The Apolitical Irony of Generation Mash‐Up: A Cultural Case Study in Popular Music

Abstract

The mash‐up remix rose to prominence in the early 2000s, spawning fans, amateur participants, and a small social movement. This paper culturally analyzes the influences on and implications of the mash‐up phenomenon. By conducting a close reading of press articles and several interviews and textually analyzing some of the most popular and critically acclaimed tracks, I argue that the mash‐up is a response to larger technological, institutional, and social contexts. Through themes of irony, empowerment, and re‐appropriation, the mash‐up serves as a fitting expression of today's youth media experience.

Notes

1. I use Generation X and Y concurrently here to contrast with preceding American generational narratives like the Baby Boomers and the Second World War generation and to avoid a complicated digression on the cultural and value differences between X and Y—typically considered to be those born, respectively, between 1965 and 1979 and 1980 and 1995. My intent is simply to emphasize the identity and culture of those young people who came of age in Gitlin's digital electronic media environment.