Boulevard of Broken Songs

Lore & Background

Party Ben created the mash-up for his Sixx Mixx radio show on LIVE 105, debuting it on October 1, 2004. He used Eminem's Sing for the Moment because he did not have Aerosmith's Dream On on hand and was on deadline. The track was posted as a standalone mp3 on his website a few days later and began receiving radio airplay, eventually airing on hundreds of stations worldwide. It landed on many stations' lists of the most-played tracks of 2004 and 2005.

A later version replaced Sing for the Moment with Dream On and appeared on the compilation album The Best Mashups in the World Ever Are from San Francisco. A third version, featuring Dream On and vocals by Missy Elliott from a remix of Madonna's American Life, was included on American Edit, a full-length mash-up album of Green Day's American Idiot produced by Party Ben and Team9 under the name Dean Gray.

Party Ben reported reaching an agreement with record label executives such that all radio plays of the mash-up counted as plays of the original Green Day song, leading to that song charting a second time.

Reader's Guide

Boulevard of Broken Songs is significant as an early viral mash-up that demonstrated the potential for unauthorized remixes to achieve massive radio play without an official release. Its success highlighted the blurred lines between original and derivative works in the digital age. The track's ability to chart the original Green Day song a second time through a counting agreement with label executives shows how mash-ups could impact commercial metrics. Vice noted its beauty lies in its universality, and it is remembered as a pioneering example of internet-driven music sharing. The multiple versions—including one with Missy Elliott—show the evolving nature of the mash-up as a creative form. Its inclusion on compilation albums and its airplay on hundreds of stations worldwide underscore its lasting influence on the mash-up genre and on how radio and labels adapted to user-generated content.

Did You Know?

• The mash-up was first aired on Party Ben's Sixx Mixx radio show on LIVE 105 on October 1, 2004.
• Party Ben reached an agreement with record label executives so that radio plays of the mash-up counted as plays of the original Green Day song, causing it to chart a second time.