Music Collaborations

I'm a fan of music collaborations. No matter what the genre is, the result always turns out to be a treat for music lovers. I have three favorites.

1. Greenday/Oasis/Travis/Aerosmith/Eminem

The group fused Boulevard of Broken Dreams of Greenday and Wonderwall of Oasis. Although there was an issue between Greenday and Oasis, with Noel Gallagher of Oasis accusing Greenday of stealing the arrangement of Wonderwall for the collaboration, the result was great. By the way this form of collaboration is called "mashup" that combines music with the acapella of other artists.

This caught my ear because these are my favorite bands/artist. The arrangement and beat is artistically unique, which is the mark of timeless music. For me, the music should sound great before I take interest in the lyrics or the artist. Hey its rock, need I say more! You have to listen to this to understand what I mean.

2. U2/Mary J. Blige

U2 and May J. Blige sang U2's One in a fundraising concert for the benefit of the people affected by Hurricane Katrina. As always these artists, who are staunch advocates for social awareness, delivered a moving performance. Mary J. Blige's strong voice complemented Bono's soothing voice. U2's lyrics for One reflected mounting global issues (AIDS, poverty, natural calamities, civil strife) and the solution is love.

Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love is the higher law

3. Mariah Carey/Beyonce/ Mary J. Blige/ Rihanna/ Fergie/ Sheryl Crow/ Melissa Etheridge/ Natasha Bedingfield/ Miley Cyrus/ Leona Lewis/Carrie Underwood/ Keyshia Cole/LeAnn Rimes/Ashanti/Ciara

The group released Just Stand Up as the artists' contribution to the Stand Up to Cancer telethon to raise the people's awareness of cancer as well as raise funds and give moral support for those bravely fighting cancer patients who may not have money for treatment or social support. Two striking phrases are:

Everything will be alright, yeah
The heart is stronger than you think
Like it can go through anything
And even when you think it can’t it finds a way to still push on, though

If the mind keeps thinking you’ve had enough
But the heart keeps telling you don’t give up
Who are we to be questioning, wondering what is what, don’t give up
Through it all, just stand up

The song brought together artists from the pop, R&B, rock and country genres. The result is an invigorating, relaxing and uplifting music. I love it! This relieves stress!