I’ll have to check that out, as I really enjoy that song. I liked his early run in that series before I just got a bit tired of it – he pointed out some stuff in “All The Small Thing” (may have been one of his first videos) that made me appreciate the song a little bit more (even though it’s still not my cup of tea.) There’s a little background synth just doing an octave-C ostinato, basically, that grinds up against the second chord (a G major) and has this subtle dissonance that pulls me into it. Now, it’s something I’ve heard done in songs before, but I missed it in that one. I do like the way he has isolated tracks (stems) – I love listening to recorded tracks in isolation.
Then you should definitely check out Song Exploder if you haven’t already.
I have not. I’ll give it a whirl.
I actually enjoy music more because of Beato. I’m sorry your life somehow turned south after watching his videos.
Well it seems to me that if people oversold him, rag on them - not Beato. Just my opinion. I’ve learned a lot from his videos and I’m sure many others have as well.
On to other things…
Here’s another YouTube channel I enjoy, 12 Tone:
It’s kind of his version of "What Makes This Song great.
I’m at work so I haven’t listened to this… but, looks like the opposing view on modern music:
In fact this video is right in line with my criticisms of Beato. Beato proffers a subject: “In this video I’m going to explain why todays music is boring.” And then he spends 20 minutes not doing that.
He will offer maybe one semi-argument like “Modern music uses only boring, common chord progressions and that’s why modern music is boring” and then he will immediately contradict himself by playing both old and new songs with exactly the same chord progressions, sometimes even concluding that all the songs are good. Thanks for nothing, Beato.
And this video is a response to Beato’s frequent rants about music publishers taking down his videos.
Whether or not Beato agrees or disagrees with the copyright owner’s reasoning, he, as an experienced producer should at least be able to understand and explain their actions.
Meh. Are there any online promotion sites that don’t use sensationalistic headers? It’s normal these days. I’m more interested in what I get out of his content rather than I am in judging how accurate his video title jibe with what he says.
I don’t love the guy, and don’t agree with a lot of what he says but I’m feeling a lot of sour-grape vibes in this thread. It’s obvious he knows a lot about music and the music industry. He’s proved that with record sales. So much of all this is subjective anyway.
I’ve never watched any of his videos, never even heard of the guy before this thread, actually, but I’m feeling a “cult of personality” vibe.
In this video, he says about “Every Thing I Do, I Do For You”, “If you are not Bryan Adams, this is probably the first time you’ve heard it”. This song, by the way, has “only” over 700 million views on Youtube…
I watch a lot of YouTube videos. I watch people who offer critiques of literature, music, movies, TV shows, and whatnot. The good ones make an attempt to live up to the promise of the topic that they present. They offer structured cases for supporting whatever their opinions are; they offer organized breakdowns and analyses.
Beato offers a bunch of rambling with random digressions. That’s not good educational video, or art criticism video, or entertainment video.
I’ve had teachers like that. They’re really good at something; but they’re useless for helping you learn it.
I’m feeling like that metaphor doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Yup. I agree. I mentioned him upthread as well. I really enjoy his stuff. I prefer the younger Youtubers overall to Beato, for their perspective, which seems to be a bit more “open” and less cemented to the way things were, which is the vibe I sometimes get from Rick. I may be overly harsh on him – I have enjoyed a lot of his work, particularly before “What Makes This Song Great” – but I get “crabby oldster” vibes from time to time, and I’m no spring chicken myself. 12Tone and Adam Neely I find more pleasant to listen to (and Neely & Beato even did a cross-over episode not too long ago.) They all seem to know their shit inside and out, but I prefer the way someone like Adam presents it.
There’s a bit of this. But he’s probably more open minded about new music than most of his generation.
I treat his “What Makes This Song Great” series, less about “great” and more as “what makes this song what it is”. I find that interesting, but more about why this makes a song great would be welcome. But that’s so subjective and difficult, I’m not too bothered.
Song Exploder is a great podcast/show.
Adam Neely is great. I’ll have to check out 12Tone.
Do any of these guys ever breakdown electronic music? I’d love to see breakdowns of stuff by artists like New Order or Chemical Brothers or Deadmau5.
I really don’t understand how you see such malignancy in Beato’s videos. Yes he generally has a lesser opinion of current popular music, but he can be won over. He was largely complimentary of the performances at the Grammys. He didn’t like Justin Bieber’s performance because a good part of it was bleeped out. I would find that annoying too.
I realize I’m unlikely to change your mind, but somehow he gets under your skin and I just don’t understand why.
I don’t know what you mean by “malignancy.” I don’t assert that they are some kind of artistic cancer with the ability to spread and destroy the world of music YouTube.
My criticism of his videos has been quite precise. There should be no sense of mystery regarding what makes me reach my conclusions. I have used precise descriptions and examples.
In fact, I’ve just realized that what I have said above is exactly the opposite of what Beato’s “What Makes This Song Great” series does, and, generally, what his music criticism does.
That is fair. As I said, perhaps I’m overly harsh – and I think I am a little bit. He’s very enthusiastic and has his opinions on stuff, and he’s walked the walk, with way more experience than someone like me, and is welcome to have strong opinions. Clearly he loves and knows his art form and craft. I guess I’m just not always on his wavelength philosophically, and I find people like Adam Neely more interesting in breaking down genres like hyperpop and Dilla feel pieces that I’m not really as familiar with vs. hearing about Boston for the umpteenth time (which I do love that first album, and would have loved to have been there to hear it for the first time in its time.)
Your criticisms are largely based on his qualifications and elaborations, which to me is irrelevant to his methods and analysis, the part I really enjoy. Like I said, the semantics don’t matter to me, but we’ve Beato-ed this dead horse issue enough. What do you think of the other analyzer, Elizabeth Zharoff?
Considering I’ve stated I don’t love him and that I don’t agree with a lot of what he says and have even posted a link to a video criticism of him, I guess I’m a poor cult member.
We should be having those Swedish guys who wrote nearly every Top 40 song for the last couple decades tell us what makes for good music 