The biggest 90s HipHop megamix had a daggy secret

Now THIS Megamix Monday will be hard to top. The Walk this Way Megamix soon became the unofficial anthem of Hitz’s Summer 93/94 broadcast.

And yet, ‘the one megamix to rule them all’ has a super-cheesy backstory very few people know.

Follow the link below to stream the famous Walk This Way Mastermix. You’ll learn a little bit about why it made such an impact, and discover the skeleton in the closet most would never have suspected.

Why the “Walk this Way Megamix” matters

Walk this Way was once called “hip-hop’s Trojan horse“. It was a song that introduced hip-hop music to many around the world. A gateway drug, if you will. Combining Run DMC and Aerosmith back in 1987 was a stroke of genius, and even the videoclip made clear the ‘tearing down of barriers’ between the two styles of music they represented.

Six years later, Hitz FM’s Myf Webster (music director, news director, committee member and treasurer at various times) was visiting a local milkbar in Melbourne’s Eastern suburbs. There – for sale – despite the “professional DJs only” labels… were the hottest imported DJ-only CDs. Yep, grab a litre of milk, a loaf of bread, and the latest Hot Tracks, Direct Hit or Mastermix. Myf and Nick Karlas (Hitz co-founder, promotions director) would buy quite a few of them in the years that followed – including Mastermix volume 88.

The CD cover of Mastermix volume 88. Little did we know what track 2 would contain.

And one awesome CD

This CD contained a bunch of great megamixes, including Bless this House which starts at a very cruisey 94BPM then rockets off to 136BPM. And then there’s the Walk this Way ‘Boom Boom Bootley Mix’. A medley that used Walk this Way as a framework, then smoothly mixed every big hiphop song of 1992/1993 into 5 minutes and 17 seconds of dancefloor dynamite.

Songs featured include O.P.P., Boom Shake the Room, Rump Shaker, Jump (Kriss Kross), Jump Around, Hip Hop Hooray… the list goes on. I can still remember the first time I heard this megamix – and it had an equally strong effect on Hitz FM listeners. After thousands of votes were counted for the end-of-broadcast ‘Top 89’ – it smashed its way into the number 4 position.

The back cover of the Mastermix 88 CD.
Little did we know what we’d hear on track 2.

But only ONE Walk this Way Megamix

Hitz FM had a single copy of the CD – remember this was back in the days before CD burners and mp3s. So that disc was very carefully guarded. I think the only two times it was allowed outside the station in 3 months was (a) For a single nightclub event and (b) For the staff cruise on the Yarra river.

And now, it’s time to press play and unleash a true classic.

Now, the skelton in the closet

Finally, as promised it’s time to reveal the rather daggy ancestry of this megamix. It was produced by the very talented Andy Pickles – who’s worked in the field for many years. These days he’s the chairman of the entire Mastermix company. But back in the late 80s, he was also one of the brains behind a rather different megamix; Jive Bunny’s Swing the Mood.

This was one of the first megamixes to ever have big chart success. The difference to most though was the age of the songs. They were all from the very early era of Rock n Roll.. the 1950s (!) with tracks by Elvis, Little Richard and Bill Haley. Strangely, despite the age of the songs, it was apparently a hit in British clubs, so a cutdown radio edit was made, and chart success followed.

So now, for the one and only time on this blog – here’s Jive Bunny.




So, got any favourite megamixes?
(Hopefully not one featuring a man in a rabbit suit)


Hit me up in the comments…

Would your friends enjoy this post? Every share helps.

Author: Gabe McGrath

Gabe McGrath is a radio creative and freelance writer. He helped set up 89.9 Hitz FM Melbourne in the 90s. This youth radio station caused a sensation and 30 years later many a 90s kid will smile when 'Hitz' is mentioned. Gabe is working on a book about that era and now blogs about Hitz Melbourne. GabeMcGrath.com includes tonnes of streaming audio recordings, photos, stories and behind-the-scenes info.

2 thoughts on “The biggest 90s HipHop megamix had a daggy secret”

  1. Found this blog by accident, I was going through my Mastermix vinyl and started googling.

    Did you know there was a ‘Downunder’ version of this mix? – might have caused some trouble at the time. 😉

    Also if you got those CDs from Frankston, they may have come from a well-known DJ who was importing and selling remix services out the boot of his car with John Casa (ex Central Station and R&B pioneer RIP).
    In 1993 John had a store in Dandenong which stocked lots of the remix services, including Mastermix.

    To local Hip hop DJs the Walk This Way medley was a bit meh (being cheesy commercial), but certainly one to have for open format parties. I still have the vinyl, and when you guys started playing it on Hitz it def got popular.

    1. Jarrod, great to hear from you. Always fascinating to hear from DJs who were working in Melbourne back in the day.

      Oh – and I’m jealous of your Mastermix collection!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *