Travelling home on the train yesterday, as I listened to a favourite song, I realised that for all the talk of Web 2.0 there is nothing absolutely new on the web. Nearly forty years ago, notorious disc jockey Tom Clay hit the U.S. Billboard Top Ten in 1971 with what might arguably be the mother of all mashups.
Clay mashed together a couple of popular songs (“What the world needs now” and “Abraham Martin and John”) and a Marines’ marching chant with news bulletin excerpts (Kennedy assassinations and Martin Luther King’s “mountain top” speech); weaving together a poignant piece of pop history.
Truly an innovative mashup. Clay was way ahead of his time.*
Despite being a One Hit Wonder on a substantial, international scale, Tom Clay subsequently had to rely on unemployment benefit and intermittent jobs – a cautionary message for all present-day mashup creators, hoping to achieve fortune and fame through web popularity.
*for sure other songs, such as Simon and Garfunkel’s “Silent night/ 7 O’ Clock News,” had brought together music and spoken words but not to the same extent, or intent, of the Tom Clay masterpiece.
