I love girl talk but I hate Girl Talk

Submitted by adammyerson on Sun, 02/01/2009 - 14:06

I tend to be skeptical of anything that catches a buzz, but I caught on to this one before the buzz caught on, and hated it immediately anyway. All you kids who like Girl Talk? You're wrong. You're just. Plain. Wrong.

This jackass is NOT a DJ. And while it's true not all DJs need to have actual turntable skills to make good music, this guy does not even make good music. He does not even LIKE music. There was an interview with him recently on NPR that was the last straw for me. He barely owns any CDs, he says. He just looks for beats that mix well together. Are you kidding me?

The fact is this guy has no taste. He's a scientist. He's dispassionate about what he does. It's purely technical, it's show-offy, and it comes across in his music. He's a biomedical engineer, or at least that's what he studied in college, and it shows. He's a pipetter, not a musician. He's a technician, not a booty-shaker.

Good DJs, the best DJs, whether they're using records and turntable to make their music, or computers, make beats people like precisely because of their taste, not in spite of it. You have to have a really vast knowledge AND love of music to make people dance. Not just be able to hit the pause button on your tape deck at just the right spot.

For comparison, check out my friend Karyn, aka Twisted Scissor. She's using a computer rather than vinyl, but I've never seen anyone wreck the discotheque with a live mix like she did. Go download some mixes, 'cause they're too big for me to upload here:

http://www.karynjanehunt.com/twisted_scissor

That's what someone with good taste, and good skills, sounds like when they mix. And when you see the whole club go nuts like I saw them do for her, that's all the proof you need.

Girl Talk. YAWN!

Comments

Submitted by yesterlenium (not verified) on Sun, 02/01/2009 - 16:45.
I never heard G.T., but from what I've read over the years doesn't make me want to check it ever. I'mma check out your friends link! "Girl Talk" is also the name of a Boogie Boys song from their album "Survival of the Freshest (1988)". Boogie Boys were the ones who did "Fly Girl". There is also a ridiculous board game that was marketed to teen girls in the 90s called "Girl Talk". It came with a cassette tape that you would 'play' throughout the game- it is silly as fuck- I have the audio from that if anyone want to hear
Submitted by Adam Myerson (not verified) on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 12:27.
I remember that Fly Girl track from Boogie Boys, Chris, but the not the Girl Talk song they did. We definitely danced to that Fly Girl song. Early '80's? Windmills in the East Junior High School gym? Old. I am so old.
Submitted by GeWilli (not verified) on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 12:38.
Twisted sister's got some great mixes... There's a big difference between making a beat track and actually mixing a killer set. The best are like symphonies, complex scores that ebb and flow in a dynamic and lyrical manner. The best DJ's have a signature. In the same way that a few minutes of a symphony can tell you who wrote it, the same can be usually said for most of the best DJs (although it can take longer than a few minutes sometimes). thanks for the links Adam... they're filling the space with a great sound today!
Submitted by GeWilli (not verified) on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 12:43.
(oops) scissor - not sister... brain - finger disconnect
Submitted by StevenBonadio (not verified) on Thu, 02/05/2009 - 21:20.
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2009/02/the-art-of-mashups/ The whole genre turns me off.
Submitted by drcoady (not verified) on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 10:31.
Me like TS!
Submitted by aarons (not verified) on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 12:06.
hey adam, so I've never left a comment on your blog before, anywho... so I've been friends with Gregg aka Girl Talk since we were in middle school. We both ran cross country, and spent way too much time in the art room together. I the art room, he would literally just scribble or mix paint on top of things in a "it is art because I say it is, and anything else anyone else makes is just garbage" and it wasn't just trying to simulate jackson pollock or anyone else. It was just, well everything else is garbage, so why can't this garbage be worthwhile. He formed a couple of bands in high school, one with my brother. he and his best friend nominated my younger brother to be voted as "god" on the homecoming elections of 1998, and he won. So I guess that makes me god's older brother. so as god's older brother, and friend of girltalk, let me drop the science. Back in the 90s there was a band, group, collective called Operation Re-Information. They and the noise proponents of Kid606 and the sort, pretty much formed a lot of our beginnings of music like/dislike. GirlTalk completely hated "commercial" music, but then somewhere along the lines "commercial" music became even more than what most indie-fans refer to as commercial music. things like The Pixies = commercial music. If you were selling out in anyway, you become commercial trash. around this time the band the joysticks was formed. It was kind of a real band, with richard on guitars, god would play 'the demo button" sometimes, and gregg on a casio cs1x keyboard. They showed up at one show and instead of really playing stuff, just sort of shouted, had cheerleaders on stage, and blew up a lot of computer monitors. This show was a high school talent show. It was pretty much awesome. anyway, so kid 606 used to take cds of popular bands and play them, and make noise on top of it, and call it a show. This evolved into a crazy broken cd player where he would literally grab the cd and make all sorts of digital noise and then it would play. I cant help but think this was the start of the girl talk thing. The girl talk reference is to the board game. Anyway, a few years ago, when gregg would just show up and play more hardcore beats with samples of pop music on top of it at a Doormouse show, and then pull in some cheerleaders to dance on the sides of the show, it was entertaining. in a kind of like a "what is art" sort of way. The fact that he would dismiss it, and praise the other experimental artists made it even better. especially since dj's were getting a lot of press during that time, mostly for putting together mixes of the most popular dance tunes, instead of breaking new artists. Somewhere along the way, the shows started getting popular with the crowds who would show up at dj shows. Then he started making the mixes even more just acid 2.0 mash ups of popular songs. I stopped going to his shows around then, but still grab a beer or two with him. Then somehow it became stupid big. I think I first noticed it when I was at a guys house who basically lived in a frat house, and he had a girl talk cd there. And like he would be playing as a headliner for a real concert venue, and all he is doing is choosing which song of a top 40 list to play for two measures. So in essence, I agree man, it's not music, and it's not talent, it's not deserving of what it has become (although sometimes I wonder and hope, man, I hope I'm not harboring some deep down subconcious resentment that my friend is famous but I'm not, but I really hope I'm right in thinking that I'm not that sort of person). In one way, it's not art anymore. It's not like he's using the mashups to paint a concise picture with meaning behind it. In another it is, or maybe it's more of a social essay, of how gullible the world is, to be lead into praising someone who is feeding them repackaged pop in ADHD format, and how you don't really need any talent or skills at all, you just need a computer and the intellect to choose the most popular thing, and anymore you don't even need to try to emulate it, you just need to literally copy and paste it.
Submitted by aarons (not verified) on Thu, 02/19/2009 - 12:08.
btw, sorry for the long post