The best of YouTube: #31

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, don't miss Clapton shredding with Santana and Weird Al's Trapped In The Closet parody.

Chris Vinnicombe's choices

The Rolling Stones play Sympathy For The Devil at Altamont
Often cited as the moment that sixties idealism came to an end, The Rolling Stones' infamous performance at Altamont in 1969 saw Keith Richards playing his Plexiglass Ampeg Dan Armstrong literally at gunpoint. To coincide with our First Look at the new wooden-bodied Ampeg AMG100, here's Dave Grohl rocking out with one of the original see-through models. CV

Aerosmith play Train Kept A Rollin' in 1974
Joe Perry was another Dan Armstrong Plexi player, but here he is back in 1974 ripping out some tasty licks on a Strat in some of the tightest trousers in history. There's an excellent cameo introduction from Little Richard too. CV

Michael Leonard's choices

Radiohead: Anyone Can Play Guitar
Rubbish title, as only the sublimely cool and talented can play guitar, of course. That aside, here's an 'interesting' 1994 live performance by Radiohead.
Happy birthday, Thomas Edward Yorke, 40 years old on 7 October. ML

Eric B and Rakim: Juice (Know The Ledge)
Promo videos don't often feature in MusicRadar's Best of YouTube tips, but I'm making an exception here. Because 1) it's Rakim, the greatest rapper ever (argue now!) 2) it features a 20-year-old Tupac Shakur, in his first starring role in the '92 movie Juice.
But this is all about the music, including Eric B's incredible production. If you're into classic hip-hop, this is an ultra-classic. ML

Tom Porter's choices

Ratatat cut up ABBA, glue eyes and mouths on upside down
This video for Ratatat's new track Shempi is brilliant. It's also a nightmare waiting to happen. Take an old ABBA video (yes, already scary but it gets worse), slice out Agnetha's, Benny's, Bjorn's and Frida's eyes and mouths, turn them upside down and swap them around. Watch it at your own risk. The tune is pretty catchy, though… TP

QOTSA and PJ Harvey back from a Desert Session
Make It Wit Chu appeared on QOTSA's Era Vulgaris LP but was originally crafted at the infamous Desert Sessions (Vol 9 & 10). Josh Homme just announced he's heading back to the desert to record his band's sixth studio album, and this smooth number with PJ Harvey shows what a little bit of 'scorching desolation' can do. TP

Chris Wickett's choices

Weird Al Yankovic: Trapped In The Closet parody
If you haven't seen any Trapped In The Closet (R Kelly's brilliant, is-this-real-or-is-this-a-joke series of operettas), then watch some. Then check out Trapped In The Drive-Thru, Weird Al's parody. It's equally brilliant. CW

A spot of eerie, cosmic, 70s electronica: Powers Of Ten
Elmer Bernstein might be better known for writing famous scores such as The Magnificent Seven, but here's something completely different. Powers Of Ten is a Look Around You-esque short film "dealing with the relative size of things in the universe", and the accompanying electronic music - written by Bernstein - is truly haunting. And equally equally brilliant. CW

Mike Goldsmith's choices

Howlin Rain: Live In San Francisco
If the reason to learn music is to play live (as well as to look cool/appease creative muse/hit it off with sexy people/delete as applicable), then time for a few live performances from bands who've blown me away live recently. Looking through the ticket stubs, first up is Howlin Rain. An increasingly hairy cross between the Allman Brothers and frontman Ethan Miller's old band Comets On Fire (who once slayed my ears for three days), I saw these guys in the back of a pub but that didn't stop them playing like it was the Fillmore in 1973. Blues/psych/West Coast/funk bliss - just off tour with the Black Crowes, catch this band now before they hit the arena circuit on their own. MG

Approximately Infinite Universe
Next up, something far, far away from the Rain's classic edge-of-a-cliff riffage. Co-organised by leftfield promoter duo No-Fi and [No.Signal], Approximately Infinite Universe (no, not that one) was a recent rolling UK tour that featured a mix of Finnish and US underground acts collaborating for the first time ever - check out the full roster and strategy here. For me, it was a chance to finally see tribal droners Skaters and free guitar heroine Samara Lubelski in the flesh but the big surprise was the collaboration between Fonal leading light Es and acid folk queen Fursaxa. Astonishing stuff. If you like your music a bit on the weird/avant/Wire side or just like all things loud, keep an eye out for any of the artists here live or just wait for the forthcoming live album. Hope it's a triple. MG

Joe Bosso's choices

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Born On The Bayou (Live)
If ever a band could be both tight and loose, it was Creedence, as evidenced on this euphoric performance of one of their first hits. John Fogerty's voice is so authentically black, you'd swear he was beamed straight from a revival tent in Louisiana. The rest of the band, too, sound as if they drank from the Mississippi River. Swamp-rock doesn't get any swampier. Best American band ever? Go ask The Dude. JB

Eric Clapton Shreds With Carlos Santana
I know it's wrong to goof on two bona fide guitar gods, but c'mon, it's Friday, so lighten up already. Besides, ol' Slowhand should know better than to show up onstage wearing shorts from J. Crew (at least they weren't manpris) and playing a guitar that looks like a really bad Genesis album cover. On top of all that,everybody's smiling way too much, so you know they can't really be playing the blues. JB

Ben Rogerson's choices

Radiohead's Reckoner
The Oxford lads are mad for the user generated content at the moment - first they ask fans to remix this track from In Rainbows, then they decide to use an animated vid by Clement Picon, who entered it into a competition, as the song's official promo. Maybe the credit crunch is hitting Thom and co harder than we thought. BR

Sarah Palin is an "accomplished flautist"
In case you hadn't seen it already, here's the US Vice-Presidential hopeful playing the flute at a Miss Alaska pageant in 1984. The performance sounds a little out of tune in places - and she's not going to win the rock vote if her favourite artist really is James Gallway - but we'll leave you to decide how it compares to Bill Clinton blowing out on his sax. BR

Still bored?

Rumours are surfacing that Fuck The Pain Away by Peaches was actually a cover. The original is by Miss Piggy - check it out here. Warning, though, explicit language from the start.