th February 2024


Nice bit of (who the fuckin’ ‘ell are) Slipknot at the end there to get everyone in the mood for Valentine’s Day.

  1. MadMixMustang – Wanna Get Up And Start Being A Sex Machine (James Brown – Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, Michael Jackson – Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’)
  2. Go Home Productions – Making Plans For Vinyl (XTC – Making Plans For Nigel, Tweet – Oops (Oh My))
  3. FrogTheDawg – Jump My Name (House Of Pain – Jump Around, The Ting Tings – That’s Not My Name)
  4. Frenchbloke and Son – Walkable Balloon (Boards of Canada – Everything You Do Is A Balloon, Sybil – Walk On By)
  5. Overdub – What A Wonderful Surprise (Louis Armstrong – Wonderful World, Radiohead – No Surprises)
  6. Long Shore Drift – Beasties Are My Generation (Beastie Boys – So What’cha Want, The Who – My Generation)
  7. 10000 Spoons – It’s Not Totally Enormous But It’s OK (Whitney Houston – It’s Not Right But It’s OK, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Household Goods)
  8. Apeboy – Enya Vs Prodigy (The Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up , Enya – Orinoco Flow)
  9. 10000 Spoons – Mr MaGoggles (Mr Magoo Theme, Kevin Kennedy – Bulldog Nation, The Proclaimers – 500 Miles, Tom Watt – Subterranean Homesick Blues, Dennis Taylor – Snooker Loopy, – )
  10. 10000 Spoons – Feel Like Super Shite (Supergrass – Alright, The Shirehorses – Feel Like Shite)
  11. 10000 Spoons – Tru Dat (Pluto Shervington – Dat, Spandau Ballet – True)
  12. 10000 Spoons – Gimme Krankies Jimmy (Eddy Grant – Gimme Hope Jo’Anna, The Krankies – Fan-Dabby-Dozy)
  13. unknown producer – When Will I Be Magnum (Bros – When Will I Be Famous, Magnum PI Theme)
  14. Lenlow – Oooh Cheers (De La Soul feat. Redman – Oooh, Theme from Cheers – Theme from Cheers)
  15. Dunproofin – West End Wannabe (Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls, The Stone Roses – I Wanna Be Adored)
  16. Neil Cicierega – Modest Mouth (Modest Mouse – Float On, Smash Mouth – All-Star)
  17. Oki – Sliplove (LL Cool J – I Need Love, Slipknot – Left Behind. ABBA – Ring Ring)

Megablast Mashed Up 5: 7th February 2024

Geese in the valley! Geese in the city! Geese in your soul! HONK HONK HONK HONK!

  1. Wax Audio – Careless Rebel (George Michael – Careless Whisper, Billy Idol – Rebel Yell)
  2. Alex H – Mupp It Out (Muppets Theme – , Beyonce – Work It Out, Brainbug – Nightmare)
  3. Copycat – Music Opportunities For Young Guns (Pet Shop Boys – Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money), Shannon – Let The Music Play)
  4. Earworm – Over The Confluence Of Giants (Under The Influence Of Giants – Mama’s Room, Steely Dan – Do It Again)
  5. team9 – Belinda’s Freakin Out (Belinda Carlisle – Heaven Is A Place On Earth, Graham Coxon – Freakin’ Out)
  6. 10000 Spoons – Astley Gone To Heaven (The Pixies – Monkey Gone To Heaven, Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up)
  7. Crooks & Akro – Sleng Teng Number One (Wayne Wonder – Under Mi Sleng Teng, John Legend – Number One)
  8. The Who Boys – Stayin’ A Firestarter (The Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive, The Prodigy – Firestarter)
  9. 10000 Spoons – Geese In The Valley (Sabrina Johnston – Peace, Frankie Valli – Grease)
  10. 10000 Spoons – New Moomin Monday (Duran Duran – New Moon On Monday, Graeme Miller & Steve Shill – Moomins Theme)
  11. Sickick – I Can Feel It (Michael Jackson – Remember The Time, Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight)
  12. RIAA aka Mr Fab – It Is Such A Good Saturday Night (Schoolly D – Saturday Night, Charlie Steinmann Orchestra – It Is Such A Good Night)
  13. TimG – We Take People To Bed (Coldcut feat. Lisa Stansfield – People Hold On, Gary Numan – We Take Mystery To Bed)
  14. PPM – All We Need Is Radio Khia (Queen – Radio Ga Ga, Khia – My Neck, My Back (Lick It))
  15. Soundhog – Charly’s Anthem (The Prodigy – Charly, Innocent Sorcerers – Anthem)
  16. oki – Higher State Of Crumplness (Josh Wink – Higher State Of Consciousness, Deep Purple – Child In Time)
  17. 10000 Spoons – Trampled Out (Led Zeppelin – Trampled Under Foot, Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out)

Megablast Mashed Up 4: 31st January 2024

A couple of mashup ideas here, and this week’s brand new mashup is, I think, my first ever production with Miley Cyrus. How do you do, fellow kids?

  1. sm@sh – Bootystition (Stevie Wonder – Superstition, Destiny’s Child – Bootylicious)
  2. Lobsterdust – Brooklyn Rocks (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts – I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, Beastie Boys – No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn)
  3. Irn Mnky – Ordinary Trousers (Madness – Baggy Trousers, The Ordinary Boys – Boys Will Be Boys)
  4. Girls On Top – I Wanna Dance With Numbers (Kraftwerk – Numbers, Whitney Houston – I Wanna Dance With Somebody)
  5. unknown producer – I Shot Ms Jackson (Bob Marley – I Shot The Sheriff, Outkast – Ms Jackson)
  6. soundhog – Double Freak (Dave & Ansil Collins – Double Barrel, Adina Howard – Freak Like Me)
  7. Lewis Wake – Chop Bluey (System Of A Down – Chop Suey, Eiffel 65 – Blue (Da Ba Dee))
  8. Divide & Kreate – Don’t Seether (Veruca Salt – Seether, Yazoo – Don’t Go)
  9. DJ Zebra – C’mon Fuck Me (Disco D featuring Princess Superstar – Fuck Me On The Dancefloor, Simian Vs Justice – We Are Your Friends, The Von Bondies – C’mon C’mon, Fatboy Slim – Rockafeller Skank)
  10. 10000 Spoons – Neverending Let You Go Again (demo) (Sergio Mendes – Never Gonna Let You Go, Limahl – Never Ending Story, Genesis – Turn It On Again)
  11. 10000 Spoons – Keeping Up The Noise (Keeping Up Appearances theme, Public Enemy – Bring The Noise, James Brown – Funky Drummer)
  12. DJ Tripp vs Dean Belz – Shout & Lean On Scrubs (Major Lazer – Lean On, Tears For Fears – Shout, TLC – No Scrubs, Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication)
  13. Hi-Brid – Being With Your Bumper (Grace Jones – Pull Up To The Bumper, Smokey Robinson – Being With You)
  14. DJ Schmolli – Back Door Pill In Ibiza (Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lookin’ Out My Back Door, Mike Posner – I Took A Pill In Ibiza)
  15. bittersoundfoundation – No More Gay Bars (The Stranglers – No More Heroes, Electric Six – Gay Bar)
  16. EXCLUSIVE! 10000 Spoons – Crystal Ball (Crystal Waters – Gypsy Woman, Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball)
  17. Dunproofin – Fakey Takey Part (Dennis Waterman – I Could Be So Good For You, Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart)
  18. Go Home Productions – Grandstand Supreme (Grandstand theme, The Supremes – Come See About Me)

Megablast Mashed Up 3: 24th January 2024

This week’s new mashup comes from watching a 1984 edition of Top Of The Pops, where The Smiths were followed by Cyndi Lauper.

  1. McSleazy – Triple Take (Franz Ferdinand – Take Me Out, Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble)
  2. Lenlow – To The Taxmobile (The Beatles – Taxman, Neal Hefti – Batman Theme, The Surfaris – Wipe Out)
  3. Marc Johnce – I Wanna Dance With Somebody All Night Long (Whitney Houston – I Wanna Dance With Somebody, AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long)
  4. MixmstrStel – Into Self Control (Laura Branigan – Self Control, Ariana Grande – Into You)
  5. AudioShrapnel – Goo-Goo In Love (Kajagoogoo – Too Shy, Beyonce & Jay-Z – Crazy In Love)
  6. TBC/Instamatic – Her Breath Is The Wind (Rhiannon’s Breath) (Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon, Sia – Breathe Me)
  7. DJ LunchBoy – Shouting At 18 Musicians (Tears For Fears – Shout, Steve Reich – Music For 18 Musicians Section VIII)
  8. EXCLUSIVE! 10000 Spoons – Girls Just Wanna Have Miserable Fun In Heaven Now (Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, The Smiths – Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now)
  9. djBC – Hot and Dumb (Hot Butter – Popcorn, 7L & Esoteric – Dumb)
  10. elbarto & Liam B – Charly The Cat (The Prodigy – Charly, Depeche Mode – John The Revelator)
  11. DJ Mr Bronson – The No Good Life (Dawn Penn – No No No, Burt Rhodes – The Good Life)
  12. DJ DeNeo – Independent Elbow (Destiny’s Child – Independent Women, Elbow – Independent Women)
  13. Arty Fufkin – Sedated Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend, The Ramones – I Wanna Be Sedated, The Smiths – Girlfriend In A Coma)
  14. Jimmi Jammes – Sergeant Pepper’s Paradise (The Beatles – Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Guns ‘n’ Roses – Paradise City)
  15. Dunproofin – Hard To Boot (Daft Punk – Digital Love, Hard-Fi – Hard To Beat)
  16. Go Home Productions – Love Is A Piano Man (Amy Winehouse – Love Is A Losing Game, Billy Joel – Piano Man)

Megablast Mashed Up 2: 17th January 2024

Includes a brand new exclusive 10000 Spoons mashup – this isn’t even on remix.audio yet, you can only hear it here. (Edit – now uploaded to remix.audio)

  1. Wax Audio – Enter You (Bryan Adams – Run To You, Metallica – Enter Sandman)
  2. Lionel Vinyl – Owner of a Lovely Butt (Sir Mix-A-Lot – Baby Got Back, Yes – Owner Of A Lonely Heart)
  3. iWillBattle – Super Bass Land (Nicki Minaj – Super Bass, Super Mario Land soundtrack – 1st world – )
  4. Evolution Control Committee – Rebel Without A Pause (Whipped Cream mix) (Public Enemy – Rebel Without A Pause, Herb Alpert – Bittersweet Samba)
  5. PartyBen – Boulevard of Broken Songs (Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Oasis – Wonderwall, Travis – Writing To Reach You)
  6. BRAND NEW! 10000 Spoons – Can I Kick Start? (Mr Walkie Talkie – Be My Boogie Woogie Baby, A Tribe Called Quest – Can I Kick It?, Half Man Half Biscuit – Footprints)
  7. ccc – Tom’s Investigations (Dire Straits – Private Investigations, Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner, The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows)
  8. The Killers – Smile Like You Mean It (Phones Says The Killers Can Suck My Balls Remix) (unreleased remix by Paul Epworth)
  9. CjR – I’d Rather Set Fire To The Reynolds Girls (The Reynolds Girls – I’d Rather Jack, Adele – Set Fire To The Rain)
  10. DJ Moule – Egyptian Cannonball (The Breeders – Cannonball, The Bangles – Walk Like An Egyptian, George Michael – Faith)
  11. Loo and Placido – Return of the Coral (The Coral – Pass It On, Mark Morrison – Return Of The Mack, The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows)
  12. 10000 Spoons – Scribble Flux (Underworld – Scribble, Bloc Party – Flux)
  13. Aggro1 – Anti-Hero God (Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero, Ghost Data – Become God)
  14. TBC/Instamatic – Welcome To London, Colin (808 State – Donkey Doctor, Flow Dan – Welcome To London, Pet Shop Boys – West End Girls, The Clash – London Calling)

Megablast Mashed Up 1: 10th January 2024

A new year, and a new sound for Megablast. I’ve been wanting to do an all-mashup show on Noisebox forever, but for various reasons never got round to it until now. I’ve been producing mashups and bootlegs under various names for over twenty years, listening to them for even longer, and wanted to highlight some of those that maybe don’t get the attention they deserve, particularly in these days when it’s not enough just to upload an mp3 to an obscure corner of the internet and hope somebody hears it. The voice you hear on these shows is E.R.A.S.M.U.S. – the Excellent Remix And Super Mash Up System. Yes, it’s an artificial voice, but nobody wants to hear me waffling on and even if they did, I don’t have a decent microphone, so it’s the next best thing. It’s mainly there so you know exactly what you’re listening to and who produced it, but if you missed anything, the tracklist is below.

  1. 10000 Spoons – Chariots Killed The Radio Star (The Buggles – Video Killed The Radio Star, Vangelis – Chariots Of Fire)
  2. The Freelance Hellraiser – A Stroke Of Genie-Us (Christina Aguilera – Genie In A Bottle, The Strokes – Hard To Explain)
  3. DJ Tripp – Paper Rump (Wreckx-N-Effect – Rump Shaker, M.I.A. – Paper Planes)
  4. G3RST – I Want Stacey’s Mom (Fountains of Wayne – Stacy’s Mom, The Wiseguys – Ooh La La, John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John – Summer Nights)
  5. Go Home Productions – Rude Peaches (Rihanna – Rude Boy, The Stranglers – Peaches)
  6. DJ Earlybird – The Tide Is Not Unusual (Tom Jones – It’s Not Unusual, Blondie – The Tide Is High)
  7. Mr Fister – Mary Mary Pass That Dutch (The Monkees – Mary Mary, Missy Elliott – Pass That Dutch, DJ Mink – Hey Hey Can You Relate)
  8. pomDeter – Tracksuit Superstar (Sultans of Ping FC – Back In The Tracksuit, theme from Jesus Christ Superstar)
  9. The Who Boys – Dub Auctioneer
  10. TimG – Come Out And Play At The Love Shack (B52’s – Love Shack, The Offspring – Come Out And Play
  11. 10000 Spoons – Fighterhelicopter (Bloc Party – Helicopter, Foo Fighters – Everlong)
  12. DJ Pyromania – Happy Feel It Still (Pharrell Williams – Happy, Portugal. The Man – Feel It Still)
  13. Mighty Mike vs ViC – Michael 83 Down Under (M83 – Midnight City, Men At Work – Down Under, INXS – Need You Tonight)
  14. Ian Fondue – Edit! (Bodyrox – Yeah Yeah, various samples)
  15. Soundhog – Ein Atomkitten In Einem Kraftwerk (Kraftwerk – Pocket Calculator, Atomic Kitten – Right Now)
  16. DJ Schmolli – Don’t Stop Titanium 500 (David Guetta & Sia – Titanium, Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’, The Proclaimers – 500 Miles)

Look at yourself today and think-ah

In 2016, back when Twitter wasn’t quite such a flaming skip of shite, I started listening to Matthew Rudd’s Sunday night show on Absolute Radio, Forgotten 80s. I would regularly tweet along to the show, sometimes with a rum and coke in my hand, and found there was a little Twitter community of listeners, some of whom became my friends (hi!) after a couple of tweetups.

One of the first things I realised was, despite listening to Radio One pretty much constantly throughout the whole of the 1980s, how much of this stuff I had not only never heard before, but never even heard of. I was familiar with It Bites, and Toto Coelho, and Kraze and The Passions and Fred Wedlock (the latter of these stayed on my sofa in 1981 – and if you’re expecting an amusing anecdote, tough shit, I was six), but Susan Fassbender? Honey Bane? Surface Noise? These were names I’d never even noticed in the Guinness Book of Hit Singles. I’m pretty sure I was alive for the whole of 1986, and yet I had never before listened to Brother Louie by Modern Talking. (Yes, I have now. No, I wasn’t missing much.)

So it was with Forgotten 80s favourite, Gary Byrd and the G.B. Experience. The Crown charted on 17th July 1983, and while it would be a few years before I started writing the charts down every week, and I preferred Whizzer and Chips to Smash Hits, I still had a pretty good idea of what was going on in the world of pop. That week, Paul Young was at number one, laying his hat (and yes, we were a No Parlez-owning household). Number two was Arthur Baker’s second proto-house hit after Walking On Sunshine (no, not that one), I.O.U. by Freeez. And rounding off the top three was… Rod Stewart, whose Baby Jane seemed like it was number one for twelve years. There’s something for everyone here, and even a very early attempt at a (re-recorded) mashup, in the snappily-titled Do It Again-Billie Jean Medley, by Italian producers Clubhouse – apparently the same Clubhouse who had a couple of Italo-dance hits in the 90s, although like Trigger’s broom there’s no evidence that any of the original members were involved. And elsewhere in the chart is… oh, just take a look for yourselves. (Click to view on Official Charts, if you must)
UK Top 40 Singles Chart, 17-24 July 1983 1. Paul Young Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) 2. Freeez I.O.U. 3. Rod Stewart Baby Jane 4. Eurythmics Who's That Girl? 5. Mike Oldfield Moonlight Shadow 6. Heaven 17 Come Live With Me 7. Malcolm Mclaren Double Dutch 8. Irene Cara Flashdance....What A Feeling 9. Tom Robinson War Baby 10. Funk Masters It's Over 11. Bananarama Cruel Summer 12. The Cure The Walk 13. Mary Jane Girls All Night Long 14. The Police Wrapped Around Your Finger 15. Echo & The Bunnymen Never Stop 16. David Sylvian And Riuichi Sakamoto Forbidden Colours 17. Electric Light Orchestra Rock 'N' Roll Is King 18. Jimmy The Hoover Tantalise (Wo Wo Ee Yeh Yeh) 19. Iron Maiden The Trooper 20. Roman Holliday Don't Try To Stop It 21. Gary Byrd And The GB Experience The Crown 22. Shalamar Dead Giveaway 23. Shakin' Stevens It's Late 24. Nick Heyward Take That Situation 25. Donna Summer She Works Hard For The Money 26. Elton John I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues 27. Lotus Eaters The First Picture Of You 28. The Police Every Breath You Take 29. Clubhouse Do It Again-Billie Jean (Medley) 30. Kc And The Sunshine Band Give It Up 31. George Benson Feel Like Makin' Love 32. Creatures Right Now 33. Musical Youth Tell Me Why 34. Elvis Costello And The Attractions Everyday I Write The Book 35. The Thompson Twins Watching 36. Wham! Bad Boys 37. Flash And The Pan Waiting For A Train 38. Al Jarreau Trouble In Paradise 39. Midge Ure And Mick Karn After A Fashion 40. Tracie Give It Some Emotion

Now I’ve had a good look at this chart and I think I’ve worked out why I can’t remember hearing The Crown on the chart show. At number 35 is the Thompson Twins’ third hit single, Watching, which I’d forgotten about until it was played on either Forgotten 80s or Eighties Time Machine years later. I had an instant, almost physical reaction to it – part “Fuck me, I haven’t heard this for 35 years”, but mostly “ARGH SCARY SONG TURN IT OFF NOW”. I don’t know what caused 8-year-old me to take against it so much – major chords played in a minor scale and a spooky sounding opera voice is my best guess – but I can only assume I ran screaming from the room and missed the rest of the chart that day, including The Crown.

On the other hand, it’s possible that I did hear it and forgot. My first memory of hip hop may have been Herbie Hancock’s Rockit (released one week after The Crown), but it’s more likely it was Rat Rappin’ by Roland Rat, which I got for Christmas that year. Considering how much music I do remember from about 1977 onwards, it’s surprising how almost none of it is rap, considering I spent two or three years as a teenager listening to almost nothing else. I knew Good Times, but not Rapper’s Delight. Buffalo Gals, a hit six months earlier, didn’t really register. I was vaguely familiar with The Message, but mainly as an advert for the Green Cross Code.

So I have no idea what I would’ve thought about The Crown if I’d heard it – perhaps “It’s really good and I learned loads about pyramids and Ancient Egypt, but it sounds like it’s from 1979”. Because in terms of the music and Gary’s delivery it’s an old-fashioned party rap, similar to Rapper’s Delight, with a regular structure of 16 or 32 lines to a verse, and a guest appearance by co-writer and producer Stevie Wonder – this was a year or two before he started his harmonica solo phase, so we get a full sung verse. But lyrically it’s a celebration of Black culture from Ancient Egypt to the present day, an unusual subject for any top ten hit in 1983, and pre-empting “conscious” rappers by several years. And it’s really, really, REALLY long. Here it is (someone’s helpfully edited in footage of a dance routine performed to The Crown on Top Of The Pops, although Gary never appeared on it in person).

Anyway, let me get to the point of this post. Because of a series of extraordinary coincidences, today, November 17th, is International The Crown By Gary Byrd day.

On November 17th, 2018, The Crown is played on 6 Music. I was so surprised by this that I write a throwaway tweet with a silly hashtag, one of two lines in The Crown which Gary pronounces in an unusual way, like Mark E. Smith-uh.

On November 17th, 2019, @snathe finds a mint condition 12″ copy of The Crown in a charity shop. So I reply with #TheFaceUponTheSphinxAh hashtag, which I’d not used for a whole year.

A year later, November 17th, 2020, and @neilsmiles tweets about The Crown (and the other Crown). Cue the hashtag.

And on November 17th, 2021,  @extreme_rice posted this, and finally I realised there was a pattern.

For four years in a row, on the same day, someone I follow on Twitter had posted about The Crown.  Now I don’t really believe in spooky coincidences, but when digging around on the Forgotten 80s blog, I found that Matthew Rudd had played The Crown in March 2014, January 2015, September 2016 (the first time I heard it, in fact) and – dun dun DUNNNNNNN! – Sunday 17th November, 2019. So…

Well, the answer to that, it turns out, is Noisebox Radio. We played The Crown on this day last year, we’ll play it again today, and for as long as we are broadcasting, we will celebrate The Crown By Gary Byrd Day and play it as often as we can on November 17th.

And – you’re not going to believe this – I looked up Gary Byrd’s birthday just now, and it’s… wait for it…

…the fourteenth of March. Oh well. Have some bonus Bob Carolgees footage, thanks to @neilsmiles.

Megablast 96: Mashups & Jungle – 23rd June 2023

The 96th show for Noisebox, and to date, the last – I was hoping to take two months off and come back refreshed with more mixes in September, but pesky real life has got in the way a bit since then. So if you’ve landed on my blog from somewhere else, this will be the first mix you come across, it’s not at all representative of the rest of my Noisebox shows, it’s in two halves, and I hope you like (a) really old mashups and (b) jungle.

The first hour of the mix included some of my favourite mashups from the last twenty years, although I’ve been out of the scene for so long that most of them are at least ten years old. Most of them came from the now defunct Get Your Bootleg On forum (my online home for a few years from 2003), a few of them are mine, and one of them was a proper top three hit.

  1. When Will I Be Cubik? (Bros vs 808 State) – 10000 Spoons
  2. Marshall’s Been Snookered (Eminem vs Winifred Atwell) – Freelance Hairdresser (Soundhog)
  3. Beat It, Trooper! (Iron Maiden vs Michael Jackson) – Nightmare Lyre
  4. Safe LDN Home (Lily Allen vs The Clash) – Mash City Rockers (10000 Spoons)
  5. Call Me A Hole (Carly Rae Jepsen vs Nine Inch Nails) – pomDeter
  6. Command Your Rabbits (Chas & Dave vs Buckfunk 3000) – cry.on.my.console
  7. Come Back And Say It Right (Nelly Furtado vs Paul Young) – AudioShrapnel
  8. Doctor Pressure (Miami Sound Machine vs Mylo) – Phil ‘n’ Dog
  9. Let It Be Me (The Beatles vs Shaggy) – Soundwasta (Bavor)
  10. Toxic Madness (Britney Spears vs Madness) – 10000 Spoons
  11. Bootystition (Stevie Wonder vs Destiny’s Child) – sm@sh
  12. Dancing Like Blood (Killing Joke vs Bee Gees) – Go Home Productions
  13. Can You Feel Magick? (The Klaxons vs Philippe B vs Todd Terry) – Dunproofin
  14. Chariots Killed The Radio Star (The Buggles vs Vangelis) – 10000 Spoons

And now that’s out of the way, the second half of the mix features some jungle mashups I made primarily for the Crumplstock festival in June. They were so new at the time of broadcast that none of them had a title.

  1. (Intro – Origin Unknown – Valley Of The Shadows)
  2. 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Drowning In Her + A-ha – The Sun Always Shines On TV
  3. Foul Play – Finest Illusion (Legal mix) + SOS Band – The Finest
  4. Krome & Time – The Slammer + Nelly – Country Grammar
  5. Hyper-On Experience – Lords of the Null Lines (Foul Play Remix) + Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On
  6. Engineers Without Fears (DJ Rap & Aston) – Spiritual Aura + Lotus Eaters – The First Picture Of You
  7. Roni Size – It’s A Jazz Thing + Massive Attack/Elizabeth Fraser – Teardrop
  8. Omni Trio – Renegade Snares (Foul Play VIP mix) + Amerie – One Thing
  9. DJ Crystl – Warp Drive + Opus III – It’s A Fine Day
  10. DJ Zinc/Ganja Kru – Super Sharp Shooter + Beastie Boys – Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun
  11. Adam F – Circles + George Michael – Careless Whisper
  12. A Guy Called Gerald – Mellow Madness + Watch The Ride x Nia Archives – Mash Up The Dance

I mentioned the Crumplstock festival earlier, and for the completists, here’s the live set I broadcast on Twitch for it via Virtual DJ. There’s a few tracks I didn’t include in the above show, as follows:

  1. Renegade – Terrorist + Hon Denley – The Soys Of Bummer*
  2. Skanna – Heaven + The Beatles – A Day In The Life
  3. DJ Flash – Pulp Fiction + Plastic Bertrand – Ça Plane Pour Moi + The Pharcyde – Passin’ Me By

*name changed because this artist hates mashups and is very litigious

Finally, I gave four of the above mashups a proper release on remix.audio so you can download if you like:
https://remix.audio/playlist/2343/junglbangers-volume-1

Megablast 95: 1989 Special Part 2 – 2nd June 2023

There was so much going on in 1989 that I had to do another mix. (Here’s the first part.)

  1. NWA – Express Yourself
  2. Boogie Down Productions – Why Is That?
  3. Beastie Boys – Johnny Ryall
  4. 3rd Bass feat. Zev Love X – The Gas Face
  5. Schoolly D – Am I Black Enough For You?
  6. Stezo – Bring The Horns
  7. Young MC – Bust A Move
  8. De La Soul – The Magic Number (Too Mad Mix)
  9. DJ Fast Eddie – Hip House
  10. Royal House – Yeah Buddy
  11. Raven Maize – Forever Together
  12. Jazz & The Brothers Grimm – Casanova (Passion Hero)
  13. Landlord – I Like It (Blow Out Dub)
  14. MC Martay & DJ DBM – Beyond Control
  15. Adonis feat. Charles B. True – Lack Of Love
  16. Inner City – Do You Love What You Feel
  17. Tony Scott – That’s How I’m Living
  18. M-D-Emm feat. Nasih – Get Hip To This!
  19. EPMD – Please Listen To My Demo
  20. Fresh 4 feat. Lizz E – Wishing On A Star
  21. Roxanne Shante – Independent Woman (Remix)
  22. Simon Harris feat. Asher D and Daddy Freddy – London’s Finest
  23. 2 In A Room – Somebody in The House Say Yeah!
  24. Debbie McKayle – I Need Yo’ Lovin (Extended Club Mix)
  25. Baby Ford – Reprise
  26. 808 State – Magical Dream
  27. Ellis D – I Will Survive
  28. Virgo Four – In A Vision
  29. Unique 3 – The Theme (Unique Mix)
  30. Forgemasters – Track With No Name
  31. Steve Poindexter – Computer Madness
  32. Hokus Pokus – Different World
  33. Shut Up And Dance feat. Ragga Twins – Lamborghini
  34. Kid ‘N’ Play – 2 Hype (Dancin’ Danny D Remix)
  35. Orbital – Chime (Original 12” Edit)