Awesome Music

Andre Antunes takes a momentary break from riffing on viral videos to perform a new arrangement of the Metallica track Master of Puppets as if it was performed by Muse. He does an amazing job capturing the nuances of the arena rock masters while creating an awesome new version of a classic metal track.

The Rockin’ 1000 assembled once again for a concert in Paris, France. This time, the biggest rock band on Earth got together to perform a cover of the 1981 Queen and David Bowie track Under Pressure. The group is always recruiting, and is currently looking for musicians to play their first gig in Brazil.

Van Halen and Tesla were both rocking out stadiums in the 1980s. The latter even opened for David Lee Roth at one point. Franzoli Electronics brought VH and Tesla together for a brief performance, but in this case, we’re talking about a trio of high-voltage tesla coils playing some of Eddie Van Halen’s epic guitar riffs.

We’ve heard some pretty fantastic performances on the marimba over the years, but these guys from Zimbabwe’s Hillcrest College Marimba Band have got way more flair. Here’s a video of the spirited performance that won them the 2017 Marimba Cup Challenge. Here’s footage from another one of their shows.

The Offspring’s Come Out and Play is one of the best-known pop-punk tracks of the 1990s. We had no idea it would work so well as a Klezmer band tune. That’s Robyn Adele Anderson on lead vocals, Matt Dallow on Accordion, Tom Jorgensen on Drums, Georgia Weber on Bass, Ben Golder-Novick on Clarinet, and Tiffany Weiss on Violin.

Guitarist Marcin Patrzalek is back with another fantastic acoustic performance. His arrangement of Für Elise might not be the most traditional take on the familiar tune, but it’s the most dynamic and vibrant version of the Beethoven classic that we’ve ever heard.

Heavy metal musician Leo Moracchioli busts out the banjo and euphonium for this oompah-rock cover version of Mungo Jerry’s classic skiffle track In the Summertime. The only thing Leo neglected to do was grow out some epic sideburns like Mungo lead singer Ray Dorset wore.

Rap duo Joey Valence and Brae have a sound much like the Beastie Boys. But it’s their intentionally lo-fi music video that got our attention. Their goal was simple – shoot it from the worst camera angles. It’s mostly a 360º camera view that they didn’t convert to VR. They took a similar approach for Watch Yo Step. (Thanks, Rob!)

Vocalists Robyn Adele Anderson and Anthony Vincent of Ten Second Songs fame teamed up to perform this twangy bluegrass cover of the Guns N’ Roses track Sweet Child O’ Mine. Get out your dew rags and your best square dancin’ outfit for a good old time.

Remix artist William Maranci created this musical mashup which uses the catchy music from The Home Depot commercials as its hook. The track incorporates diverse sound bites like Funky Cold Medina, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, Work Bitch, and Here in My Garage. From William’s new album The Flamingo Café.

Here’s another cool AI-generated video. Like SolarProphet did before, Daara used Midjourney to create a sequence of haunting and dystopian images based on the lyrics to the Styx classic, Renegade. Oh mama, I’m in fear for my life from the long arm of Cyberdyne Systems.

(Spoilers) Now that Better Call Saul is over, we’re thinking about rewatching both it and Breaking Bad from start to finish. Space Ponder re-edited Jimmy and Kim’s final moments with the same song that played at the end of Felina, Badfinger’s Baby Blue, and it works surprisingly well.

Thanks in large part to its interpolation of The Clash’s Straight to Hell, the track Paper Planes has one of the catchiest hooks ever. But M.I.A’s additions make it even better. The Unusual Suspect assembled 210 movie clips to make it appear look like they’re singing the song. The gunfire from Pulp Fiction is most effective.

During their 28 years together, Daft Punk used lots of synthesizers and electronic equipment to make their music. But as far as we recall, tesla coils were not in their arsenal. Thankfully, we have Franzoli Electronics, who used his high-voltage noise-makers to play an awesome cover version of Around the World.

The Charlie Daniels Band track The Devil Went Down to Georgia is one of the greatest country rock jams of all time. Guitarist Eric Calderone pays tribute to the 1979 classic with a powerful heavy metal version of the song about a fiddle-playing Satan looking for some souls to steal… minus the fiddle.

As we’ve seen in recent videos, AI technology is getting very good at creating art. SolarProphet has been using the AI tech Midjourney to create images based on song lyrics and posted this great sequence of digital art based on the ELO classic Mr. Blue Sky. Not every image lines up perfectly, but it’s still really well done.

Irish artist Shane Gillen is a talented illustrator with a unique drawing style. But while he was creating an image of Vecna from Stranger Things 4, the creepy villain paid him a visit from the Upside Down. At least he didn’t snap Shane’s bones.

With songs like In Bloom, Polly, and About a Girl to their credit, Nirvana created some of the most memorable and influential music of the 1990s. Vermilion performed dozens of the band’s guitar riffs written by the late Kurt Cobain. They’re not the most complicated musical sequences, but damn they’re still brilliant.

(PG-13: Language) SUAT is known for performing his sets on a chest-mounted portable DJ rig, which lets him take and make music wherever he goes. Recently, he took to the skies for some tandem paragliding over the Austrian Alps. After a shaky start, he cranked out some party jams on his digital turntables.

The guys from Signal Snowboards teamed up with Ernest Packaging to create a custom electric guitar and drum kit made from cardboard. The Cardboard Sessions hands those instruments over to talented musicians to perform in impromptu jam sessions. Though they didn’t manage to make a cardboard brass section.

After entertaining us with her covers of the DuckTales and Knight Rider themes, cellist Samara Ginsberg is back with something a bit more ominous. Her 8-part take on Bernard Herrmann’s Prelude from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho will definitely have you looking over your shoulder the next time you take a shower.

Musician Steve Cruickshank likes to take classic songs and change them up a bit by replacing the original harmonies with their mirror image. The resulting music is at once familiar and pleasant to the ear but also completely different from what we’re used to. Let’s kick the playlist off with his version of The Sound of Silence.

1980s and 1990s music fans will remember MTV’s 120 Minutes as the go-to show for the latest in alternative music. Thanks to fan Chris Reynolds, there’s now a YouTube playlist featuring the more than 2500 music videos that ran on the show between 1986 and 2003. We’re assuming he had a little help from this website.