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From topping the 90s charts to ‘very controlled and predictable’ today: is the remix dead?
The likes of Fatboy Slim and Armand van Helden remixed original tracks into mutant dancefloor beasts, but thanks to streaming and risk-averse labels, this artform is threatened
In the 1980s producers such as Shep Pettibone and Jellybean Benitez wove a similar magic, creating elongated versions of songs by stars including Madonna, Pet Shop Boys and New Order that kept those artists in touch with the dance scenes they drew influence from. Consider, for example, how Boston producer Armand van Helden took a forgotten bass lick from Tori Amos’s 1996 song Professional Widow and transformed a lurching piano boogie into an irresistible anthem, or Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne strapped drum machines and samples to Happy Mondays’ lumberingly funky Wrote for Luck to create supercharged indie-dance. Photograph: Ian Dickson/RedfernsBut nowadays, the only remixes getting traction tend to be when a new verse is added to a rap or pop track, often simply to reinvigorate streamings and contribute to the song’s chart placing, although Ice Spice joining PinkPantheress’s Boy’s a Liar last year was among the rare revamps that improved on the original.
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