Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo as Gnarles Barkely 

The Beatles catalog is one of the most sought after prizes within the music biz. In recent years, the catalog garnered some attention after Michael Jackson outbid Paul McCartney for the rights to most of the songs. After Jackson went through his various legal issues, a large chunk of the catalog was sold to Sony to keep Jackson from going into the red...

Unquestionably one of the most important musical acts of all time, The Beatles’ music is highly prized and lots of people want to get their hands on it, but not to sell. Any and all Beatles’ tunes have earned a notorious reputation for being nearly unobtainable for current musicians to sample, mash, tweak, borrow, mix or use in any way. Sure, everything has a price, and so does anything on the catalog. The problem is, the cost of using any of the tunes has always been too high to warrant. Even a respectable artist with a sizeable following can’t find a way to monetarily make using Beatles’ songs work for them. The hip hop community, in particular, has been trying to get their hands on the catalog and have struck out (for the most part).

In 2004, one aspiring DJ/producer found a way to use Beatles songs for his gain: illegally. Brian Burton, better known as Danger Mouse, mashed tracks from The Beatles’ White Album with every track from Jay-Z’s Black Album. The project was named The Grey Album, and it was HUGE. Danger Mouse sold homemade copies of the work at shows, on the streets, at parties, etc. It was limited to only 3,000 copies.

Underground artists can usually get away with this sort of thing, because label bigwigs won’t give them the time of day. However, for Danger Mouse, The Grey Album ended up becoming a hip hop phenomenon. The album got so much attention that it ended up being positively reviewed in The New Yorker, and was named “Album Of The Year” in Entertainment Weekly; record execs noticed. Slapped with a cease and desist order, Danger Mouse was forced to abandon any future Grey Album production or sales. But the album lived on. 3,000 (now very valuable) original copies still existed, and the album was very easy to download for free, and still is.

After tons of publicity, Danger Mouse became a name enshrouded with industry buzz. Today, he is one of most desired producers out there, but has been known to have fairly picky tastes in who he works with. Danger Mouse typically only works with artists that he can relate to on an artistic level, if he doesn’t like the artist, he doesn’t work with them. To date, he has produced albums for: Gorillaz, Sparklehorse, and The Rapture. He has also formed new groups with Cee-Lo and MF Doom; Gnarls Barkley and Dangerdoom, respectively.

Danger Mouse’s upcoming project involves alternative/blues heavyweights, The Black Keys. The album was originally supposed to be a collaboration between Danger Mouse, The Black Keys, and (believe it or not) Ike Turner. When Turner passed away, the project went with him. So, Danger Mouse and the Keys regrouped, and decided to just make a Danger Mouse produced Black Keys’ album, Attack and Release. The album is due out this spring.

Danger Mouse stole his way into today’s musical elite, and crime has paid. Based on the reception of his past work and the anticipation of his future projects, he doesn’t seem to be reaching for a lower rung on his ladder of success. Sure, it’s kind of corny, and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but get used to his name…you’ll hear a lot more of it.

Check out some Danger Mouse projects HERE.

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