Medley (music)  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks for a single artist, or for popular songs from a given year or genre.

Examples of medleys

Medleys that have reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart include:

• "Goin' Out of My Head" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by The Lettermen. (1968) #7
• "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", a medley of two songs from the musical Hair by the Fifth Dimension. (1969) #1
• "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul and Linda McCartney. (1971) #1
• "Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me, Girl" by the Spinners. (1980) #2
• "Cupid/I've Loved You For a Long Time" by the Spinners. (1980) #4
• "Stars on 45 Medley" by Stars on 45. (Several other medleys by Stars on 45 were also released.) (1981) #1
• "Hooked on Classics" by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. (1981) #10
• "Beach Boys Medley" by The Beach Boys. (1981) #12
• "Beatles Movie Medley" by The Beatles. (1982) #12
• "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby)" by Will to Power. (1988) #1

Medleys that have reached the UK Top 40 singles chart include:

• "Beach Boys Gold" by Adrian Baker AKA Gidea Park.(1981) #11
• "Seasons Of Gold" by Adrian Baker AKA Gidea Park.(1981) #28

Other medleys

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• "GWAR" has recentleyTemplate:When released a medley on their newest album Bloody pit of horror, It is the last song on the album entitled Hell-O Medley which is their entire first album into one
• "Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga" by Shimo (2007)
• "Acoustic Medley" by Bob Marley
• "Don't Pull Your Love/Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" by Glen Campbell (1976)
• "Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World" medley (1993) released by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
• "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" (1970) from Chicago's double album Chicago II
• "The Abbey Road Medley" (1969) by The Beatles; the climactic sixteen-minute medley (beginning with "You Never Give Me Your Money" and concluding with "The End") that takes up a majority of side two of the original LP.
• "Beatles Medley" by Tommy Emmanuel
• "My Generation" by The Who from their album Live at Leeds (1970)
• Disco Gold (1978) album by Biddu
• Death Mix (1983) album by Afrika Bambaataa
• "Ageless Medley (EP)" (1983) by Amy Grant.
• "Antakshari" (1989) by Lata Mangeshkar and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam for the film Maine Pyar Kiya, based on the Antakshari game.
• "The Grease Megamix" (1991) by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
• "Purple Medley" (1995) by Prince.
• "Never Too Far/Hero Medley" (2001) by Mariah Carey.
• "Medley" (2003) by Five Iron Frenzy from their live album The End Is Here.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic has had a polka medley on most of his albums. Most often, Yankovic's polka medleys feature snippets of hit songs that are popular at the time he records an album, though he sometimes chooses songs of a similar genre (and in one case, different songs recorded by a single group) for a themed medley.
  • "Polkas on 45" (1984) from his album In 3-D.
  • "Hooked on Polkas" (1985) from his album Dare to be Stupid.
  • "Polka Party!" (1986) from his album Polka Party!.
  • "The Hot Rocks Polka" (1989), a medley of The Rolling Stones songs, from his album UHF.
  • "Polka Your Eyes Out" (1992) from his album Off the Deep End.
  • "The Alternative Polka" (1996) from his album Bad Hair Day.
  • "Polka Power" (1999) from his album Running With Scissors.
  • "Angry White Boy Polka" (2003) from his album Poodle Hat.
  • "Polkarama!" (2006) from his album Straight Outta Lynwood.
• "The Queen Is Dead" by The Smiths.
• "Instrumedley" (2002) by Dream Theater from their live album Live at Budokan. Dream Theater frequently performs medleys of other bands live. In various medleys, Dream Theater has covered works by Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Journey, Elton John, Queen, Kansas, and Dixie Dregs, occasionally using some of their own work to smooth the transition between bands.
• "Imma Be Rocking That Body" is a music video by The Black Eyed Peas, featuring two of their singles "Imma Be" and "Rock That Body".
• Green Day wrote two medleys on their acclaimed American Idiot (2004) album - "Jesus of Suburbia and "Homecoming". The former was released as a single and was considered one of their best works ever.
• Metallica did a medley of Mercyful Fate songs on their album Garage Inc.
• Metallica did a medley of "A National Acrobat" and "Sabbra Cadabra" of Black Sabbath on their 1998 covers album Garage Inc.
• Metallica did a medley of "Orion", "To Live Is to Die", and "The Call of Ktulu" (all composed primarily by late bassist Cliff Burton) at a 1993 concert. These were all songs that were rarely or never played live.
• Metallica performed a medley of Ride The Lightning, No Remorse, Hit The Lights, The Four Horsemen, Seek And Destroy and Fight Fire With Fire. This was called the Kill/Ride medley and can be seen on the Cunning Stunts (video) DVD.
• Black Sabbath performed a medley on their album Past Lives, consisting of "Wicked World", "Supernaut", "Sometimes I'm Happy", and "Into the Void", along with a guitar and drum solo.
• Black Sabbath performed a medley of "Heaven and Hell", "Sign of the Southern Cross" and "Paranoid" live during the recording of the Live Evil album, featuring guitar solo and additional lyrics.
• Bon Jovi will also do a lot of medleys during live concerts usually "Bad Medicine" and a cover song "Shout" or "Pretty Woman." They also will play "I'll Sleep When I"m Dead" with "Jumping Jack Flash" or "Papa was a Rolling Stone."
• Rage & Prague Symphonic Orchestra - Medley - Don`t Fear the Winter (instrumental), Black in Mind, Firestorm (instrumental), Send by the Devil, Lost in the Ice (instrumental)
• Die Ärzte often do medleys on their concerts. One medley was also released as a single.
• UK pianist Colin Keyes performed his 'TV Themes Medley' on his first album 'The Magic of Piano', consisting of arranged versions of the themes from Cheers, L.A. Law and Cagney & Lacey.
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus Medley
• The Who at Super Bowl xlii
• Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby-1948 by Les Applegate. The short songs "Coney Island Baby" and "We All Fall" were first combined as a medley by Les Applegate in 1924 for the musical comedy "No, No, Nanette".
• Children of Bodom did a medley of Bodom after Midnight and Bodom Beach Terror on their live album Stockholm Knockout Live.
• Paula Abdul's "1990 Medley Mix" (a medley of her first 6 singles) was popular in 1990 from her "Shut Up and Dance - The Mixes" album. It was also used in a TV commercial by L.A. Gear.
• "Thank ABBA For The Music" - a 1999 British charity single produced by Pete Waterman. It featured 4 ABBA songs covered by Tina Cousins, Billie Piper, Steps, and girl-groups Cleopatra and B*Witched.
• Beyoncé did a Destiny's Child medley covering most of Destiny's Child popular songs during her worldwide tour The Beyoncé Experience in 2007.
• George Michael performed a medley of "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Killer" in 1992.
• Guns N' Roses did a medley of their own song "Patience" and John Lennon's "Imagine" in 1993. It was unplugged version.
• "Brain Stew/Jaded", a medley of two songs from the album Insomniac by Green Day. "Are We the Waiting" and "St. Jimmy" from the American Idiot album can also be considered a medley.
• Sabaton (band) made a medley of their two tracks: Metal Machine and Metal Crüe. It's only played during live gigs.
• Foo Fighters does some medleys live, featuring songs like "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails, "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback, "Dammit" by blink-182, "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, along with other from bands like Soundgarden, The White Stripes and Blur.
• FOX TV Series Glee has done a medley from Journey, singing "Faithfully", a mash-up of "Any Way You Want It" and "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'", and "Don't Stop Believing".
• Kanye West did a medley, containing his whole record named "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Memory", which was listed into the "most epic music videos of all time".
• Michael Jackson did, in all his world tours, a medley of the highest hits of the Jackson 5, with the songs: "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There"
• At the WWE pay-per-view event WrestleMania XXV, Kid Rock performed a live medley of his songs "Bawitdaba", "So Hott", "All Summer Long", "Rock N Roll Jesus", and "Cowboy".

See also

• Wiktionary:medley
• DJ mix
• Mashup (music)
• Potpourri (music)
• List of Genesis medleys
• Judson Laipply, dance medley
• Instrumentals