Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers
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Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers were an 80's novelty pop music act who were the third band to have their first three releases go to number one on the UK singles chart, a feat they achieved between July and December 1989. The previous bands to do so were Gerry & the Pacemakers and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. They also went to number one in several other countries, but not the United States.
Jive Bunny's three number ones were "Swing the Mood", "That's What I Like" and "Let's Party". All three songs used sampling and synthesisers to combine pop music from the early rock and roll era together into a medley. The results were somewhat like the earlier Stars on 45, who actually hired "sound-alike" singers and musicians to recreate the music from scratch.
Each song used a sampled instrumental theme to join the songs together, in much the same way as dance music megamixes. "Swing the Mood" used Glenn Miller's famous "In The Mood" (a recording dating back to 1939). "Swing the Mood" was no. 1 for 5 weeks on the UK singles chart in 1989. It also included samples from the following songs:
- Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around The Clock"
- "Rock-a-Beatin'-Boogie" composed by Bill Haley
- The Everly Brothers' "Wake Up Little Susie"
- Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog"
- Bill Haley & His Comets' "Shake, Rattle and Roll"
- Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up"
- "Jailhouse Rock"
- Danny & The Juniors' "At The Hop"
- Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti"
"That's What I Like" featured the theme music from the television police drama Hawaii Five-O, while "Let's Party" used "March of the Mods" (also known as the Finnjenka Dance).
Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers were in reality a father and son DJ team from Hetton in North Yorkshire. They have continued to work under the name, but with less chart success.
The original idea was from Les Hemstock on the DJ-only Mastermix DJ service. Andy Pickles (the son) then become the front man largely on his own. John Pickles (the father) was never actually in the band, but the owner of the label and effectively the manager.
Andy Pickles later went on to found hard house record label Tidy Trax with fellow DJ Amadeus Mozart.
