We Heart This
1979 Music Mash-Up
Prince, Joy Division and Fleetwood Mac walk into a bar…
It sounds like the set-up to some wacky pop-culture joke, but—if you throw in Van Halen, Sister Sledge, ABBA and more—it's the premise to our newest obsession: the year-by-year music mash-ups by Chicago-based DJs and music producers, Aaron Brink and Steve Reidell, a.k.a. The Hood Internet.
A month ago to this day, the pair launched an incredible mash-up of music videos—more than 50 songs all from 1979. We dare you to watch it and not boogie, even in your seat. If that wasn't enough of a delight, each week since they've followed up with a best-hits track from each subsequent year. But don't just take our word for it. Listen for yourself and read our interview with Brink and Reidell below.
What inspired the year-by-year mash-ups?
We did a project in 2017 called 40 Years of Hop Hop that took 150+ songs from across the history of hip hop and wove them together into one four-minute track. It was initially conceived as just an audio track, but it became clear as we were working on it that it would work best as a video as so many of the visuals for those songs are so integral to the experience of the music. The idea there was to take one broad genre of music and have artists of different styles and eras within that genre playing off one another. In thinking about next projects, we looked at the inverse of that. Instead of focusing on one genre across a long span of time, we got interested in multiple genres intersecting at one moment in time. This led to us putting together a series of tracks that blend a bunch of songs from a specific year into one unified track.
We did a project in 2017 called 40 Years of Hop Hop that took 150+ songs from across the history of hip hop and wove them together into one four-minute track. It was initially conceived as just an audio track, but it became clear as we were working on it that it would work best as a video as so many of the visuals for those songs are so integral to the experience of the music. The idea there was to take one broad genre of music and have artists of different styles and eras within that genre playing off one another. In thinking about next projects, we looked at the inverse of that. Instead of focusing on one genre across a long span of time, we got interested in multiple genres intersecting at one moment in time. This led to us putting together a series of tracks that blend a bunch of songs from a specific year into one unified track.
How do you decide which songs makes the cut?
We didn't really have a formula for this. Some of it is songs we like. Some of it is songs that were popular at the time. Some of it is based on the song having a part that just mixes well with other songs. We're not saying that these are the best songs of that year or the most representative of what was happening musically, but our hope is that different threads capture something about what was happening in music at that moment.
We didn't really have a formula for this. Some of it is songs we like. Some of it is songs that were popular at the time. Some of it is based on the song having a part that just mixes well with other songs. We're not saying that these are the best songs of that year or the most representative of what was happening musically, but our hope is that different threads capture something about what was happening in music at that moment.
Why did you decide to start with 1979?
Thinking about this as a video project, we were really interested in the history of music videos and particularly the MTV era. There were plenty of music videos before 1979 and MTV didn't launch until 1981, but 1979 was kind of a transitional year where more and more musicians were doing videos for their songs. The first song played on MTV is from 1979. It's also a year that embodies a lot of things that defined the 80s. Recorded hip hop debuts. Disco is on the decline and giving way to other genres of dance music. Michael Jackson and Prince both put out records that would set up their dominance in the Eighties. Punk is giving way to new wave and post-punk. You can hear those different musical threads influencing one another.
Thinking about this as a video project, we were really interested in the history of music videos and particularly the MTV era. There were plenty of music videos before 1979 and MTV didn't launch until 1981, but 1979 was kind of a transitional year where more and more musicians were doing videos for their songs. The first song played on MTV is from 1979. It's also a year that embodies a lot of things that defined the 80s. Recorded hip hop debuts. Disco is on the decline and giving way to other genres of dance music. Michael Jackson and Prince both put out records that would set up their dominance in the Eighties. Punk is giving way to new wave and post-punk. You can hear those different musical threads influencing one another.
How far will you be going?
We just have the five years from 1979 to 1983 right now. Might do another group and finish up the Eighties. Conceivably taking it through the Nineties would really capture the peak of music videos.
We just have the five years from 1979 to 1983 right now. Might do another group and finish up the Eighties. Conceivably taking it through the Nineties would really capture the peak of music videos.
Personal favorite year of music—of all time?
Aaron Brink: 1994. Obviously a classic year for hip hop. Nas and Weezer both put out great 10-song records, which is the correct number of songs for an album. Also, Seal put out "Kiss From A Rose."
Steve Reidell: 1991. It was the year punk broke. Nirvana changed everything, but we also got "Now That We Found Love" by Heavy D and the Boyz. There was Temple of the Dog but there was also The KLF, and Boyz II Men "Motownphilly." It was a perfect year.
Aaron Brink: 1994. Obviously a classic year for hip hop. Nas and Weezer both put out great 10-song records, which is the correct number of songs for an album. Also, Seal put out "Kiss From A Rose."
Steve Reidell: 1991. It was the year punk broke. Nirvana changed everything, but we also got "Now That We Found Love" by Heavy D and the Boyz. There was Temple of the Dog but there was also The KLF, and Boyz II Men "Motownphilly." It was a perfect year.
