The Freelance Hairdresser
The Freelance Hairdresser is part of the "novelty" side of bootlegging, being an alter ego of [...] pop pioneer Soundhog. The name was chosen as a parody of the more "credible" bootleg artist The Freelance Hellraiser.
Probably 'his' most famous creation is "Marshall's Been Snookered" which featured a vocal by rapper Eminem over a ragtime tune used by the BBC as the theme for its "Pot Black" snooker programme ("Black and White Rag" by Winifred Atwell). Although meant as a joke, the track attracted a lot of attention, including a glowing review in The Village Voice. Later this 'theme' was followed up by "Marshall's Been Done To Death" using various UK TV themes segued together as a backing track. Both "Marshall" tracks received major exposure in the summer of 2002 on the Chris Moyles afternoon show on BBC Radio 1, although never credited, and led to a week long 'contest' in which listeners were invited to create their own tracks along the same lines.
Subsequent 'releases' have been very sporadic, but include a merging of Public Enemy and Herb Alpert, Dizzee Rascal and Chas & Dave, Michael Jackson and 10cc, and Napalm Death versus Electric Six (probably the shortest 'mash up' ever - clocking in at around half a second). The most popular of recent works was undoubtedly the lop-sided hip-hop styled reworking of the track "Machadaynu" by Tony Rudd (which in reality is a spoof song from the BBC television series Look Around You, sung by actor Kevin Eldon).