nICK HORNBY - 31 SONGS

Writer Nick Hornby, known for the novels High Fidelity and About A Boy, wrote the book 31 Songs in 2003. He picks 31 one of his favourite songs to write about. In the midst of the bootlegging hype he chose 'No Fun/Push It', as featured on the 2 Many DJ's album, as the 29th song that changed his life.

here's the excerpt from the book:

...Meanwhile the bootleg phenomenon, whereby DJs slice a couple of songs lengthways and lay one on top of the other, begins to look like the most cheerfully nihilistic movement since punk - although as even punks had the sweetly old-fashioned urge to create their own music, you could argue that they only paid lip-service to the ideals of nihilism.

People like Soulwax and the Freelance Hellraiser (who fused, with unpredictable brilliant results, Christina Aguilera and The Strokes) are telling us that it's finished; they're using the scraps we hav left for firewood, so that we have something to huddle round while the hell of the modern musical world freezes over.

I'm not sure I agree with them, but Soulwax' Too Many DJs is compulsive listening anyway, and the decision to pair up Salt 'n Peppa's energy with The Stooges' Ferocity was especially smart, a music fan's dream: squashing hip hop onto garage punk is like those arguments boys used to have about what would would happen if Spider-man and Superman teamed up.

If you think about it, bootlegging is more democratic than punk. Yes, we could all go out, steal a guitar and learn our three chords, but most of us would still have sounded more like Ed Banger and The Nosebleed than The Clash; this way allows those of us who have no talent but love our music nevertheless to create something that sounds great. All you need is software, a pair of ears, and great taste: finally, the true genius that is fandom has been recognized.