Is The Remix Become A Requirement?
25th January 2012
According to the site Discogs.com, about 800 remixes were released in 1983. In 1990, more than 4,000; in 2000, almost 15,000. And in 2010, there were 22,750 remixes released, an increase of more than 450% in twenty years. Not surprisingly, as that number has leapt up, remixes also have come to represent a much larger share of what’s being released: in 1983, they accounted for 2% of all releases; 7% in 1990; 17% in 2000; until, by 2010, a staggering 20% of all releases were remixes.
How did we get to the point where a one-hit-wonder band from the ’90s like Marcy Playground can release an entire album of remixes made by fans? Why is everyone a DJ these days, and why does every band in the world have to have a remix?
The short answer is “because they can.” As technology has advanced, so has the remix. It started in Jamaica in the ’60s with dub effects, emerged in America through disco and the 12″ mix, helped to create rap through the power of their sound systems, exploded in the ’90s with the maxi-CD, and became participatory (and ubiquitous) with digital mashups. At each step of the way, the particular kind of technology available shaped the nature of that moment’s remixes.
