Awesome Music

“Girls with blue whiskers tied up with noodles… These are a few of my favorite things.” Sound collage artists Negativland’s deranged edit of My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music dates back a decade but was too hilarious to pass up. Their take on There’s No Business Like Show Business is similarly bonkers.

Despite having come out more than 20 years ago, we still get chills every time the theme music from Halo starts playing on our Xbox Series X. But does it sound as good without the violins and choir? Beyond The Guitar proves that the track is still spectacular even stripped down on solo acoustic guitar.

Musician and visual artist VJFader shows off a trippy 3D universe he created using Unreal Engine 5 and Mandelbulbs produced by Machina Fractals: Essence. The otherworldly astronomical forms were generated in real-time, and the lighting changes with the music.

When you think of pop music, it’s usually pretty upbeat stuff, but back in the 1960s, a strange trend emerged – pop songs about tragic accidents and death. Yesterday’s Papers offers an intriguing look back at this unusual fad and some of most popular “splatter platters”. It’s worth watching for Wayne Cochran’s epic hair helmet alone.

Two bands we’d never picture on a double-bill would be Slipknot and Coldplay. But that didn’t stop musical mashup master Bill McClintock from pairing the unlikely groups, combining Viva la Vida and Psychosocial into a schizophrenic chant.

The recently upgraded Floppotron 3.0 is here to show off just how much better it sounds now that it has more than 500 floppy drives at its core. The precision-orchestrated machines channel Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon with aplomb with a cover of the 1984 track I Want to Break Free.

After an attempt to sell jars of candied eggplant, a group of grandmas from the Greek isle of Crete decide it’s time to market to a broader audience. So they put their heads together and made a rap video about living the eggplant (aka aubergine) life. Watch with captions on.

During the 2022 Glastonbury Festival, Jack White performed one of his biggest hits, and blew the roof off of the place – despite it being an outdoor event. The White Stripes’ 2003 classic Seven Nation Army sounds as killer as ever, and is the ultimate crowd-pleaser.

Thanks to its prominent placement in the storyline of Stranger Things 4, the Kate Bush song Running up That Hill (A Deal with God) is enjoying a major comeback. Korean group Maytree unleashed their vocal talents with this a cappella version that had us feeling those emotions from the Dear Billy episode all over again.

The Ramones most definitely were not old-fashioned. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get an old-fashioned version of one of their songs. Musician Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq. and his voluminous beard are here to entertain us with a splendid ukulele cover of 1977 track Sheena Is a Punk Rocker.

With its strange textures and haunting lyrics and vocals, Radiohead’s OK Computer is a classic. But you’ve never heard it like this. Shonkywonkydonkey re-recorded the entire album with nary a musical instrument, replicating every sound with his voice. It quickly escalates from silly to awesome.

Remember Freddie Gredde, the guy behind those classic TV theme song and Cartoon medleys? Well he’s back with a brand new medley, a lovely 23-song collection from The Beatles, accompanied by a delightful animation he created himself – with a little help from his friend Kang Seunghyun.

Eminem achieved most of his popularity in the early 21st century. But what if he started making hits back in medieval times? Beedle The Bardcore has the answer with this hour-long, 13th-century performance of Slim Shady’s greatest hits including Lose Yourself, Without Me, Stan, Smack That, and Ass Like That.

Composer Joe Hisaishi’s score from Howl’s Moving Castle is beautiful and emotive. While it sounds great on piano and violin, we’re absolutely smitten with this ethereal cover version of the track Merry Go Round of Life, performed by Grégoire Blanc on the theremin and Anna and Arek of GlassDuo on the glass harp.

A bass guitar normally has four, five, or six strings. Musician Davie504 shows how having multiple strings is overrated by performing an impressive solo with just a single string at the center of his bass. Now Davie wants to know if he should perform with a 2-string or 69-string bass next.

Radiohead is one of our favorite bands of all time. While some of their music can be a bit esoteric, they’ve produced an equal number of sharp and memorable guitar-driven melodies. Guitarist Bloxsy claims he’s no Radiohead expert, but we think he sells himself short with this excellent medley of classic riffs.

Turn up your speakers to 11 and scream at the top of your lungs to this re-upload of Leo Moracchioli’s excellent 2016 metal cover version of The Cranberries’ classic Zombie. It’s loud, intense, and apropos of the blood-boiling things going on in the world at the moment.

From 2010 to 2017, The Onion’s A.V. Club invited musicians to cover songs from a list of diminishing choices as the season went on. This amazing collection vanished a few years back, but has resurfaced on the YouTube channel Alvin Untercover. Bands include TMBG, GWAR, Punch Brothers, and more. Watch ’em before they’re gone again!

This documentary takes us inside the world of one of the most outrageous acts ever, GWAR. Along with interviews with the band’s members, you’ll hear how the masters of trash metal have influenced everyone from Weird Al to Bam Margera, and the hard work that goes into their fluid-soaked stage shows. Coming to Shudder on 7.21.22.

Classical music and opera fans will recognize this tune as the Overture from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Eddie Murphy fans remember it as the opening music from Trading Places. But wherever you know this masterful composition from, you’ll be wowed by this 4-part acoustic guitar cover by 40 Fingers.

(PG-13: Language) Whether you’re a photographer, writer, musician, or in any other creative field, you’ve probably been approached by someone who wants your work for free in exchange for “exposure.” Laura Jane Barnes of Woah Dude has clearly had this degrading experience, and wrote a little song about it.

Some of the spiciest peppers in the world come from India, so it’s only natural that the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers would fit right in. Musician Andre Antunes shows how that works by adding some Flea-inspired bass rhythms to a famous red carpet improv by Jalandhariye vocalists the Nooran Sisters.

Pianos must be able to play hundreds of thousands or possibly millions of notes during their lifetimes. This fascinating video shows how one piano manufacturer tests their mechanisms while loosening up any stiff parts before delivery. The machine has 88 “fingers” that each strike a key in rapid succession.

Just when we finally purged Los Del Río’s mind-numbing hit Macarena from the furthest recesses of our brains, remixer Bill McClintock had to go and put it right back in. Only this time, it’s been combined with the Disturbed track Stupify. Yep, this is definitely another disturbing creation.

Musician Seb Skelly turns The Human League’s 1981 new wave hit Don’t You Want Me? into a jazz tune, performing all five parts of his arrangement for brass quintet. We sort of miss the synthesizers, but Seb’s version is pretty great too.

The last time we checked in with German oompah band The Heimatdamisch, they were playing G N’ R’s Sweet Child ‘O Mine. This time, they turned the AC/DC track Highway to Hell into a festive polka, but not before trying to convince us that it was a regular rock cover.