Youtube Amateur Night
August 13, 2014 1:13 PM   Subscribe

Your favorite amateur musical performance on Youtube is...

I'm still building a sweet Youtube playlist to watch instead of TV around kids. In my last question I wanted all Youtube live music videos ever and got a bunch of great live performances. But what are some amateur musical performances that really stand out on youtube?

Basically anything that isn't a real concert by a professional is what I'm looking for, whether that's in a bedroom, or a classroom, or a recital hall, or a street corner or a church or a church that is a street corner!

Good sound is nice, but not perfect sound. Nothing inappropriate or scary for kids. All genres, but must be really awesome!
posted by Potomac Avenue to Media & Arts (18 answers total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Mike Massé and Jeff Hall cover Toto's Africa
posted by ODiV at 1:39 PM on August 13, 2014 [2 favorites]


You've gotta have Chris Hadfield doing Space Oddity while sitting in a tin can far above the world.
posted by contraption at 2:02 PM on August 13, 2014 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Anything by Jake and the Burtones.
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:08 PM on August 13, 2014


Best answer: Anything from the Latvian Song Festival. It's amazing music, but all the singers are from local amateur groups.
posted by ocherdraco at 2:19 PM on August 13, 2014




Response by poster: Great collection mbrock!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:45 PM on August 13, 2014




Response by poster: Sorry Maecenas, but those are definitely professionals!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:12 PM on August 13, 2014


Best answer: Love this ukulele cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic". It's the best sort of Youtube amateur vid: amazingly talented unknown person, poorly framed, just sharing their thing.
posted by apparently at 4:53 PM on August 13, 2014


Best answer: Hallejulah, I'm a Bum
posted by 256 at 5:32 PM on August 13, 2014


Best answer: PS22 Chorus rendition of Rolling in the Deep (which led to a national Target commercial for the singer, Denise Bestman

Acapella version of Little Secrets by Wesleyan's The New Group

Leave the Lion cover of Wolf Like Me at a bar in Vancouver
posted by The Gooch at 6:08 PM on August 13, 2014


Response by poster: Greg that is so incredibly far from what I'm looking for but I've never seen that and it's definitely the best thing on youtube so its getting a best answer. Thanks y'all!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:25 PM on August 13, 2014


Best answer: This amazing street performance by Dub FX has been a YT favorite of mine for years.
posted by Falwless at 10:09 AM on August 14, 2014


Best answer: Does Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir count? Whitacre is a professional conductor, and he gets thousands of (presumably mostly amateur?) singers to record themselves singing one of his songs. He then combines all of those videos together, and makes a "virtual choir". My favorite is Virtual Choir 2, "Sleep".
posted by cmchap at 10:25 AM on August 14, 2014


Best answer: This homeless beatboxer is clearly one of the greatest things to appear on YouTube. Make you want to slap your grandmammy.

I guess the word "ass" might disqualify it for kids, but still.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:45 AM on August 14, 2014


Actually, there's a lot of swearing that I didn't remember. So terrible choice for kids but still awesome.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:48 AM on August 14, 2014


Response by poster: terrible choice for kids but still awesome.

Agreed
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:56 AM on August 14, 2014


Best answer: I really love this version of the Mongolian song Naiman Sharag, done by an American college choir. I forget how I stumbled across it, but it is one of the best things I've randomly found on the internet.
posted by Henrietta Stackpole at 7:03 AM on August 16, 2014


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