The Voice. American Idol. The X-Factor. Three shows with one common theme: singing.

As reality shows about singing competitions flood our culture, it made me wonder what happens to all those people who do something equally, if not more so, important: play an instrument. Why don’t they get the same hype and attention?

I read about music programs getting cut. My son and most of our friends don’t play instruments. Music is not just a good voice and “the look”. Music gets inside you, moves you, and there’s very little as sexy as a good bass line or guitar solo. We need to get our kids off the electronic devices and away from popular TV, and show them there’s more to music than a voice. As Paul Adelstein says in Be Cool, “everyone can siiiing.”

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve come across several talented kids – thanks, YouTube – and I’ve been blown away by how well these kids play. And they’re playing some complicated stuff. I’ve seen covers of TOOL, System of a Down, Iron Maiden, and many more. (Yes, I’m sticking with metal because that’s my favorite). These kids put in the dedication and work to cover some great metal songs, all of which were written by well-practiced, adult musicians.

So, take a few minutes and check out these videos. If a random song about a fox can get 300M+ views on YouTube, these kids deserve three-times that. Enjoy and spread the love!