Thin Lizzy vs. The Pixies

Thin Lizzy vs The Pixies, "The Boys Are Back In Heaven," courtesy Phil Retro Spector. (via Greg Dulli)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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http://twitter.com/bender00 Jason Bender

This is AMAZING. Cincy bias, but still…
http://twitter.com/scottyboyswa2 scottyboyswa2

While I appreciate the effort. I’m less than impressed with the results. To each his/her own!
kib

What is the name for this feeling in my brain? I KNOW this, but it doesn’t match the memory of either song. How can a synapse fire to signify a memory when there isn’t one?
yupgiboy

A fine mashup.
http://www.fagerland.org tofagerl

Sum is less than the parts for me. Still good work, though.
robuluz

Fucking awesome . One thing has been puzzling me for a while though, with these mashup thingies the kids are doing nowadays. Where do you go to get your vocals only version of ‘Boys are Back in Town’, and your instrumental version of ‘Monkey’s Gone to Heaven’? I’ve been assuming it’s super cool equalisation or something, but clearly not. How are they doing this shit?
- arkle
  
  The basic technique is inverting one channel and adding it to the other, so that everything dead-center drops out. Vocals are usually mixed center, so you get a track with everything else. (Weirdly, sometimes you can approximate this effect by half-plugging in a 1/8” headphone jack.)
  
  If you subtract the center-free track from the original track, you get a center-only track. If you’re lucky, it’s nice and dry.
  
  There’s a book by Wiley just on making mashups, which goes into considerable detail: http://djearworm.com/audio-mashup-construction-kit
  - robuluz
    
    Hey Arkle, thanks so much for that! It’s been niggling at me for a while now. Makes sense the way you explain it. I might just have to give it a go.
    - arkle
      
      Do it! It’s enormous fun.
      
      If I had time I would mash You Are The Ocean (Phantogram) with Transmission (Joy Division). It’s practically the same bassline. Might be a start if you’re stuck.
- uglyredhonda
  
  Arkle’s technique is one way, but that’s usually only as a last resort if you can’t find the original tracks. (The end result usually sounds trashy, so you have to bury it in the mix.)
  
  Years ago, the most common vocal tracks came from karaoke cds or promo releases. (It wasn’t uncommon for some dance-track 7″ releases to have the acappella on the b-side.) Also, companies would occasionally release promo cds that had the regular song plus an instrumental version, where you could essentially “subtract” the instrumental from the regular version to make an acappella.
  
  But in recent years, most isolated vocal tracks (and other musical elements) come from Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band. The tracks had to be separated out for the game to function, and a few crafty folks figured out how to pull those elements out of the game.
  
  In the case of “Boys Are Back in Town”, I believe the elements came from Guitar Hero. That’s how they were able to add the separate guitar part to the mashup – it was one of the separated elements from the game.
  
  As for how folks get them – they’re usually floating around the mashup community. Or, at worst, you can usually find torrents and/or Megaupload/Rapidshare links.
  - arkle
    
    Neat! Who would have thought Guitar Hero would have such a wonderful social spillover?
    
    The part that was mystifying me is was how good the vocals sounded for bands that would never have gotten the 7” treatment. I assumed it was phase cancelling + dynamic spectral editing (which has gotten REALLY powerful; it’s used in classical music recording to remove sneezes, coughs, etc. which happen *while* the orchestra is playing.)
    
    Ripping the tracks from GH is not only very clever, it’s much easier!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAUXAA362EXWLYVMPJOKLFB5JQ Incipient Madness

Not as bad as I feared. But where are the backing vocals by Kim?

If you want some real Pixies to clear your mind with some awesome backup by Kim here’s about the best performance ever. Please listen to the second song “Tame”, it gets no better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEPi5EQjEpw
- Ann Fox
  
  “Tame” is one of the greatest songs of our time. Hands down.
voiceinthedistance

Some mashups work, some don’t. This one was a great fit, for me.
excelsior

Yes! That is exactly what I need before I hit the sack.
dicebourbon

The guitar solo is especially nice.
gwailo_joe

but. what about the monkey? Is the monkey ok?

I sure hope so…
- EH
  
  Was President Lincoln OK?
Daniel Ryan

Was Rush Limbaugh the lead singer of The Pixies. Check out the vids.
A. .

I just awesomed all over mySQL.
bklynchris

That was supremely brilliant. Far better than watching Mario’s face bouncing around the screen and yodeling with the NYC subway in the background (my kid’s idea of a mash-up).
Lightfoote

Maybe I’m just crazy, but this reminds me of the band Spoon.
Colin Rosenthal

I suspect this would mean so much more to me if I knew The Pixies. But I did once get Phil Lynott’s autograph.