[Animal Boything]

part two comin' atcha

One might recall that when the sampling techniques of hip hop exploded into the public consciousness in the nineties, there was an understandable backlash. Songs like P. Diddy’s aforementioned “I’ll Be Missing You,” which featured the instrumentation of The Police’s “I’ll Be Watching You” were upheld by legions of squares as empty pop gestures, devoid of creativity. Some felt that hip hop production was artistically bankrupt, and heavy sampling amounted to irreverently ripping off hit tunes for guaranteed cash. Girl Talk’s music takes sampling to its absurd extreme, but Gillis doesn’t consider his music irreverent.
“I’ve always considered my music a celebration of pop music, basically paying homage to my favorite songs. I am tearing apart songs bit by bit and putting them in weird new contexts though, so I can understand how some old people might think that’s disrespectful. It’s interesting to note that sampling backlash, though, because now there’s a heavy backlash in the indie electronic nerd scene against bootlegs, mash-ups, and pop remixes.”
This second wave of the sampling backlash comes in the wake of the immense press coverage of underground hip hop producer Danger Mouse’s Grey Album, an album-length mix of Jay-Z’s Black Album and The Beatles’ White Album. While the press latched onto the idea of a Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up as a novel concept, the electronic underground turned away in contempt: their game had become mainstream, and mainstream means played out.
“It’s really ridiculous to me,” says Gillis. “People just love to hate on anything gaining some popular momentum. They need to give it a rest; sampling pop to make new pop is going to exist forever.”
Despite the popular momentum and mainstream press coverage, Girl Talk and many other indie electronic artists are unable to even consider courting mainstream success with their music due to the expense and legal hassles of clearing hundreds of pop samples for re-use. Despite the time and talent Gillis puts into his work, it may remain in a legal grey area for the foreseeable future. In fact, “grey area” may be a little generous: if his releases catch the eyes of those he samples, Girl Talk may be in trouble. His solution is to fly under the radar.
“There are many people putting out illegal music on smaller independent labels right now, so I don’t think it’s really a legal threat at this level. I haven’t had any problems, personally, but I was on a compilation called “Ministry of Shit” (on Spasticated Records) that got in some trouble for the title and artwork of the album.” In case you were wondering, the album copped the title and logo from the Ministry of Sound series of electronic compilations, replacing the word “Sound.”
Will the music industry ever catch up? However illegal, Girl Talk’s music is undeniably compelling, and Gillis believes that his style could catch on in a big way: “As far as this style blowing up, I can definitely see it. Straightforward mash-ups really took off a couple years ago and were played on mainstream radio and in clubs all over Europe and in some places in the USA. I think that my attention deficit style is even more in line with what people want to hear. Everything is so crazy and rapid these days; they always cut off videos halfway through during Total Request Live, and they never play full songs at clubs. I guess the pace of some of my material is a little too extreme for dancing, but I think people could deal and step up their moves.”

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Those who want to experience Girl Talk’s music need look no further than their monitor. Girl Talk operates a modest web site at www.girl-talk.net, which contains links to sites where his music can be purchased. He also has a profile on Myspace Music (http://www.myspace.com/girltalkmusic), where surfers can find free samples of his tracks and colorful concert photos. You’d be well advised to check these photos out: According to Gregg, “live shows usually involve me dressed up in some bright clothing and spazzing around and getting sweaty and getting all up in the audience. Occasionally, at more locally-based shows, I have a synchronized dance squad I work with.”
A final question: Has Girl Talk ever played Girl Talk, the teen-girl party game from which he takes his name? Has Girl Talk ever had to call a boy on the phone and sing him a song?
“There’s actually a few versions of the game. I think I own three of them. I’ve never really played them. I’ve worn the fake zits from one version though.”