I feel very very torn about Girl Talk. I've listened to "Pure Magic" from Bone Hard Zaggin' about a billion times and I still can't decide what I actually think about the song as a piece of art. I'm of two minds about it: (1) It's a good song — albeit a mashup or (2) It's a mashup — albeit of lots of good songs. The former is a testament to the skills of Girl Talk as a DJ and postmodern artist. The latter speaks to the quality of the songs that build the piece rather than the masher himself.

I appreciate a good DJ as much as the next person, but I just can't get a handle on whether I listen to the song every time it comes up because I like hearing it or I just really like trying to identify all the snippets of songs contained therein, like a bit of audio MTV-style fast edits for my attention-span deficient brain. I mean, what exactly sets Girl Talk apart from the likes of Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers, Stars on 45, or heck, even a good polka mega mix by Weird Al. That is where my moral dilemma begins: in this postmodern world we live in (well, I suppose we're probably not in a postmodern world anymore, more like post-postmodern, how about neomodern?) songs like "Pure Magic" do what all good artist should: take existing material, filter it through their experience, and create an entirely new piece of art from the detritus of the past. Or maybe, this pastische is just a glorified three-and-a-half version of an Audio Bonus. I have no idea, but I'll probably still listen to it over and over until I figure this one out.