Jimmy Kimmel’s Mashup Mondays: Ranking Joss Stone Temple Pilots, Aloe Blaccstreet, Wee-Z Top And All The Rest

Joss Stone hit the headlines this week – yep, in 2015 – for her collaboration with Stone Temple Pilots. Sadly it wasn’t just a mad, spontaneous decision – this was part of Jimmy Kimmel’s tongue-in-cheek #MashupMondays series, which pitches artists together simply because their names fit into a neat portmanteau, not always because they’d sound great together. The result is often a lot of fun – here are its seven instalments so far, ranked in order of greatness…

7. COLOR ME BRADD – ‘I WANNA SEX YOU UP’
Re-formed Oklahoma R&B crew Color Me Badd here meet behatted country man Brad Paisley, to perform the formers’ 1991 smooth chart-beater. In case you didn’t know already, country combined with R&B gets sickly fast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GTESNXPxi4

6. MORRIS DAY AND THE HAIM – ‘JUNGLE LOVE’
Funk lives on in this 1984 track by Minneapolis singer Morris Day, whose band The Time is joined by LA’s trio of singing sisters, Haim. It’s a very accomplished performance, but the fact that Haim are relegated to the role of backing singers is a bit disappointing – where’s the collaboration?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8BPTsqv00s

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5. REO SPEEDRAGONS – ‘ROLL WITH THE CHANGES’
Who but American rockers du jour, Imagine Dragons, to invigorate ageing American rockers REO Speedwagon and their 1978 classic ‘Roll With The Changes’? It’s not the most groundbreaking mashup, but at least they all seem to have fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFHhWuRX6JE

4. WEE-Z TOP – ‘SHARP DRESSED MAN’
You may well do a double take at the sight of Buddy Holly’s doppelgänger – Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo – playing alongside the Texan Gandalfs of rock, ZZ Top. The lyrics of 1983’s ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ don’t sound quite at home coming from Cuomo, but that’s the point of Mashup Mondays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dSslM1xvpw

3. KENNY & WARREN G – ‘REGULATE’
Is this a new dream team? Possibly so. World-famous saxophonist and general legend Kenny G’s been popping up all over the shop in recent years, in videos by Weezer and Katy Perry, but it’s his collaboration with LA rapper Warren G on his 1994 G-funk perennial, ‘Regulate’, that shines brightest.

2. JOSS STONE TEMPLE PILOTS – ‘INTERSTATE LOVE SONG’
It’s partially the deftness of touch on this mash-up name that makes it such a winning combination – but it’s also the fascinating genre disparity. Brit Joss Stone, 2003’s 16-year-old soul sensation, is paired with Californian rockers Stone Temple Pilots, who are now in the 30th year of their career. 1994’s ‘Interstate Love Song’ sheds the gritty vocals of former vocalist Scott Weiland in favour of Stone’s piercing soul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfYKWsEuz-0

1. ALOE BLACCSTREET – ‘NO DIGGITY’
At the start of this one it looks like resurrected R&B crew Blackstreet have forgotten to show up – but just past the minute-mark, they swagger onstage to pair their vocals with Aloe ‘I Need A Dollar’ Blacc’s. The artists fit well together, so in a sense this is similar to REO Speedragons’ performance, but Blacc and Blackstreet perform the latter’s 1996 anthem so well together that they’re streets ahead of competition for the top spot.

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