Spin Discography

If you will indulge me I wanted to share with you about spin class discography.  What I discovered is a subtlety that Kristen opened my afflatus to. When a current selection is new and rising on the Billboard Charts people want to hear the song in its entirety not a remix version. A remix version is a viable alternative to songs that were ‘hits’ a year or even 18 months ago. The effect of bringing back a popular song makes it ‘new’ again in a remix version. This is not the case in my opinion for up to the minute chart toppers. 

For example the song by Carly Rae Jepsen: “Call Me Maybe” is a huge hit now and it was featured in a small clip with US Olympic athletes acting it out. No one wants to hear a club mix of this song, not yet anyway. It takes time for us as the listener to engage a new song, as one of our favorites and to alter its original form too soon can rob of us the pleasure we clamor for.  

Not all remixed songs are welcome especially if they are altered too much from their original form because what attracted us to these selections in the first place become sour notes in our memory of the original.  Personally David Guetta’s monster smash  “Without You” had a remix done   and when I heard this version played in KSC I was immensely disappointed because in the original the bridge featured two 23 second choruses that are so rousing but the remix completely ignored this part of the song and therefore   was a letdown. A much older song from 1986 by New Order called Bizarre Love Triangle was issued in a remix format with two other old songs sandwiched between and the effect of a rap version instead of the original lyrics was to me blasphemy.  

Remix is not new I can remember on the dance floor back in the 80’s DJ’s mixing some great disco and punk rock songs primarily by extending them through rewinds of the intro in order to make the song longer and delay the opening set of lyrics. And as a former dancer and now spin aficionado when you hear your favorite song you want it to last forever.  Now the technology makes these early attempts at remix seem Neanderthal by comparison. Thanks to David Cooper for the inspiration for me to write about this small nuance.  

A remix is like putting a new sole on a favorite pair of shoes.