A recording produced by combining sections of existing recorded tracks in new patterns and with new material. Remixes are found in many different types of popular music, but are most usually associated with club dance music. In their most basic form, remix records loop elements of an original dance track to create a longer version: usually the remix emphasizes percussive elements to suit club use. Most dance records released in the 1980s and 90s contained one or more remixes. They were released as 45 r.p.m. 12-inch rather than 7-inch singles: the extra playing time of the format suited both the extended remix versions and the needs of DJs looking to mix tracks in clubs.
A remix can also be a radical reworking of an original track, leaving little of the original recording. The most famous of such release is producer Andy Weatherall’s 1990 remix of Primal Scream’s I’m Losing More than I’ll Ever Have, which, when retitled Loaded, bucked the trend in the UK for dance remixes of indie records and led to the situation in the late 1990s when the majority of singles released in the UK, in genres from rock to jazz, came with at least one mundane remix on the B-side.
WILL FULFORD-JONES