Have you ever gone onto YouTube and found a funny remix of a song? Maybe lyrics or beats are mismatched or maybe two songs that sound similar are mashed together. Chances are, that remix was inspired by SiIvaGunner.

SiIvaGunner, (that’s SiIva with a capital I) was the product of the channel SilvaGunner (that’s Silva with a lowercase l) that posted video game music with high quality sound. It was probably the most popular source for video game music at the time. After the channel was deleted due to copyright concerns, a replacement channel went up titled GilvaSunner, that continued where the last channel left off. Occasionally, the channel would sneak in a special kind of video. It would look like a normal piece of music. The thumbnail, the title and the description looked completely normal, professional even. Heck, even the music sounds the same until… wait a minute… that’s not The Legend of Zelda… That’s the Flintstones…

SiIvaGunner is a channel based on that weird feeling you get when one song ends up sounding like another in your head. The kind of jokes that came from GilvaSunner and started SiIvaGunner go as follows: The channel uploads a “high quality rip” of video game music, perfectly disguised as legitimate, except the music always ends up sounding like something else. Maybe a Mario song slowly turns into Witch Doctor. Maybe Hot Chelle Rae’s hit single Tonight, Tonight gets mixed up with a song from Phineas and Ferb. Maybe a Five Nights at Freddy’s song has Mask by Dream playing in the background. Maybe a song from a game featuring a goofy cartoon bear and bird ends up sounding like Thunderstruck by AC/DC. These examples, along with over 28,000 others made by dozens of people, fill the channel and fool anyone trying to find a song from their favorite game.

And the best part is, is that every single person in SiIvaGunner’s community, rippers and subscribers alike, are completely in on the joke. While one might end up accidentally clicking on one these videos and be confused when We Are Number One from LazyTown starts playing over Bonetrousle from Undertale, they might check the comments of the video only to find out that each and every commenter are playing along and making witty comments about how the song is completely normal, just like how they remember it. And that’s how it’s been for the last 7 years and over 28,000 rips.

[Thumbnail from RIP2, a collection of rearrangements of previous rips on the channel.]

This channel runs exclusively on its community. Each video is made by individuals who send it to the channel. Each is reviewed manually before they are shared anonymously to the channel. The channel has run countless events and celebrations from Barbenheimer Day to a 4th of July event revolving around the Hamster Dance to their annual Christmas celebration. The channels have even been “taken over” by several characters like The Grinch, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, David S. Pumpkins, and Ajit Pai. Sometimes events run by the channel are taken much more seriously by the channel’s contributors and fans. There have been public collaborations called “Fusion Collabs” that take a popular song or type of song and change the sound every few seconds so that it sounds like something else. These are always filled with references and a lot of effort is put into them.

[“Shop Fusion Collab” has amassed over 1 million views in the last 5 months.]

The channel has produced professionally made albums through their music arrangement collective SiIvaGunner Fusion Records in which they have made high quality albums celebrating game series like Metal Gear Solid, Kirby and Super Monkey Ball. Even more so, the channel has over 100 albums on Bandcamp featuring collections of all of their best rips. One set of albums worth mentioning are the King For A/Another Day soundtracks from the titular channel events which featured a cast of characters, both real and fictional, fighting in a bracket style tournament in order to “take over” the channel for a day. A ridiculous amount of effort went into making the events as polished as possible and they and the subsequent takeovers remain the absolute best that SiIva has to offer. 

SiIvaGunner has made quite the impact on the Internet, believe it or not. It’s been noted as the source behind the popularization of many Internet jokes and memes, as well as being a timeless source for pop culture of the past, no matter how niche. There have been a number of instances where official outlets have accidentally used SiIvaGunner rips instead of official music. Despite the scope of the channel, it’s still nothing too popular. It has over 500,000 subscribers, but most videos only get a few thousand views in their lifetime. Still, the channel has not slowed down once, and whether they’re mixing up songs, trying to make listeners laugh, or sharing a genuinely good arrangement, they have and only ever upload high quality rips.