Glee tore it up on this Wednesday's episode with a boys v. girls mashup competition. The guys Bon Jovied out with a combination of "It's My Life" and Usher's "Confessions, Pt. II" (which has always been a total guilty pleasure song for me, and I LOVE Artie rockin' the Usher lyrics while popping wheelies in his chair):
And the girls killed it with a gloriously stepped-up cover of Beyonce's "Halo" mixed up with "Walkin' On Sunshine":
Apparently, this is something the show plans to do in subsequent episodes, and I think it's a terrific idea. In fact, I'd love it if Glee can revitalize the mashup craze that seemed to be going on when I was in college. Anyone remember the fantastic mixup of Destiny's Child's "Say My Name" with "Forgot About Dre"? The totally epic "Boulevard of Broken Songs"? And then there's probably my favorite contemporary mashup, Loo & Placido's "Black Beatles":
What Glee is doing is much more in the tradition of the Pet Shop Boys' "Where the Streets Have No Name / Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" mixup of two songs that fit beautifully and unexpectedly together, but I'm a fan. I like Girl Talk just fine, the sprawling compositions and transitions are cool. But I basically worship the essential form of the four-minute pop song. What people can do within those constraints to make old music sound new is pretty phenomenal.