Sweet Headache 060: “Cheesy/Cool” (by marvis)
May 9, 2011 No Comments Author:marvis
I have a couple of tracks in my collection that I am truly ambiguous about. I am generally a fan of melodic electronic dance music, but sometimes this can really degrade into pure cliché. I am talking about those tracks that I kinda like, but that I would probably not dare to play at an underground party. It’s a thin line between “cool” and “cheesy” – and I wanted to find out where exactly that line is for me.
The result is this mix. This is my personal edge in terms of what I still like. Everything that’s a little more cheesy than this will probably make me cringe. However, there are couple of tracks in here that nicely demonstrate how you can make something cool using cheesy material.
Probably the best example for this is the Turntablerocker-remix of Scooter’s “I’m Raving”. I don’t know how well-known Scooter is outside of Germany, but they are pretty much the symbol for commercial pseudo-Techno here. They do have lots of fans though… Anyway, the Turntablerockers are a pair of DJs that I truly respect, and they somehow managed to turn Scooter’s original abomination into something that sounds kinda cool to me in a very strange way.
djJack’s remix of the Monkey Island 2 theme feels the other way around to me. I really love the Monkey Island games (I am actually playing “Tales of Monkey Island” right now), and the theme still gives me goosebumps. The music really fits to the atmosphere of the game and triggers a lot of nice memories for me. The remix reduces this wonderful piece of computer game music to its main melody, and I was tempted to write this off as cheesy…but I caught myself listening to this track surprisingly often, so I guess there is something about this one that resonates with me. Reason enough for putting it in this mix. By the way, The Secret of Monkey Island can now “officially” be seen as art. Cool, eh?
The third and last example that I would like to mention is Flatpack’s rework of “Sweet Child of Mine“, originally made popular by Guns’n'Roses. Taking a famous rock song and turning it into dance music is often a recipe for disaster, but in this case the result is actually quite cool.
Tracklist:
- Scooter – I’m Raving (Turntablerocker Remix)
- G-Love – Teddy Bear (Club Version)
- Babylon Zoo – Spaceman (Kiss Mix – Remixed by Sunrise)
- Snap! – Rhythm Is a Dancer (Tom Novy Remix)
- Deux – Same Way
- djJack – Monkey Island 2 Theme (djJack Remix)
- Arias & Arno Cost – Magenta
- Sean Finn – Night Revival (Electro Revival)
- Flatpack – Sweet Child of Mine (Mylo Remix)
- Supermode – Tell Me Why
- Markus Gardeweg – 25 Years
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/refractedmoments/244856192/ // CC-by
