Earlier this week, YouTube pulled the plug on funnyman and media artist Santeri Ojala, whose hilarious and popular "shredding" videos poke fun at the world’s great guitar players.

YouTube said it received three complaints of copyright infringement and automatically suspended Ojala’s account.

YouTube has a standing policy to suspend accounts after three complaints from copyright holders, whether the complaints are valid or not. YouTube declined to say who filed the complaints, but it was likely the guitar gods themselves — or their representatives.

Ojala, who overdubs rock concert footage with his own bad guitar playing, says he has no plans to fight YouTube’s decision, which would likely require him to hire a lawyer and file suit against the company.

So here, for your viewing pleasure, are the videos YouTube refuses to host.



In the clip above, Ojala shreds solo guitarist Steve Vai, one of the musicians Ojala suspects may have filed an infringement claim against his parody videos. This is surprising, since in an earlier story about Ojala’s videos, the rocker said he enjoyed being featured in the parodies.

The rest of Ojala’s shredding videos are after the jump. Or watch them all on Wired Video.

StSanders trains his finely tuned parody powers on the twin-guitar attack of U.K. metalheads Iron Maiden. The clip of a 1985

show includes a climactic appearance by monstrous Maiden mascot Eddie, complete with a circus theme song. (above)



YouTuber Santeri Ojala, aka StSanders dubs his own guitar play over rock concert footage. Here, he mashes his strummings over a performance by Carlos Santana. (above)



In this shredded video, Ojala overdubs footage from 1988 of

Eddie Van Halen playing an instrumental version of "Hot For Teacher."



In this clip, Ojala syncs his comically bad performance of by

Eric Clapton playing live in Madison Square Garden. In addition to overlaying Clapton’s string work, Ojala also dubs the instrumentation for the rest of the band — including a drummer, bass player, keyboardist and another guitarist.







Santeri re-recorded the audio in this clip of virtuoso guitarist Jake E. Lee performing with Ozzy Osbourne during the "Bark At

The Moon" tour in 1984. Lee, best known for his work with the Black

Sabbath-frontman burns up the fretboard onstage while Ozzy claps to the beat. (above)





In this clip, Ojala syncs his comically bad guitar play with metal pioneers Metallica’s music video for "One."





In this clip, Ojala syncs his comically bad guitar play with concert footage from Tokyo during Guns n’ Roses’ "Use Your Illusion"

tour in ’92.





Ojala suspects Malmsteem may have been one of the artists who filed a copyright infringement claim against his videos. In this clip,

Ojala dubs Malmsteem playing live with Japan’s Philharmonic in 2003.

See also: