I need this for nefarious karaoke purposes

April 24, 2018 12:54 PM

What are some mashups where most of or the entire accompaniment to one song is used with the entire melody line of another?

Hello MeFites, I come with a silly question. I really like mashups, but I especially love mashups where the entire accompaniment of one song is paired with the entire melody line of another. Call Me a Hole is perhaps the best example of this. But do you know any others?

posted by chainsofreedom to Media & Arts (39 answers total)

Best answer: It's cut together a bit but AC/VC.*

*don't be drinking anything when you hit play
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:00 PM on April 24, 2018 [14 favorites]

Response by poster: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA omg best choice ever to ask this question.

Ahem. To clarify, that's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Please, everyone continue.
posted by chainsofreedom at 1:03 PM on April 24, 2018

Best answer: Party and Bullshit in the USA is on my list to learn and wow the crowd with some day at karaoke.
posted by too bad you're not me at 1:06 PM on April 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

I have a deep true love for this Ozzy Osborne/Earth Wind and Fire mashup. I've considered tackling it at karaoke myself.
posted by inky_the_pinky at 1:08 PM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

Not as good as the suggestions above, but you can sing the lyrics to Amazing Grace to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme, which is kind of fun to do.
posted by nushustu at 1:14 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

A couple other NeilCic gems that might fit your criteria:

Floor Corn
Smooth
The End
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:22 PM on April 24, 2018

I haven't double-checked these to make sure the instrumentals are completely untouched but they all sound pretty dang close to me (barring some tempo changes).

The Clash vs. The Killers - Somebody Rock Me by Party Ben
Depeche Mode vs. Soft Cell - Tainted Jesus by lobsterdust
Nirvana vs. Destiny's Child - Smells Like Bootylicious by 2 Many DJs (perhaps one of the Ur texts of mashupdom)
posted by mhum at 1:36 PM on April 24, 2018 [4 favorites]

"Finally, Did You No Wrong", Sex Pistols vs Ce Ce Peniston
"Like A Rolling Sex Machine", James Brown vs. Bob Dylan
posted by ouke at 1:37 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I looked at inky_the_pinky's link and it brought me to the YouTube channel for the artist, DJ Cummerbund, who has a bunch more:

Only Wanna Come Around
Man I Feel Beautiful
Houston and Sons
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:42 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’m always disappointed when I hear the start of “Hard to Explain” and it turns out not to be the version with Christina Aguilera singing “Genie in a Bottle” over the top.
posted by cardinalandcrow at 1:42 PM on April 24, 2018 [5 favorites]

Also, be aware that if you want to try to pull off a Carly vs. NiN "Call Me a Hole", most karaoke tracks for "Call Me Maybe" that I've heard include backup harmony vocals in the chorus (e.g.: like this) and sometimes in the verses too, which might throw you off if you're not ready for them.
posted by mhum at 1:43 PM on April 24, 2018

You can sing My Way, For Once in My Life and Born Free to the tune of David Bowie's Life on Mars.
posted by scruss at 1:47 PM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: most karaoke tracks for "Call Me Maybe" that I've heard include backup harmony vocals in the chorus

This has been my downfall when I try to sing Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" in Chinese!!!
posted by chainsofreedom at 1:56 PM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]

By oneboredjeu (seriously, check out the rest of her mashups!):

"Uma Thurman's a Maniac"
"Forgot about Bodak" (warning, uncensored vocals)

Check out InanimateMashups as well!

"Disenchanted Effort" (My Chemical Romance vs. Pink) (he mashed up the whole Black Parade album with a variety of stuff)
"Song of the River" (Imagine Dragons vs. Alan Walker)

And I second anything by NeilCic!
posted by Seeking Direction at 1:56 PM on April 24, 2018

The Stooges + Salt-N-Pepa: No Fun - Push It
posted by EKStickland at 1:59 PM on April 24, 2018

Smash-Up Derby is a live mash-up band that does a lot of these (and has MP3s on their website!); one of their standards is Poker Face or Sweet Dreams over Seven Nation Army.
posted by littlemisslaika at 2:01 PM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

The Kleptones do a ton of this stuff, and generally more musically than most mashup artists:

Hella Touch (No Doubt / Busta Rhymes)
Down on Bennies (Rage Against the Machine / Elton John)
This Song Smells (Blur / Nirvana)
Gimme Gimme (Rick James / Rolling Stones)
posted by neckro23 at 2:16 PM on April 24, 2018

I think you have to mess with the chorus a bit, but I adore I Heard it Round and Round the Grapevine.
posted by greermahoney at 2:16 PM on April 24, 2018

Heavy Bulletproof Cross (Gossip / LaRoux)
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:23 PM on April 24, 2018

Sweet Dreams are Made of Seven Nation Army - Eurythmics vs. White Stripes

Get Ur Faith On - Missy Elliot vs. George Michael
posted by capricorn at 4:52 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’ve only done it on acoustic guitar, but “I Used To Love Her (But I Had To Kill Her)” by Guns N Roses, “Tried to be True” by the Indigo Girls, and John Mellencamp’s “I Need a Lover (Who Won’t Drive me Crazy” do this - all three songs work with all three melodies. Solid brain-breaking stuff for listeners when you weave in and out of all three.

(Also this may be my favorite thread)
posted by okayokayigive at 4:56 PM on April 24, 2018 [2 favorites]

Rawhide/Fernando. Download link to mp4 on this page.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 5:51 PM on April 24, 2018

Montell Jordan vs the Doobie Brothers: This is How we Doobie is the purest example I know

I see DJ Cummerbund is already well covered, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point you to his Marching of the Ants (Two main melodies, really, but mostly one minus track)

Jimmy Eat Oates Maneater in the Middle is close to your requirements — you might need to sing the guitar solo yourself though

And finally, consider the merits of Queen vs OutKast in Hey We Will Rock Ya
posted by armeowda at 6:42 PM on April 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

This isn't going to work for karaoke purposes, but I can't let this thread go by without pointing out that the relentless, amazing Chris Cornell did Metallica's One set to U2's one music, and it's spectacular.
posted by joycehealy at 7:26 PM on April 24, 2018

This Green Day/Oasis/Travis mix blew a lot of my college friends' minds at the time.
posted by alygator at 8:54 PM on April 24, 2018

I had a recording of an amazing mashup of Moving in Stereo with Nelly Furtado's Turn Off the Light vocals. I lost it somewhere, but I can totally hear it in my mind when I play Furtado's song. I could also totally NOT pull off singing it for karaoke.
posted by ctmf at 3:43 AM on April 25, 2018

Also this Sterophonics/Supremes one works really well, but would take some practice to get the timing right. I dig the feel of the vocal swung to beat 2.
posted by ctmf at 4:15 AM on April 25, 2018

Always had a soft spot for Stayin' In Black.
posted by flabdablet at 6:11 AM on April 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

To add to nushutu's answer above: Amazing Grace = Gilligan's Island = House of the Rising Sun = many Emily Dickinson poems.
posted by wg at 6:58 AM on April 25, 2018

I actually HAVE performed this one: Commodores vs. A-ha: Take It Easy on Me. Note, however, that I just did the Commodores' lyrics at the bridge. (And the crowd went NUTS.)
posted by DrAstroZoom at 8:12 AM on April 25, 2018 [4 favorites]

On the littlemisslaika train, Fun DMC is a central Illinois mashup band. I'm friends with three of the members, and they're awesome.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 8:26 AM on April 25, 2018

Puddles does a great Folsom Prison/Pinball Wizard mashup.
posted by borkencode at 8:47 PM on April 25, 2018

I'm not really a Karaoke person, but I may be the only person on earth who has realized that you can sing the lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven" to the tune of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald."
posted by mmoncur at 10:56 PM on April 25, 2018 [3 favorites]

one of my favorites: X Gon' a Thousand Miles
posted by sephira at 5:08 AM on April 26, 2018

I have met success with Radiohead's Creep vs. Madonna's Like A Virgin.

(PS This is the most important question.)
posted by Jonathan Harford at 6:15 AM on April 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

X Gon' a Thousand Miles

...a thousand miles down a rabbit hole into every conceivable thing set to the theme music from Thomas The Tank Engine.

The Fresh Tank Engine of Sodor
Thomas the Tank Engine but it's actually All Star with autotune
Thomas the Serj Tankian Engine
Backin Track
My Neck, My Track

and of course

Never Gonna Give Choo Up
posted by flabdablet at 10:32 AM on April 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

I really really really want to know which of these are feasible to backing tracks (I do LOVE all of them though). I might start a Google doc if no-one else already has one.
posted by lokta at 11:36 AM on April 27, 2018

Take It Easy on Me" is feasible. The only allowance you have to make is singing the last line of the "Take on Me" verses twice.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 9:04 AM on April 30, 2018

From a running list I have (warning, none of these have been battle tested):

kool and the gang - celebrate / madness - our house
u2 - with or without you/manic monday (sing the former over the latter)
Wonderwall/Boulevard of Broken Dreams
sing wanted dead or alive over careless whisper (or vice versa?)
melt with you over just like heaven
sexyback over peekaboo
billie jean over smells like teen spirit
sweet dreams are made of this over seven nation army
a day in the life over karma police
lips like sugar over crazy train?
need you tonight/closer
addicted to love/sharp dressed man
stayin alive/another brick in the wall
island in the sun (weezer) but sing ice ice baby
posted by mabelstreet at 2:08 PM on May 2, 2018