About

An "X Shreds" video takes footage from musician's performance, and dubs new audio in sync with lip and instrument movements to create a hilarious remix. Solo and band acts such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Van Halen, Kiss, and most notably Creed (see the Creed Shreds section) have been subjected to this new video phenomena.

Origin

The first videos seemed to have surfaced around 2007 when YouTube user StSanders (real name – Santeri Ojala) from Finland used a few live performances from notable musical acts and after stripping the original audio from the footage, he re-dubbed the audio with his own instruments.

Below is a clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live of Ojala creating one of these videos using a live video performance of Guns N Roses guitarist Slash in action (Slash happens to be there as a bonus):

StSanders has since created a number of these videos, ranging from Yngwie Malmsteen and Slash to Carlos Santana and Angus Young. All of these different creations can be viewed on his new webpage at this link.

Below is what is considered one of his best creations using the music video from Kiss's "I Was Made for Loving You." The video has received over a million hits since it's debut in 2008 and is still receiving positive acclaim:

Formula For Success

The two foundational elements of making a "shred" video is based on how well an electric guitarist "shreds" on the guitar they are using during the performance and on the vocal style/ability of the vocalists involved. For those unfamiliar with "shredding" in guitar terms, you can check out this Wikipedia link to get you up to speed. Basically, the more a guitarist "shreds" or the more unique and/or incoherent the vocalists are, the more lulz a video potentially has.

One other common element found in the creations of StSanders and other "video shredders" is the video frame visual element. In other words, if an instrument is not shown in the current frame, it is typically not heard, as if it does not exist outside of the visual context of the viewer. This element creates an awkwardness with the performance, making the video seem empty or lacking substance, which is the general idea. If you couple this element with the abruptness of having a random drum solo occur in certain parts of the video (when the drums and drummer are shown in the videos), then you have a completely different but amusing experience that deviates from what the musical artists originally intended, resulting in an unexpected lulzy moment.

Creed Shreds

Back in October 2007, YouTube user Spiritswitchboard (SWB) uploaded his attempt at creating a "video shred" by using a live performance of Creed during one of their many earlier recorded performances. SWB titled the creation "Creed Shreds" and due to its overwhelming popularity (mostly among anti-Creed people, which is argued to be in the hundreds of thousands), SWB created a total of five of these videos. Below are four of the five videos in the series:

Original "Creed Shreds" video:

Creed is back for round 2 (Creed Shreds II):

Creed plays at the Olympics (Creed Shreds III – You S**t Here with Me)

Creed re-unites and lives to shred again (Creed Shreds IV – A Thousand Yasseahs!)

Other notable works

Thanks to StSanders and SWB, others were inspired to create other video productions of live performances all over, including this video from Yo-Yo Ma's performance at the inauguration of United States President Barack Obama in February 2009:

Here's another video made by YouTube user thisnextsongiscalled which shows Nu-metal group Slipknot performing during their "Iowa World Tour" back in 2002. The original video was taken off their "Disasterpieces" DVD:

Phish Shreds

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