The Grey Album
Encyclopedia
The Grey Album is a mashup
album by Danger Mouse
, released in 2004. It uses an a cappella
version of rapper Jay-Z
's The Black Album
and couples it with instrumentals created from a multitude of unauthorized samples
from The Beatles
' LP
The Beatles
(more commonly known as The White Album). The Grey Album gained notoriety due to the response by EMI
in attempting to halt its distribution, despite the fact that both Jay-Z and Sir Paul McCartney
said they felt fine with the project.
form. Although that work was copyrighted, it was released for the implicit purpose of encouraging mashups and remix
es.
The album quickly became popular and well-distributed over the Internet because of the surrounding publicity. It also came to the attention of the critical establishment; it received a very positive write-up in the February 9, 2004 issue of The New Yorker
and was named the best album of 2004 by Entertainment Weekly
. The Village Voice
's annual Pazz and Jop critics poll ranked the album 10th for 2004.
The Grey Album is one of many The Black Album remix albums spurred by Jay-Z's release of the a cappellas. Producers Kno (from the Cunninlynguists
) and Kev Brown earlier had released their own color-themed remix albums, titled The White Al-bu-lum and The Brown Album
respectively. A Pete Rock
remix of the album was circulated as well and released on Good Foot Records, but the album was actually a mash up with beats from his previously released PeteStrumentals
album. The Internet distribution of The Grey Album spurred a series of DJs and amateur mashup artists to mix the a cappella version of The Black Album with a variety of other artists, including Weezer
, Madlib
, Pavement
, Prince, Metallica
, Radiohead
, Modest Mouse
, and Wu-Tang Clan
.
Supplemental artwork was provided for later bootleg versions of the album by Justin Hampton after the initial release.
on February 24, 2004. Led by Downhill Battle
, an activist group seeking to restructure the music industry, participating websites posted copies of Danger Mouse
's The Grey Album for free download on its sites for 24 hours in protest of EMI's attempts to prevent any distribution of this unlicensed work. This protest was provoked by the opinion that the sampling is fair use
and that a statutory license should be provided in the same manner as if a song had been covered.
Supporters of the day say that it signals a refusal by a vocal section of Internet
society to let major label lawyers control musical creativity and specifically sampling
. Sampling in hip hop music had been commonplace since the late 1980s; landmarks include Prince Paul
's production on De La Soul
's 1989 debut 3 Feet High and Rising
and the Dust Brothers
' production on the Beastie Boys
' 1989 album Paul's Boutique
, both of which used samples from sources as diverse as Johnny Cash
, Bob Marley
and The Beatles.
Hundreds of Web sites participated and roughly 170 hosted the album for download. Over 100,000 copies were downloaded on that day alone.
The legal repercussions of the protest were minimal; a number of the participants received cease and desist
letters from EMI, but no charges were filed in connection with the event.
made in the autumn of 2004 by directing team Ramon & Pedro, that is Swiss directors Laurent Fauchere and Antoine Tinguely (compare http://www.partizan.com/partizan/films/shorts/?ramon___pedro/biography and http://www.partizanlab.com/partizanlab/commercials/?water/biography), to promote the single "Encore" from The Grey Album.
The video, which is entirely in black and white, features clips from The Beatles
' film A Hard Day's Night
, and footage from a Jay-Z performance. It uses new footage and computer generated imagery to create scenes that involve John Lennon
breakdancing and Ringo Starr
scratching
. It begins with The Beatles performing before cameras and a live audience. Ringo Starr begins to drum to the 1:00 to 1:08 segment of "Glass Onion
". John Lennon begins to sing while George Harrison
and Paul McCartney
nod their heads to the beat. After a few moments, the monitors in the director's booth begin to flicker, showing scenes of Jay-Z
rapping "Encore", and the lyrics of the chorus begin to show behind the group. Starr's drum kit becomes a set of turntables and mixer and he begins to scratch while John continues to sing "Oh, yeah!" as sampled from "Glass Onion".
As "Encore" moves into the second verse, the beat changes to a sample of "Savoy Truffle
". A John Lennon body double
starts to breakdance, leading to a headspin. McCartney and Harrison are replaced by two dancers. The Lennon double backflips off the screen, flinging his wig off. The drummer walks off and the lights fade to black.
The video is not available commercially, but has become popular over the Internet. Due to the legal issues surrounding the use of copyrighted material, the video is shown with the disclaimer that it was made for non-commercial and experimental purposes only. Picture-quality differences are apparent, however, as the original Beatles' footage originated on film, while the added footage originated on digital video with inferior image quality.
) is quoted as saying:
, A documentary about the current state of copyright and culture".
is quoted as saying: "This wasn't supposed to happen... I just sent out a few tracks (and) now online stores are selling it and people are downloading it all over the place." Burton denied being the agent provocateur, saying it "was not my intent to break copyright
laws. It was my intent to make an art project."
Cultural critic Sam Howard-Spink observed that "The tale of The Grey Album and Grey Tuesday offers a rich case study for the examination of a wide variety of contemporary cultural issues within the context of the 'copyright wars' remix culture and the age of the digital network."
Jonathan Zittrain
, professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School
, comments that "As a matter of pure legal doctrine, the Grey Tuesday protest is breaking the law, end of story. But copyright law was written with a particular form of industry in mind. The flourishing of information technology gives amateurs and homerecording artists powerful tools to build and share interesting, transformative, and socially valuable art drawn from pieces of popular cultures. There's no place to plug such an important cultural sea change into the current legal regime."
On November 16, 2010, Jay-Z offered his thoughts on the album during an interview on NPR. "I think it was a really strong album. I champion any form of creativity, and that was a genius idea - to do it. And it sparked so many others like it...I was honored to be on - you know, quote-unquote, the same song with the Beatles."
On February 11, 2011, Sir Paul McCartney whilst commenting on the influence of the Beatles and black music gave this assessment as part of a BBC
documentary titled “The Beatles And Black Music”, produced by Vivienne Perry and Ele Beattie.
Mashup (music)
A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
album by Danger Mouse
Danger Mouse
Brian Joseph Burton , better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' White Album.He...
, released in 2004. It uses an a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
version of rapper Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
's The Black Album
The Black Album (Jay-Z album)
The Black Album is the eighth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released November 14, 2003, on Roc-A-Fella Records. It was promoted as his final studio album, which serves as a recurring theme, although Jay-Z returned to solo recording with Kingdom Come in 2006.The album debuted at number one...
and couples it with instrumentals created from a multitude of unauthorized samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
from The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
The Beatles
The Beatles (album)
The Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
(more commonly known as The White Album). The Grey Album gained notoriety due to the response by EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in attempting to halt its distribution, despite the fact that both Jay-Z and Sir Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
said they felt fine with the project.
History
Danger Mouse released The Grey Album in limited quantities to a few internet outlets. Due to the amount of attention the mashup received EMI, copyright holder of The Beatles, ordered Danger Mouse and retailers carrying the album to cease distribution. Because of the overwhelming popularity of Danger Mouse's work this did not happen. Danger Mouse never asked permission to use The Beatles' material, and intended to produce a limited production run of 3,000 copies. Jay-Z's material, on the other hand, was commercially released in a cappellaA cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
form. Although that work was copyrighted, it was released for the implicit purpose of encouraging mashups and remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
es.
The album quickly became popular and well-distributed over the Internet because of the surrounding publicity. It also came to the attention of the critical establishment; it received a very positive write-up in the February 9, 2004 issue of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and was named the best album of 2004 by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
. The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
's annual Pazz and Jop critics poll ranked the album 10th for 2004.
The Grey Album is one of many The Black Album remix albums spurred by Jay-Z's release of the a cappellas. Producers Kno (from the Cunninlynguists
Cunninlynguists
CunninLynguists are a hip hop trio from Lexington, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia. The group currently consists of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti...
) and Kev Brown earlier had released their own color-themed remix albums, titled The White Al-bu-lum and The Brown Album
The Brown Album (rap album)
The Brown Album is an album by rapper/producer Kev Brown. Recorded inside a week, it was the first unofficial remix of Jay-Z's The Black Album, and one of many remixes of that album, released by various, mostly unknown, producers...
respectively. A Pete Rock
Pete Rock
Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...
remix of the album was circulated as well and released on Good Foot Records, but the album was actually a mash up with beats from his previously released PeteStrumentals
PeteStrumentals
PeteStrumentals is an instrumental hip hop album from Hip Hop producer/rapper Pete Rock, his second solo release. The album is the second installment of BBE Records Beat Generation series, following Jay Dee's Welcome to Detroit album. The instrumental songs were originally recorded between 1990 and...
album. The Internet distribution of The Grey Album spurred a series of DJs and amateur mashup artists to mix the a cappella version of The Black Album with a variety of other artists, including Weezer
Weezer
Weezer is an American alternative rock band. The band currently consists of Rivers Cuomo , Patrick Wilson , Brian Bell , and Scott Shriner . The band has changed lineups three times since its formation in 1992...
, Madlib
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer...
, Pavement
Pavement (band)
Pavement is an American alternative rock band that formed in Stockton, California in 1989. In their career, they achieved a significant cult following, and they were called the best band of the 1990s by prominent music critics Robert Christgau and Stephen Thomas Erlewine...
, Prince, Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
, Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer/lyricist/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. They are based in Portland, Oregon. Since their 1996 debut album, This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think...
, and Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...
.
Supplemental artwork was provided for later bootleg versions of the album by Justin Hampton after the initial release.
Grey Tuesday
Grey Tuesday was a day of coordinated electronic civil disobedienceElectronic civil disobedience
Electronic civil disobedience, also known as ECD or cyber civil disobedience, can refer to any type of civil disobedience in which the participants use information technology to carry out their actions. Electronic civil disobedience often involves the computers and/or the Internet and may also be...
on February 24, 2004. Led by Downhill Battle
Downhill Battle
Downhill Battle is a non-profit organization based in Worcester, Massachusetts. It launched in August 2003 and argues that the four major recording labels have an oligopoly that is bad for both musicians and music culture...
, an activist group seeking to restructure the music industry, participating websites posted copies of Danger Mouse
Danger Mouse
Brian Joseph Burton , better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' White Album.He...
's The Grey Album for free download on its sites for 24 hours in protest of EMI's attempts to prevent any distribution of this unlicensed work. This protest was provoked by the opinion that the sampling is fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
and that a statutory license should be provided in the same manner as if a song had been covered.
Supporters of the day say that it signals a refusal by a vocal section of Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
society to let major label lawyers control musical creativity and specifically sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
. Sampling in hip hop music had been commonplace since the late 1980s; landmarks include Prince Paul
Prince Paul
Paul Huston, better known by the stage name Prince Paul, is an American disc jockey and hip-hop record producer. He was also a founding member of the Gravediggaz where he used the name The Undertaker.- Biography :...
's production on De La Soul
De La Soul
De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
's 1989 debut 3 Feet High and Rising
3 Feet High and Rising
3 Feet High and Rising is the debut album from American hip hop trio De La Soul, released in 1989.The album marked the first of three full-length collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. It is consistently placed on 'greatest...
and the Dust Brothers
Dust Brothers
The Dust Brothers are the Los Angeles, California based, Grammy Award winning producers, E.Z. Mike and King Gizmo , famous for their sample-based music in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work on the albums Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys, Odelay by Beck, and the soundtrack to...
' production on the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
' 1989 album Paul's Boutique
Paul's Boutique
Paul's Boutique is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, on Capitol Records. Featuring production by the Dust Brothers, the recording sessions for the album took place in Matt Dike's Apartment and the Record Plant in Los Angeles from 1988 to...
, both of which used samples from sources as diverse as Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
and The Beatles.
Hundreds of Web sites participated and roughly 170 hosted the album for download. Over 100,000 copies were downloaded on that day alone.
The legal repercussions of the protest were minimal; a number of the participants received cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
letters from EMI, but no charges were filed in connection with the event.
The Grey Video
The Grey Video is a music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
made in the autumn of 2004 by directing team Ramon & Pedro, that is Swiss directors Laurent Fauchere and Antoine Tinguely (compare http://www.partizan.com/partizan/films/shorts/?ramon___pedro/biography and http://www.partizanlab.com/partizanlab/commercials/?water/biography), to promote the single "Encore" from The Grey Album.
The video, which is entirely in black and white, features clips from The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' film A Hard Day's Night
A Hard Day's Night (film)
A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
, and footage from a Jay-Z performance. It uses new footage and computer generated imagery to create scenes that involve John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
breakdancing and Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
scratching
Scratching
Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
. It begins with The Beatles performing before cameras and a live audience. Ringo Starr begins to drum to the 1:00 to 1:08 segment of "Glass Onion
Glass Onion
"Glass Onion" is a song by The Beatles from their 1968 double-album The Beatles primarily written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. This is the first track on the White Album to feature Ringo Starr on drums...
". John Lennon begins to sing while George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
nod their heads to the beat. After a few moments, the monitors in the director's booth begin to flicker, showing scenes of Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
rapping "Encore", and the lyrics of the chorus begin to show behind the group. Starr's drum kit becomes a set of turntables and mixer and he begins to scratch while John continues to sing "Oh, yeah!" as sampled from "Glass Onion".
As "Encore" moves into the second verse, the beat changes to a sample of "Savoy Truffle
Savoy Truffle
"Savoy Truffle" is a song written by George Harrison and performed by The Beatles on their album The Beatles, also known as The White Album.-Origin:...
". A John Lennon body double
Body double
A body double is a general term for someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character in any recorded visual medium, in shots where the character's body is shown but the face is either not visible or shown indistinctly, or in shots where the image of the credited actor's face is joined,...
starts to breakdance, leading to a headspin. McCartney and Harrison are replaced by two dancers. The Lennon double backflips off the screen, flinging his wig off. The drummer walks off and the lights fade to black.
The video is not available commercially, but has become popular over the Internet. Due to the legal issues surrounding the use of copyrighted material, the video is shown with the disclaimer that it was made for non-commercial and experimental purposes only. Picture-quality differences are apparent, however, as the original Beatles' footage originated on film, while the added footage originated on digital video with inferior image quality.
Production
Brian Burton (Danger MouseDanger Mouse
Brian Joseph Burton , better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' White Album.He...
) is quoted as saying:
Burton also commented at length on the creation of the Grey Album in the 2007 Danish documentary "Good Copy Bad Copy
"A lot of people just assume I took some Beatles and, you know, threw some Jay-Z on top of it or mixed it up or looped it around, but it's really a deconstruction. It's not an easy thing to do. I was obsessed with the whole project, that's all I was trying to do, see if I could do this. Once I got into it, I didn't think about anything but finishing it. I stuck to those two because I thought it would be more challenging and more fun and more of a statement to what you could do with sample alone. It is an art form. It is music. You can do different things, it doesn't have to be just what some people call stealing. It can be a lot more than that."
Good Copy Bad Copy
Good Copy Bad Copy, A documentary about the current state of copyright and culture, is a documentary about copyright and culture in the context of Internet, peer-to-peer file sharing and other technological advances, directed by Andreas Johnsen, Ralf Christensen, and Henrik Moltke.It features...
, A documentary about the current state of copyright and culture".
Reception and Legacy
Danger MouseDanger Mouse
Brian Joseph Burton , better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' White Album.He...
is quoted as saying: "This wasn't supposed to happen... I just sent out a few tracks (and) now online stores are selling it and people are downloading it all over the place." Burton denied being the agent provocateur, saying it "was not my intent to break copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
laws. It was my intent to make an art project."
Cultural critic Sam Howard-Spink observed that "The tale of The Grey Album and Grey Tuesday offers a rich case study for the examination of a wide variety of contemporary cultural issues within the context of the 'copyright wars' remix culture and the age of the digital network."
Jonathan Zittrain
Jonathan Zittrain
Jonathan L. Zittrain is a US professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a faculty co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society...
, professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, comments that "As a matter of pure legal doctrine, the Grey Tuesday protest is breaking the law, end of story. But copyright law was written with a particular form of industry in mind. The flourishing of information technology gives amateurs and homerecording artists powerful tools to build and share interesting, transformative, and socially valuable art drawn from pieces of popular cultures. There's no place to plug such an important cultural sea change into the current legal regime."
On November 16, 2010, Jay-Z offered his thoughts on the album during an interview on NPR. "I think it was a really strong album. I champion any form of creativity, and that was a genius idea - to do it. And it sparked so many others like it...I was honored to be on - you know, quote-unquote, the same song with the Beatles."
On February 11, 2011, Sir Paul McCartney whilst commenting on the influence of the Beatles and black music gave this assessment as part of a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary titled “The Beatles And Black Music”, produced by Vivienne Perry and Ele Beattie.
“It was really cool when hip-hop started, you would hear references in lyrics, you always felt honored. It’s exactly what we did in the beginning – introducing black soul music to a mass white audience. It’s come full circle. It’s, well, cool. When you hear a riff similar to your own, your first feeling is ‘rip-off.’ After you’ve got over it you think, “Look at that, someone’s noticed that riff.’”
McCartney, unlike most artists, welcomes the thought of being imitated because as the cliche’ goes, “Imitation is the highest form of flattery.”
His record company, EMI, held a different view. McCartney on their reaction, “I didn’t mind when something like that happened with The Grey Album. But the record company minded. They put up a fuss. But it was like, ‘Take it easy guys, it’s a tribute.’”
Tracklisting
- "Public Service Announcement" – 2:45
- Samples "Long, Long, LongLong, Long, Long"Long, Long, Long" is a song written by George Harrison, and first released by The Beatles on their 1968 album, The Beatles, also known as The White Album....
"
- Samples "Long, Long, Long
- "What More Can I Say" – 4:25
- Samples "While My Guitar Gently WeepsWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a song by George Harrison, first recorded by The Beatles in 1968 for their eponymous double album...
" - Samples "Top Billin'Top Billin'"Top Billin" was the breakout hit for American hip-hop duo Audio Two, although it was released as the B-side to "Make It Funky" in 1987, from the album What More Can I Say?. The song made a deep cultural impact on hip hop. The song was voted #8 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs...
" by Audio TwoAudio TwoAudio Two were the Brooklyn, New York hip hop duo of emcee Kirk "Milk Dee" Robinson and DJ Nat "Gizmo" Robinson, most famous for its first hit, the classic "Top Billin'." The members of the duo are also the older brothers of female hip-hop star MC Lyte.-History:The duo’s debut single, "Make it...
- Samples "While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- "Encore" – 2:40
- Samples "Glass OnionGlass Onion"Glass Onion" is a song by The Beatles from their 1968 double-album The Beatles primarily written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. This is the first track on the White Album to feature Ringo Starr on drums...
" and "Savoy TruffleSavoy Truffle"Savoy Truffle" is a song written by George Harrison and performed by The Beatles on their album The Beatles, also known as The White Album.-Origin:...
"
- Samples "Glass Onion
- "December 4th" – 3:34
- Samples "Mother Nature's SonMother Nature's Son"Mother Nature's Son" is a Lennon–McCartney song, written primarily by Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles on The Beatles . It was inspired by a lecture given by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi while the Beatles were in India. The same lecture inspired Lennon's unreleased song "Child of Nature",...
"
- Samples "Mother Nature's Son
- "99 Problems99 Problems"99 Problems" is the third single released by American rapper Jay-Z in 2004 from The Black Album. Throughout the song Jay-Z tells a story about dealing with a racist cop who wants to illegally search his car, dealing with rap critics, and dealing with an aggressor...
" – 4:06- Samples "Helter Skelter"
- "Dirt Off Your ShoulderDirt off Your Shoulder"Dirt off Your Shoulder" is the second single released from Jay-Z's 2003 album The Black Album.In 2004, the song was combined with the Linkin Park single "Lying from You" and released as a single for the mash-up album Collision Course....
" – 3:59- Samples "Julia"
- "Moment of Clarity" – 4:00
- Samples "Happiness Is a Warm GunHappiness Is a Warm Gun"Happiness Is a Warm Gun" is a song by The Beatles, featured on the eponymous double-disc album The Beatles, also known as The White Album...
"
- Samples "Happiness Is a Warm Gun
- "Change ClothesChange Clothes"Change Clothes" is the first official single from rapper Jay-Z's studio album The Black Album. It features additional vocals by Pharrell and is produced by The Neptunes. The song reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December, 2003. The video features appearances from supermodel Naomi Campbell,...
" – 4:04- Samples "PiggiesPiggies"Piggies" is a Beatles song from their double-disc album The Beatles . It was written by George Harrison as social commentary on class and corporate greed.-Instrumentation:...
" and "Dear PrudenceDear Prudence"Dear Prudence" is a song written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released by The Beatles as the second track on their 1968 double-disc album entitled The Beatles, commonly known as The White Album.-Composition:...
"
- Samples "Piggies
- "Allure" – 4:06
- Samples "Dear PrudenceDear Prudence"Dear Prudence" is a song written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released by The Beatles as the second track on their 1968 double-disc album entitled The Beatles, commonly known as The White Album.-Composition:...
"
- Samples "Dear Prudence
- "Justify My Thug" – 4:12
- Samples "Rocky RaccoonRocky Raccoon"Rocky Raccoon" is a song by The Beatles from the double-disc album The Beatles . The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, who was inspired while playing acoustic guitar with John Lennon and Donovan in India .-Composition:The song, a folk rock ballad, is titled from the character's name,...
"
- Samples "Rocky Raccoon
- "Lucifer 9 (Interlude)" – 2:01
- Samples "Revolution 9Revolution 9"Revolution 9" is a recorded composition that appeared on The Beatles' 1968 self-titled LP release . The sound collage, credited to Lennon–McCartney, was created primarily by John Lennon with assistance from George Harrison and Yoko Ono. Lennon said he was trying to paint a picture of a revolution...
" and "I'm So TiredI'm So Tired-External links:*...
" - Samples "Ave, Lucifer" by Os MutantesOs MutantesOs Mutantes ) are an influential Brazilian psychedelic rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement of the late 1960s. It was formed by two brothers and a vocalist, but has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout its existence...
- Samples "Revolution 9
- "My 1st Song" – 4:44
- Samples "Cry Baby Cry", "Savoy TruffleSavoy Truffle"Savoy Truffle" is a song written by George Harrison and performed by The Beatles on their album The Beatles, also known as The White Album.-Origin:...
", and "Helter Skelter"
- Samples "Cry Baby Cry", "Savoy Truffle
External links
- The Grey Album at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- The Grey Album at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
- Danger Mouse's official homepage
- The Grey Album on DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Album Review at RapReviews
- The Jay-Z Construction Set
- Grey Album Producer Danger Mouse Explains How He Did It
- Downhill Battle, the group that organized Grey Tuesday
- Cease and desist letter from EMI #1
- 'Grey Tuesday, online cultural activism and the mash–up of music and politics' by Sam Howard-Spink, First Monday, volume 9, number 10 (October 2004)
- The Grey Video on YouTube