Takin' A Ride

#10: Moonic Productions – And I’m already cheating on the very first one. That’s why it’s in at #10. This is not a real band, but a guy in a studio who’s doing these mashups. But he does them so well, I felt like I had to include him. He does a lot of “what if” scenarios, like what if Metallica wrote “Smooth Criminal”? Or what if High On Fire wrote “Sweet Home Alabama”? What if Slayer wrote “Living On A Prayer”? He pulls it off and it’s pretty creative and he puts him jamming to this all in some creative videos. It sounds like a full band and it’s a real production, so it’s in here. But only at #10.

What if AC/DC wrote “Stayin’ Alive”

#9: Gabba – Onto the real bands. Here’s The Ramones mashed up with Abba. Their album “Leave Stockholm” came out in 1999. As you would expect, they take Ramones songs, change them to ABBA lyrics (and vice versa, sometimes in the course of the same song), played at Ramones speed and style.

Here’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme (Shock Treatment At Midnight)”

#8: The Fab Four – These guys do the Beatles, but The Beatles doing Christmas songs. They actually have two albums out, with at least 22 classic Christmas carols, done as if the Beatles wrote them. Like reworking “Help” as “Hark The Herald Angels Sing”. Some other songs are done pretty traditionally, but sounding like the Beatles.

#7: Dread Zeppelin – The first mashup band I think that probably ever existed. At least the first mashup band that I had ever heard of. I even got to see them once back in the ’80s. And this is a TRIPLE mashup! Led Zeppelin songs done mostly in reggae style with Elvis Presley singing! What an odd combo! Again, it works, and these guys were fairly successful for a bit of time. Probably more entertaining watching them on video than listening to them, so here’s them doing “Black Dog” live in 1990.

#6: Spice Pistols – This is one of the more odder mashups. The Spice Girls with the Sex Pistols?!?!? These San Diegans even got on America’s Got Talent and performed in front of one of the Spice Girls who was a judge. For a few seconds. The producers sabotaged their monitors by turning them off before they had a chance to really play, so they couldn’t hear one another. Suspecting there would be some shenanigans, they were prepared for it, but Simon Cowell nixed it before they really got a chance.

But here’s them doing “Wannabe” mashed up as the Sex Pistols.

#5: Mismiths – Yeah, you read the right! The Misfits mashed up with the Smiths! I’m not really a big Smiths fan, so I may not get the joke as much as others, but this is still pretty funny. They have an album and an EP out.

#4: Bobby Ramone – Another really odd combination that I never would’ve thought of in a million years, but somehow it works. The Ramones with Bob Marley singing. Ok, this may not fit the exact description of what I’m calling a “real band”, but this is basically a “group of drunken friends who decided to record and produce an album playing the Ramones while sampling Bob Marley.” So yeah, the vocals are sampled somehow, I think, but the rest is real. “I Don’t Want To Stand Up”, “Jamming Affairs”. “Kaya Bop”. You get the idea. They have a full album of this lunacy called “Rocket To Kingston”.

#3: Beatallica – I think these guys actually kind of made a living off this for a little bit. I even saw them at the Del Mar Fair once. They put on quite the show and have a few releases out. Metallica mashed up with the Beatles. “Hey Jude” becomes “Hey Dude” with crunchy guitars. “All You Need Is Love” is now “All You Need Is Blood”. With crunchy guitars. As it should be.

“Everybody’s Got A Ticket To Ride Except For Me And My Lightning”

#2: Rock Sugar – A band that just has a great sound and excellent vocals. I believe you need the proper sounding vocals if you’re going to do a mashup and do it right. They have a whole concept, a story behind the concept, and a couple albums out, with “Reimaginator” being the better of the two. They don’t mash up just one band with another, they do several different combinations, and as if Steve Perry from Journey was singing. Madonna and AC/DC. Motley Crue with Queen. Til Tuesday with Guns n’ Roses. I love playing this band when DJing. Most people enjoy it, but others have warned me “Never play this again.”

Here’s “Shook Me Like A Prayer”

#1: Black Sweden – There’s a ton of bands that do metal or punk versions of ABBA songs. Tragedy, Amberian Dawn, Reinxeed, along with the odd cover by Children Of Bodom, Celebrity Skin and Psychotic Youth (who actually recorded a whole EP), but the best “mashup” is actually The Black Sweden, who mash up Deep Purple, Metallica, KISS, and more with ABBA. I believe they are professional studio musicians who recorded this in their spare time. Great vocals. Great arrangements. Come on, Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” with “Mamma Mia”?! Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” with “Take A Chance On Me”?! How can you go wrong?!

“Woman From Tokyo”/”Does Your Mother Know”