This web site is old and unwieldy, but I'm too lazy and confused to change it. If you're having trouble finding something, feel free to e-mail me at partyben@yahoo.com, or have a go through this site's archives which I've sorted by year.
FEBRUARY 21, 2011 TWO PARTY BEN MASHUPS FEATURED IN ACTUAL HOLLYWOOD MOVIE YET PARTY BEN REMAINS SURPRISINGLY DOWN-TO-EARTH
I thought I told you not to look me in the eye! Well it's been a little over a week since the release of the Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston comedy "Just Go With It," and as moviegoers know by now, not one but two "classic" Party Ben-made combinations of other songs made it into the final print of the film. As mentioned previously, "Tender Umbrella" was featured in many of the TV commercials and trailers, but it's actually the less prominent of my two tracks in the movie itself, accompanying a quick Aniston makeover montage. It's "Every Car You Chase," the erstwhileIrish hit, however, that takes center stage, soundtracking the film's emotional climax in an extended scene that begins poignantly and ends, er, scatalogically. Mirroring my career. You can see a snapshot I took of the credits above right, which shows they even gave me a little contractually-obligated shout-out. Neat! Let's put together a little wrapup of this whole situation now so I can stop talking about it.
MASHUPS IN JUST GO WITH IT: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Will there be a soundtrack release?
No. From what I understand, it was on the table for a while, but it didn't come together.
What are those other mashups in the movie?
There are three additional musical combos featured: DJ Y Alias JY's plaintive "Can't Stand Beggin'" (The Police vs. Madcon), and DJ Zebra's slinky "This Tainted Love" (Bob Marley vs. Soft Cell) and lively "Roxanne Should Be Dancin'" (The Police vs. Bee Gees). (The latter two were recreated by DJ Lobsterdust for the film and that's why he's credited.) Additional mashups and producers were considered, and new mashups were made specifically for the film, but for a variety of reasons only these five made it through. I actually made a bunch of quick sketches of other Police mashups for them which maybe I'll share someday.
Are the versions of the mashups in the movie the same as the mp3s on your website?
Actually, no. In the case of the original Snow Patrol/Police mashup, I cobbled that together in 2007 using only the commercially available versions of both songs (which nobody believes, if the three years of e-mails demanding the Snow Patrol acapella are any indication, but I swear it's true). The original Rihanna/General Public mashup is even sloppier, utilizing a software-extracted acapella (since no studio acapella was available) and a poor-quality mp3 of the extended mix of General Public's "Tenderness" (since no instrumental was available). For the film, they of course wanted high quality versions, so I got to have the original tracks from all the songs (except Tenderness which they couldn't get in time so I managed to track it down on a CD in a crazy friend's music library, thanks again Spud) and recreated the mashups from scratch. Which, by the way, was hard. If I didn't reply to your e-mail back in October or November, that was why. But these new versions sound real pretty in the movie!
Can you give them to us?
Sorry, I really can't. Sure, I flout copyright all the time, but in this instance, the material I used is sort of proprietary, and moreover, Sony Pictures was good enough to reach out to me to be involved with the film, so I suppose I owe them at least that much. But perhaps with enough interest in the movie and the tunes contained therein, all parties concerned can be convinced to release these new versions, sometime in the future.
How the heck did this all happen?
Well, why not let Adam Sandler explain it himself.
Adam Sandler on Jimmy Kimmel Live
February 9, 2011
As a guest on Kimmel's show on the run-up to the film's release, Sandler describes how he came across mashups in the first place, telling a story I actually heard from the film's music supervisor back when this whole process got started last summer, but I wasn't sure I believed. Apparently, a DJ was playing mashups at a hotel Sandler was staying at in Majorca, and Sandler asked about them. Now, I was told off the record that this DJ actually took credit for the mashups, and it was Sandler's music people in his office back in the US who actually tracked us down. Funny! But even if that's true, Mr. Majorca Hotel DJ, I suppose I still owe you one, whoever you are. By the way, can I be a DJ at a hotel in Majorca? Forever?
"Every Car You Chase" (2007)
The Police vs. Snow Patrol
Download: 6MB 192kbps mp3
Here's the original mix of "Every Car You Chase." No acapellas, really. (Video put together by "Most7up")
"Tender Umbrella" (2007)
General Public vs. Rihanna
Download: 6MB 192kbps mp3
And here's the original Tender Umbrella, and its video as edited together by VJ Jaren.
Anyhoo, that's that. Many thanks to Mr. Sandler, Mike the music supervisor, and everybody at Sony Pictures. If you want to know even more, there's a big Just Go With It music wrapup over here. Now, where to put my Oscar...
In other news, I buckled down and cleaned up the good old Music/Downloads page, adding some links and fixing some broken ones, as well as adding a few little Easter eggy suprises if you look around. Additionally, the most recent House Nation mixes are posted over at the Long Mixes page. Hopefully coming soon: some hip remixes and stuff.
TWO PARTY BEN MASHUPS FEATURED IN ACTUAL HOLLYWOOD MOVIE YET PARTY BEN REMAINS SURPRISINGLY DOWN-TO-EARTH
MASHUPS IN JUST GO WITH IT: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS