The best of YouTube: #28
MusicRadar's weekly batch of the best music video clips online
Every Friday, the MusicRadar team submits its own personal favourite music videos and clips on the net.
Some clips we really like, others are simply comedy classics or oddly intriguing. But all are worth watching. This week's selection has a Rick Rubin flavour - the producer has just finished working with Metallica on stunning new album Death Magnetic and we've been covering the release over 'Metallica Week', so expect plenty of them, too.
Tom Porter's choices
Jay-Z does 99 Problems at Glastonbury Festival
Rick Rubin's 2003 collaboration with Jay-Z was his first hip-hop production credit in years. 99 Problems was famously recreated at this year's Glastonbury Festival by throwing in the riff from AC/DC's Back In Black which, perhaps surprisingly, was not one of Rubin's creations. He did produce 1995's Ballbreaker, though… TP
Chocolate Salty Balls (PS I Love You) by Chef (Isaac Hayes) live
Yes, Rubin produced Chef Aid: The South Park Album in its entirety. This live performance by the late great Isaac Hayes is perfect because he's reading the lyrics from a piece of paper. TP
Joe Bosso's choices
The Cult - Love Removal Machine
Years before he told Metallica to get with the freakin' program already, Rick Rubin made singer Ian Astbury bag the psychadelic mumbo jumbo and got Billy Duffy to stop acting like a third-rate Edge. The result was the best AC/DC record AC/DC never made. This track kicks a donkey's ass six ways to Sunday. The only drawback is the solo, which sounds as if Duffy played it while being attacked by a bear. JB
Beatallica - A Garage Dayz Nite
Probably the most ingenious "cover" band I've ever heard, Beatallica is a riotous mash-up group that combines the songs of The Beatles and Metallica. The results are both rocking and hilarious. Javms Lennfield, Grg Hammetson, Kliff McBurtney and Ringo Larz perform songs with titles such Leper Madonna, Blackened in the USSR, Hey Dude, And Justice For All My Loving and this delightful cut. JB
Mike Goldsmith's choices
The Stupids - Elephant Man
For an indie nerd like me, Metallica were part of the whole skate/thrash metal invasion that took over the UK and saw Kirk and the boys on the cover of the NME (21st March 1987, for anyone watching). It lead to PWEI fans buying Megadeth albums, grown men falling off skateboards outside Our Price and plenty overusage of the word 'dude'. No-one did this better than the Stupids - Ipswich skatepunks shouting songs about Twinkies and - as this clip from the Boss Tuneage all-dayer last July shows - now miraculously reformed after 20 years. Anyone for a Hard-Ons retrospective? Suit yerself. MG
Boris - Statement
But if Metallica Week is all about celebrating The Rock, then this journo's current choice from Those Bands Who Understand The Rock are the wonderful, wonderful Boris. Twin-necked Ibanezes, record labels by the name of Fangsanalsatan, much horn throwing, hot girl guitarist (the lovely Wata), mates with Sunn O))), cute pisstake of Nick Drake… a totally epic band who veer from metalgaze drones to feedback psych to horrorcore Argento soundscapes to… I've seen 'em loads and got a different set each time. You should and will. MG
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Michael Leonard's choices
Rodrigo Y Gabriella cover Metallica's Orion
We've featured Rodrigo Y Gabriela before covering Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, and they deliver an equally impressive interpretation of Metallica's Orion here.
Learn more with MusicRadar about their Latin-style arpeggios, how to build picking speed, rhythm and right-hand techniques. ML
Flavor Flav is bonkers
Rick Rubin might the uber-producer of choice these days, but back in the '80s he was co-founder of legendary rap label Def Jam. No music here, but backstage footage of the Def Jam UK tour in 1987. And Public Enemy DJ Terminator X ("He speaks with his hands") actually talks!
I once met Flav. The only words he said to me were: "Yeaa boooooy… BOING!" Thankfully, the Chuck D interview that followed was more erudite. ML
Ben Rogerson's choices
Remarkably, Kula Shaker used to be popular
Just to prove that not everything Mr Rubin touches turns to gold, I thought I'd draw your attention to a couple of songs you might not have known he produced. First up, Kula Shaker's Sound Of Drums, a vile sub-Doors effort from 1998's Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts (at least he wasn't responsible for that horrible album title). BR
Sweet Child O'Why?
Secondly, we have Sheryl Crow's wholly unnecessary cover of a Guns N' Roses classic. If Rick's desk has an auto-pilot setting, I'm betting that it was engaged when this was recorded. BR
Megan Schaffer's choices
Daft Punk Hands
This video takes about fifty seconds to get going, but it's definitely worth a watch. Someone with too much time on their hands has decided to put them to good use, creating this inspired mime to the tune of Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger. MS
Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better
We revealed this week the news of Radiohead's new song Super Collider in honour of the Big Bang experiment, and as the world did not in fact end, why not check out the band's cover of Carly Simon's Nobody Does it Better (well, except that Radiohead definitely do do it better!) MS
Chris Vinnicombe's choices
Johnny Cash - In My Life
With the omnipotence of all things Metallica this week, here's a few of Death Magnetic producer Rick Rubin's best cuts. Everybody has heard Johnny Cash's utterly heartbreaking version of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt, but American IV: The Man Comes Around also features this poignant take on Lennon's Rubber Soul classic.
Changing the mood somewhat, Rubin shared production credits with Andy Wallace on Slayer's 1990 album Seasons In The Abyss. 18 years on, Dead Skin Mask - inspired by grave-robbing serial killer Ed Gein - is still the creepiest song of all time.
Rage Against The Machine's Renegades saw Rubin capture the band at their filthy, funky best. Check out their ridiculously good reworking of Bob Dylan's Maggie's Farm.
Finally, the drum sound on System Of A Down's Toxicity might just be our favourite bit of Rubin's work from a sonic standpoint. Although, given his 'big picture' take on what a record producer's role actually is, it's debatable how much input the bearded guru would have had on the actual mechanics of getting the sounds on tape. Hmmm… CV
Chris Wickett's choices
Pink Floyd are "too loud" - BBC performance and interview from 1967
Despite what you might have seen on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, TV show hosts aren't contractually obliged to love the music of their guests. Take Hans Keller, for example. Here's an amazing video of Pink Floyd performing Astronomy Domine on the BBC, followed by a condescending interview from the Austrian musicologist with Syd and Roger. The highlight for me is Keller's look to camera at 5:54 - priceless. CW
"Well… it's one louder, isn't it?"
If he thinks Pink Floyd were too loud then the aforementioned Hans Keller probably wouldn't be a fan of Spinal Tap either - certainly not with these amps in their arsenal. Ok, so I know you've seen this clip before, but I didn't mind watching it for the twentieth time - and I'm sure you won't. CW
"If creators are using these technologies... we should let people listen to them": Spotify co-president says AI-generated music is welcome on the streaming platform
TIDAL will "part ways with a number of folks" and needs to operate “like a start-up again” as parent firm announces it will “scale back” investment
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"If creators are using these technologies... we should let people listen to them": Spotify co-president says AI-generated music is welcome on the streaming platform
TIDAL will "part ways with a number of folks" and needs to operate “like a start-up again” as parent firm announces it will “scale back” investment