Music Of The Millennials

Girl Talk considered anthem music of the Millenials

By Chris Bodenner in the Atlantic Monthly

Many people consider my favorite musician, Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk), no musician at all. In fact, certain stuffed shirts want to prosecute him for what he does. That's because Girl Talk creates mash-ups: tracks that blend samples from other artists, usually without permission. Mash-ups began as novelties, and most are just clever combinations of two songs. But on his last album alone, Girl Talk sampled nearly 300 different songs (up to 26/track), spanning hip hop, indie rock, dance pop, and dozens of subgenres. His more creative combinations include: the lyrics of Notorious B.I.G. over Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," rapper Drama over Roy Orbison's "You Got It," hip-hop duo Clipse over Grizzly Bears' indie hit "The Knife." His albums are a seamless string of frenzied dance tracks. At his live shows, the skinny, pasty, ex-engineer flails around with his fans and ultimately leaves in boxers. (For a fuller profile, see this piece I wrote last year.)

Girl Talk just released his newest album, Feed The Animals. In the spirit of open source (and following the lead of Radiohead's Rainbows), he put the album online as a "pay what you can" download. It's not quite the masterpiece of its predecessor, Night Ripper, but pretty damn close. Recently, fans have started to adapt Girl Talk tracks into music videos, splicing together snippets from sampled originals found on YouTube. This one is truly brilliant (the intro blends '60s British prog rock and Dirty South rap, and you can't miss the scenes from "Footloose" at 3:25):

Warning: Not appropriate for youngsters or grandmothers!

("Still Here," featuring 50 Cent, Kenny Loggins, Salt-n-Pepa, Beck, Cat Stevens, etc.)

Girl Talk embodies the Millennial Generation like no other artist. An archaeologist from the future could find no greater musical artifact than Night Ripper or Feed The Animals, which feature music from the 80s (new wave, gangsta rap), 90s (grunge, Dirty South) and 00s (emo, crunk). Much of the fun is recognizing songs you haven't heard since middle school. But his albums aren't just nostalgic soundtracks; their ingenuous genre-blending makes them far greater than the sum of their parts. And Girl Talk would hardly have been possible without the generation-defining Internet. Online file-sharing allowed him to get almost any song for free. Editing software on his laptop (which he uses at live shows) allowed him to splice and dice music without the need for expensive studio equipment. And of course blogs and websites made word-of-mouth and distribution far easier for an amateur with a day job.