Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” samples and interpolates “Genius of Love” by the Talking Heads side project Tom Tom Club, so there was already some pop-indie crossover going on with it. Then Carey overruled her record label’s objections to get Wu-Tang Clan’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard on the remix. You can see why they were nervous: O.D.B.’s whole style is the antithesis of Mariah’s glossy brand. But that combination of rough and smooth is exactly why this works so well, with O.D.B. rapping (and sometimes just rasping) all over Carey’s vocal acrobatics. The foundational text of the rap-R&B mashup.
1. “Where the Wild Roses Grow” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Kylie Minogue
Maybe a Kylie-Nick Cave doesn’t seem so outlandish now, given they’re both hallowed icons in their respective corners of pop music—and both Australian. But back in 1995, Kylie Minogue was at the centre of commercial pop, while Nick Cave and his band were still thought of as among rock’s wild men. “Where the Wild Roses Grow” is, after all, from Murder Ballads, a whole album dedicated to songs about death. Minogue apparently came on board as soon as she heard the song, and she fits it like a glove, delivering the sultry female side of a duet in which a man kills his lover by a river. It was the Bad Seeds’ biggest hit to date, and Minogue has often performed it live with Cave, including during her 2019 Glastonbury set.