Always On Beat

There is an interesting phenomenon that my family and I have noticed. It seems that video of (predominantly) black people dancing always seems to go with the beat of whatever song that is being listened to at any given time. My sister routinely listens to the radio on her walkman as she watches music videos with the sound turned off. Every so often, she'll be watching a music video with dancing in it and she'll remark at how the dancers are on beat to the music she's listening to. And no...she is not listening to the same song that is in the music video.

I thought it was just a freak occurrence, kind of like how The Wizard of Oz syncs up perfectly with Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd. However, this has happened more than once. In fact, earlier today, both my mom and my sister experienced the "Always On Beat" phenomenon while watching videos and listening to different songs. It funny how the footage can vary from the simple dance steps in Slum Village's "Selfish" video to the complex dance steps of You Got Served (even the white group in the movie synced to alternate music).

This reminds me of a visual version of a mix. I was listening to the midday mix on Power 92 and they put the lyrics of Mario's "Let Me Love You" to the beat of The Game's "How We Do." Later on in the mix, they even put Marvin Gaye's vocals from his classic "Sexual Healing" to the beat of Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot." I also can't help but think of the myriad of remixes of Jay-Z's The Black Album, from Danger Mouse's The Grey Album to the Linkin Park collaboration Collision Course.

Maybe there is something to this phenomenon. So, I suggest you give it a try. Turn on BET, a MTV digital channel, MTV2, or even MTV (if you're lucky) and look for a video with dancing. Once you find one, listen to a song on your stereo or your headphones and see if you can make the two sync up. Maybe you'll discover some interesting combinations. I'm going to try it again myself and I'll try to remember what I discover this time.