Gregg Gillis, who goes by the stage name of Girl Talk, was a normal college student at
The issue with his music is that it is not original. He takes portions of other famous songs and puts them together to make his own songs, none of which is originally recorded by him. For example in his 2006 album, Night Ripper, he used more than 250 clips from different songs from 167 different artists. He put songs such as The Notorious B.I.G. song "Juicy" to a beat of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer". Although you may think it may be violating copyright laws, it is not. Many people say that he stays legal by following the fair use guidelines. He does this because his samples are very short and often sound very little like the actual song. Gillis stays legal by following these guidelines in every one of his songs.
I believe that he is a very talented musician. In fact Gillis has won numerous awards including #22 album of the year according to rolling stones magazine. Although he does not play an instrument he uses talent to put songs together with other tracks that end up sounding better than the originals. His music is something different in a time of a lot of music sounding the same. Musicians should be honored rather than angry that they are featured in his songs because it is not only giving there music more publicity but also a different sound for them that they may like try out some day. Girl Talk will be a big name in all of the clubs and will continue to appear all over the music scene. You can check his music and download his new album, Feed the Animals, on hismyspace or or listen to any song on you tube.
3 comments:
Ross, it's great that you recognize and admire Gillis' creativity in mashes. I can certainly understand how entertaining and popular this is. I do question your reference to Fair Use, though. According to your link, Fair Use applies to educational, non-commercial activities. How do you see it applying to Gillis, who charges money for his recordings?
I don't understand why he's so famous when it's not original. All he's doing is using already famous songs to create something "different". If he were truly talented, he would actually try to write his own songs and music. Especially if he's making money, that's ridiculous. I don't see why he should make money for just using other people's work; even if it's legal.
If Gillis makes a living of these CDs and stay within legal boundries, then thats a great idea. If people enjoy it, and the original singers get more publicity, then its not hurting anybody. It really does take skill and talent to mix completely different songs from different genres and make it enjoyable to others. It is unfair to use other people's work for his personal gain, but it really isn't hurting anybody.
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