Guitar: This is Jewel-style guitar slapping. I keep wanting this dude to break into “who will save your soul.” I guess you have to do something with this song, though, since there isn’t really anything to it. This guy is doing a better job than many of the other youtube versions. C.
Singing: Inoffensive for a while (again, sort of a mix of Glenn Danzig and Jewel) but then it gets so crazy histrionic towards the end! Ha! I’m not sure who he is emulating here… Eddie Vedder? Adam Duritz? So goofy. It even reminds me of Jason Molina. I give it a B-
Extras: Awesome look to this vid! The shirtlessness is perfect, the necklaces, the COLOR guitar in a B&W video! The black and white is probably meant to evoke the Danzig original video but it also reminds me of Jewel. The whole thing is a Jewel-ification of Danzig which is sort of awesome.
Overall: Slightly late for Mother’s Day, this is an agreeably dumb version of a sort of amazingly dumb song. It is way worse than the original but better than a lot of the youtube versions out there. How about a B-?
Guitar: This is the same version as the other “Rebel Yell” I just reviewed, it must come from a tablature site. I still think the chords are wrong though. I will have to figure it out. This one is played a little better but I’m reluctant to give it a better score than a B+
Singing: Well this is what I thought the other guy should’ve done — try to sound like Billy Idol down to to the screaming. But now I’m not sure. But I can’t fault this dude’s effort. A
Extras: And on the previous dude, what I really wanted was to see some SNEERING and this guy delivers in spades. A little too much actually. And I’m not so sure he isn’t smirking when he should be sneering. Overall the effect kinda makes him look like a dick; of course, Billy Idol himself kinda looked like a dick too. Hmm.
Overall: Somehow this version bothers me a lot more than the previous one — I guess its highs are higher and its lows are lower. That is much more rock and roll so I have to give this a B+
Guitar: this has the germs of a great arrangement, but seems to be off. Are those really the right chords for the main part of this song? But the riff parts are nicely done, especially the opening. B+
Singing: Well, it’s there. This is kind of about my singing level which is a gentleman’s C
Extras: Is he wearing some sort of MasterCard sweatshirt? Not very British punk! What would Billy Idol think? And the raising-eyebrow thing? Weird. He should be sneering.
Overall: I was actually looking for more “Rebel Rebel” versions but “Rebel Yell” is also a great song. Anyway this is an okay version, I give it a B
Guitar: as simplified as can be, but still with bad transitions, so I have to say an F. This is how guitar sounds when you’ve only been playing for like a few weeks.
Singing: kind of horrifically amusing… C+ for entertainment value.
Extras: Wow this one has everything going dramatically wrong/right. I like how it looks like this guy is in a classroom with drawings on the wall, but I am gonna guess it’s a dorm room. I don’t think I had ever tried to play “Rebel Rebel” when I was a college freshman, but I could’ve pulled it off decently I bet.
Overall: C — again, it’s sort of amusing. Better than the endless generic youtube videos out there.
Guitar: Ok. Nothing much to pay attention to here. This is an easy song (though you wouldn’t know it from youtube). B.
Singing: So-so. The most difficult thing in this whole song is the high part where Liam is all, “you and I are gonna live forever” in falsetto. This girl hits it ok, not great. And why does it cut off before the last chorus? Another good part is the ending, all, “gonna live forever… gonna live forever”. B-
Extras: This might look like a pretty bad version of “Live Forever” but if you had just watched a couple dozen other videos of people trying to perform this song you would be relieved to see one this unsucky. Dear lord are there a lot of terrible renditions of “Live Forever” out there. In this one, I kind of like the shades and skirt combo too.
Overall: B- but that is partly from grading on a curve. For such a simple song there are a lot of dire youtube videos.
Guitar: The strumming is good but some of the chords are wrong. On the other hand he does manage to modulate. This is a solid C+.
Singing: Mediocre I guess. Another C+.
Extras: Nothing really. To think that this is the best version I could find on youtube! This shouldn’t be a difficult song. Do kids today not know this song?
Overall: Sad… I will have to do my own version of “Surrender” sometime. C+
Guitar: Huh. Well this one is perplexing. Guitarwise,it is pretty great at first. Then it totally sucks when it gets all strummy at the end. It is like he switched from playing jerky math rock to playing Dave Matthews. What a let-down. For the great first half I will give it an overall B+
Singing: Bad. And also in that bad Dave Matthews style. C-
Extras: I like the jerky motions, and the overall weirdness of it for the first half. This had a lot of potential but is ultimately disappointing.
Overall: Sad to waste such great opening guitar parts on a C+
Guitar: Apparently this is an arrangement of a piano version. Not hard but still creative and recognizable. I only wish she would incorporate more of the main riff and a little of the staccato of the bridge part (“I know that things are going wrong for me…”) . A
Singing: Mostly good but a little too much at times. Still, nothing to seriously criticize. A
Extras: This is so iconic that it is nice to hear a different arrangement that isn’t cheesy or jokey (like swing versions or Pat Boone or something).
Overall: Though there are some flaws I may have to give this an A+ … my first so far! Nice work!
Guitar: Pretty good, though you can’t actually see whether this person is really playing it. I like the arrangement, though this is another of those songs that are hard to screw up. I think there is some overdubbing of two guitars at once (or is the whole thing two guitars?), which is sort of a cheat, so this gets a B+.
Singing: I sort of like this style. A
Extras: This one is pretty interesting. Our androgynous emo kid has apparently filmed a video and recorded the audio separately, then edited it — all very semi-pro. And yet it isn’t pro… no way a pro director would have left that TV in the background. I’m pretty sure this is a dude — the youtube account it named “StanleyNative.” Or is Stanley a place? Well I can imagine that if EITHER I was named Stanley, or lived in some place called Stanley, and a teenager, I’d be all emo too. Anyway, A-
(Embedding disabled, so you will have to watch this video here.)
Guitar: Quite good. A
Singing: Also good, I like this style, and his little “doo doo doo”s at the start. It’s a little bit too soft, but better than the original. B+
Extras: My favorite videos so far are these older schlubby guys playing old songs in their basement. It’s sort of poignant, and this guy in particular actually reminds me of myself. This is kind of how I expect to look in 15 years, and I hope I still have time to play rock songs from my teenhood.
On the negative side, I wish he would play the whole song.
