Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers
Encyclopedia
Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers were a 1980s and early 1990s novelty pop music
act from Rotherham
, Yorkshire
, England. The face of the group was Jive Bunny, a cartoon rabbit who appeared in the videos, and also (as a human being in a costume) did promotional appearances for them. Doncaster DJ and producer Les Hemstock created and mixed the J.Bunny concept for father and son team John and Andrew Pickles. Ian Morgan a fellow DJ and producer also engineered and mixed the first albums. Morgan was replaced in the early 1990s by DJ and producer Mark "The Hitman" Smith.
Jive Bunny's three number ones were "Swing the Mood
", "That's What I Like
" and "Let's Party
". All three songs used sampling
and synthesisers
to combine pop music from the early rock and roll
era together into a medley. The results were somewhat like Jaap Eggermont's Stars on 45
, although he had hired "sound-alike" singers and musicians to recreate the music from scratch.
The act had eleven entries in the UK singles chart between July 1989 and November 1991. Each track used a sampled instrumental
theme to join the old songs together, in much the same way as dance music
megamix
es. "Swing the Mood" began with Glenn Miller
's famous "In the Mood
" (a recording from 1939), followed immediately by rhythmic re-editing of Bill Haley and His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock
", Little Richard
's "Tutti Frutti
" and the Everly Brothers' "Wake Up, Little Susie". "Swing the Mood" was #1 for five weeks on the UK singles chart in 1989, and quickly caught on in the United States, where it reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart
.
"That's What I Like" featured the theme music
from the television police drama Hawaii Five-O
, with overlaid excerpts from rock hits like Chubby Checker
's "The Twist
" and Ernie Maresca
's "Shout, Shout (Knock Yourself Out)". "Let's Party" (released originally in the U.S. as "March of the Mods") used "March of the Mods" (also known as the Finnjenka Dance), interpolating Del Shannon
's "Runaway
" and The Wrens
' "Come Back My Love" among others. In the UK "Let's Party" was a Christmas hit with samples of Wizzard
's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", Slade
's "Merry Xmas Everybody" and Gary Glitter
's "Another Rock 'N' Roll Christmas". Recently this has been remixed to remove the Gary Glitter
track to avoid controversy over his subsequent criminal convictions should any radio stations wish to play it over the Christmas period. They did not have permission to use the original Wizzard recording so Roy Wood
re-recorded the part of the track for them.
The original European medleys featured the original recordings by the original artists. Legalities prevented certain of the original recordings to be reused in America
, so the American Jive Bunny releases substituted later re-recordings of the same tunes by Bill Haley, Del Shannon and others.
The original idea for the project came from Hemstock on the DJ-only Mastermix DJ service. The original Swing The Mood mix appeared on Issue 22 of Mastermix's monthly album release. John Pickles (father of Andy) was strictly speaking never in the band, but the owner of the label and effectively the manager
.
Hemstock later became a trance DJ working with Paul Van Dyk
. Pickles Jr., went on to found the hard house record label, Tidy Trax, with fellow DJ Amadeus Mozart. Morgan became a successful club DJ and Smith later worked in the music industry as a label manager and producer.
The Mastermix DJ Music Service is now in its 25th year and still supplies mixes and DJ compilations on CD and digital download.
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
act from Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England. The face of the group was Jive Bunny, a cartoon rabbit who appeared in the videos, and also (as a human being in a costume) did promotional appearances for them. Doncaster DJ and producer Les Hemstock created and mixed the J.Bunny concept for father and son team John and Andrew Pickles. Ian Morgan a fellow DJ and producer also engineered and mixed the first albums. Morgan was replaced in the early 1990s by DJ and producer Mark "The Hitman" Smith.
Jive Bunny's three number ones were "Swing the Mood
Swing the Mood
"Swing the Mood" is a song by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers from their debut album The Album.Produced by the father and son DJ team of Andy and John Pickles, "Swing the Mood" was a cut and paste record which fused a number of early rock and roll records with liberal use of Glenn Miller's "In the...
", "That's What I Like
That's What I Like
"That's What I Like" is a song by Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers. It was the second single from the album just entitled The Album and was released in late 1989...
" and "Let's Party
Let's Party (song)
Let's Party was a popular single by Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers.The third single by the father and son DJ team Andy and John Pickles it reached the top of the UK singles chart for a single week in December 1989...
". All three songs used 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...
and synthesisers
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
to combine pop music from the early rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
era together into a medley. The results were somewhat like Jaap Eggermont's Stars on 45
Stars on 45
Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was briefly very popular in the United Kingdom, throughout Europe, the United States and Australia in the early 1980s. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the U.K. and Ireland it was known as Starsound...
, although he had hired "sound-alike" singers and musicians to recreate the music from scratch.
The act had eleven entries in the UK singles chart between July 1989 and November 1991. Each track used a sampled instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
theme to join the old songs together, in much the same way as dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
megamix
Megamix
A megamix is a medley remix containing multiple songs in rapid succession. There may be only one verse or even just a brief chorus of each song used, sometimes in addition to samples of the same or other songs. There may also be some elements of bastard pop in some, though not as much as a mashup...
es. "Swing the Mood" began with Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
's famous "In the Mood
In the Mood
"In the Mood" is a big band era #1 hit recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. Joe Garland and Andy Razaf arranged "In the Mood" in 1937-1939 using a previously existing main theme composed by Glenn Miller before the start of the 1930s...
" (a recording from 1939), followed immediately by rhythmic re-editing of Bill Haley and His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock
Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar-blues-based song written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was recorded by Bill Haley and His Comets in 1954...
", Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
's "Tutti Frutti
Tutti Frutti (song)
"Tutti Frutti" is a 1955 song by Little Richard, which became his first hit record. With its opening cry of "A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bop-bop!" and its hard-driving sound and wild lyrics, it became not only a model for many future Little Richard songs, but also one of the...
" and the Everly Brothers' "Wake Up, Little Susie". "Swing the Mood" was #1 for five weeks on the UK singles chart in 1989, and quickly caught on in the United States, where it reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
.
"That's What I Like" featured the theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
from the television police drama Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
, with overlaid excerpts from rock hits like Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker is an American singer-songwriter. He is widely known for popularizing the twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit "The Twist"...
's "The Twist
The Twist (song)
"The Twist" is a twelve bar blues song that gave birth to the Twistdance craze. The song was written and originally released in 1959 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side but his version was only a moderate 1960 hit, peaking at 28 on the Billboard Hot 100...
" and Ernie Maresca
Ernie Maresca
Ernest "Ernie" Maresca is an American singer-songwriter and record company executive, best known for writing or co-writing some of Dion's biggest hits....
's "Shout, Shout (Knock Yourself Out)". "Let's Party" (released originally in the U.S. as "March of the Mods") used "March of the Mods" (also known as the Finnjenka Dance), interpolating Del Shannon
Del Shannon
Del Shannon was an American rock and roll singer-songwriter who had a No. 1 hit, "Runaway", in 1961.- Biography :...
's "Runaway
Runaway (Del Shannon song)
"Runaway" was a number-one Billboard Hot 100 song made famous by Del Shannon in 1961. It was written by Shannon and keyboardist Max Crook, and became a major international hit...
" and The Wrens
The Wrens
The Wrens are an indie rock band that formed in the late 1980s in New Jersey. The group consists of Charles Bissell, Greg Whelan, Kevin Whelan, and Jerry MacDonald. Their debut album Silver was released in 1994...
' "Come Back My Love" among others. In the UK "Let's Party" was a Christmas hit with samples of Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...
's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", Slade
Slade
Slade are an English rock band from Wolverhampton, who rose to prominence during the glam rock era of the early 1970s. With 17 consecutive Top 20 hits and six number ones, the British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles...
's "Merry Xmas Everybody" and Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
's "Another Rock 'N' Roll Christmas". Recently this has been remixed to remove the Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter
Gary Glitter is an English former glam rock singer-songwriter and musician.Glitter first came to prominence in the glam rock era of the early 1970s...
track to avoid controversy over his subsequent criminal convictions should any radio stations wish to play it over the Christmas period. They did not have permission to use the original Wizzard recording so Roy Wood
Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...
re-recorded the part of the track for them.
The original European medleys featured the original recordings by the original artists. Legalities prevented certain of the original recordings to be reused in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, so the American Jive Bunny releases substituted later re-recordings of the same tunes by Bill Haley, Del Shannon and others.
The original idea for the project came from Hemstock on the DJ-only Mastermix DJ service. The original Swing The Mood mix appeared on Issue 22 of Mastermix's monthly album release. John Pickles (father of Andy) was strictly speaking never in the band, but the owner of the label and effectively the manager
Talent manager
A talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...
.
Hemstock later became a trance DJ working with Paul Van Dyk
Paul van Dyk
Matthias Paul, better known by his stage name Paul van Dyk is a German Grammy Award-winning Electronic Dance Music DJ, musician and record producer...
. Pickles Jr., went on to found the hard house record label, Tidy Trax, with fellow DJ Amadeus Mozart. Morgan became a successful club DJ and Smith later worked in the music industry as a label manager and producer.
The Mastermix DJ Music Service is now in its 25th year and still supplies mixes and DJ compilations on CD and digital download.