Released Late 2004 Producer(s) Party Ben | Length 4:34 | |
Genre Mashup, alternative rock, britpop, hard rock, rap rock Writer(s) Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool, Noel Gallagher, Fran Healy, Marshall Mathers, Jeff Bass, Luis Resto, Steven Tyler | ||
"Boulevard of Broken Songs" (also known as "Wonderwall of Broken Songs" or "Wonderwall of Broken Dreams") is a popular mash-up mixed by San Francisco, California, DJ and producer Party Ben in late 2004. The mix consisted of elements from Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Oasis's "Wonderwall", Travis's "Writing to Reach You", and Eminem's "Sing for the Moment", which itself samples Aerosmith's "Dream On". "Sing for the Moment" was used solely because Party Ben did not have "Dream On" on hand and was on deadline for his "Sixx Mixx" radio show. Later versions (see below) used Aerosmith's original. This song is also a tribute to the people who lost their lives in the September 11 attacks.
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Appearances in other media
The mash-up first appeared as the finale of Party Ben's Sixx Mixx radio show on LIVE 105 on Friday, October 1, 2004. It was posted as a standalone mp3 on his website a few days later. The track began receiving radio airplay and was eventually aired on hundreds of radio stations worldwide, despite having no official release. It eventually landed on many stations' lists of the most played tracks of 2004 and 2005. The mash-up was a popularly downloaded track on the Internet and received moderate critical applause. Canada's Music Critics Poll proclaimed it the #3 download of 2004.
A new version of the mash-up was later created with the original of Aerosmith's "Dream On" instead of "Sing for the Moment" and was included on "Best Mashups in the World Ever Are from San Francisco". A third version with the Aerosmith ending and a sample of Missy Elliott was included on the American Edit, a full-length mash-up album of American Idiot, produced by Party Ben and Team9 under the name "Dean Gray".