A chunky dude with a beard and bald head, just sitting there, playing some flawless, wordless piece on his acoustic guitar -- it's the current all-time highest-rated music video on YouTube. And second all-time highest. And third. Number four is Johnny Cash singing "Hurt."
I didn't believe it when I heard it, either, so I checked it out. Sure enough, when you go to the YouTube home page, click on the Videos tab, click "Top Rated" under the Browse menu, "All Time" under the Time menu, and "Music" under Category, there in the top three slots, is this guy named Andy McKee in his red T-shirt, holding a guitar on his knee. Try it. Or just go here. They weren't lying.
It should be noted that Top Rated is different from Most Viewed. The Most Viewed video of all time is of an anime character twirling a lyp-synching fat kid while doing an exercise routine to an OK Go song. No, actually, it's that comedian who does the "Evolution of Dance" sketch. I won't even bother linking to it, as you've probably been responsible for at least one of the videos 47,630,865 views (digression: when I first saw that video, it wasn't on YouTube but some other site, and, still, does anyone know that guy's name?).
The Top Viewed music video is for "Famous Last Words" by My Chemical Romance, with 24,289,425 views. It has been rated 20,551 times; 15,413 more times than McKee's top-rated "Rylynn," which has only 5,138 ratings. This means that a higher percentage of the people who bothered to rate McKee gave his video a higher rating than those who rated My Chem Romance. So I guess having a small but loyal fanbase does pay off in certain contexts. Or maybe there's some way to cheat? Can you rate a video twice? ...
No, you cannot. I tried giving McKee three stars twice (the "Worth Watching" mark), and YouTube knew I'd done it once already. I could probably clean out my cache or my cookies or something and try again, but that would be a hassle.
So, if anyone has any theories as to how this dude beat out Cash, Queen, and the unfortunately bewhiskered beatboxing Mario flute man, do share. Don't tell me it's because the kid is amazingly talented, though -- at least not until you've Googled Michael Hedges.
Here's the official press release, if you care:
Andy McKee’s album, “Art of Motion,” has proven to be an unexpectedhit with YouTube fans who have viewed his music videos by the
millions. McKee, a 28 year-old self-trained acoustic guitarist and
composer, is amazed by the response. Self-described as “just this
guy from Topeka, Kansas,” Andy has become an online anomaly after
videos of his performances were posted on YouTube by his record
label, Candyrat Records. The video for “Drifting,” which has been
seen by 3.5 million viewers on YouTube in the past 90 days, recently
knocked the late, great Johnny Cash out of the top spot as the
highest-rated music video on that site. "Drifting" has also been
massively voted-up by users at Digg, and featured on yahoo.com,
blast.com, stumbleupon.com and various other high traffic internet
sites, spreading McKee’s fame even further. Since then, Andy has
appeared by invitation on “Last Call with Carson Daly” and “The
Woodsongs Radio Hour,” and has just finished recording a song for
Josh Grobin’s new Christmas record with producer David Foster. His
songs are in the Top 10 on the iTunes Folk page, while record labels
and artists are lining up to work with McKee.
“Nowadays the market is oversaturated with expensive, slick videos
that are numbing. I think people have an emotional reaction to my
music because it’s ‘real,’” comments McKee.
Born in 1979 in Topeka, Kansas, Andy began playing guitar on his 13th
birthday when his father bought him a classical guitar. It was not
long after that he got his first electric guitar. McKee began
composing music when he was 20 and released his first CD, “Nocturne,”
in 2001. He competed in the prestigious National Fingerstyle Guitar
Competition that year and placed third, making him the youngest
competitor to ever place in the Top 3. In 2003, Andy began playing
internationally and placed first in the Miscellaneous Acoustic
Instrument contest in Kansas with the harpguitar. In 2004, he
released his second CD, “Dreamcatcher,” and won first place in the
Kansas Fingerstyle Guitar Competition and second in the Canadian
Fingerstyle Guitar Competition.
In the past few years, McKee has performed worldwide, and recently
joined the Candyrat record label. Candyrat is also home to legendary
guitarist Don Ross, one of Andy's biggest inspirations. Ross calls
McKee “the most innovative and exciting fingerstyle guitarist to
emerge in years. He is the most textural player of the instrument
since Michael Hedges.”
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hedges might as well have dropped his pants and wanked on stage. it was purely "look at what i can do!" i like this guy because the way the videos are presented it seems like he's an average guy instead of some weirdo with a harp guitar. and yeah, andy's technique is flawless.
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