Looks like weeee’ve got a problem.
Or…
Bingo. That’s the formula. Besides, who else would be searching Youtube for Breakfast in America when they stumble upon the ‘reaction’ video?
I watch Ashleigh Burton’s videos where she watches movies for the first time and reacts to them. And she watched The Godfather and said she didn’t think it was very good. That video got a lot of feedback.
I’ve seen a couple where the person said something like “Oh, I have heard this before, I just never paid attention to it until now” when they reached the chorus. So it’s possible some of them are cases where they heard the song playing in various places, like over the loudspeaker at the grocery store or in commercials or whatever, but they had no idea what the song was called or who sang it. So they weren’t actually aware that they heard it before. And that YouTube video might still very well be they first time they’ve sat down and really listened to the song, even if they have technically “heard” it before.
As one of the younger people on this board, that’s how I was when it came to lots of music from the 1960s and 70s – there were lots of songs that sounded familiar and I’d definitely heard before, but I wouldn’t have recognized the name of the song if you mentioned it in conversation. I have to admit, I had that experience just recently in one of @Mean_Mr.Mustard’s “songs by the letter” threads. Several people commented on what a great choice “City of New Orleans” was, so I figured I had to go listen to it. And when I heard the chorus I instantly recognized it. I just hadn’t leaned that song was called “City of New Orleans” until a few weeks ago. And I don’t think I ever truly listened to the whole song until then. But now it’s my new favorite song.
I briefly enjoyed some of these types of videos early on – “a classically trained flautist listens to Jethro Tull for the first time!“- but after a while, I found them pretty unbelievable… not necessarily that they haven’t heard it, which, in many cases was believable, but more their wild, emotive reactions.
The only one I stuck with for any amount of time was a classical composer who is listening to a lot of progressive music, and I did enjoy him listening to Pink Floyd’s shine on you crazy diamond, especially when he fired up a massive blunt halfway through the video.
Thinking back on my 6 decades of hearing new music, I believe the biggest reaction any new song ever elicited in me was perhaps a raised eyebrow and a nod of the head.
So yeah, I think these are embellished.
And, because of that, not at all entertaining to me.
mmm
Ran across this reaction video to the justly famed live version of the Edgar Winter Group performing Frankenstein. Later he added another perennial internet favorite with the related Johnny Winter Group doing Tobacco Road. Now I was honestly surprised that someone in the musical world, a drummer and drum instructor of his apparent age, had never heard of either Winter brother OR Frankenstein. Granted he is in New Zealand, but still.
But his reactions seem genuine enough and the fact that a Patreon subscriber ponied up to get him to do the video, I don’t really doubt him. It just surprised me. But I guess that just goes to show you can miss a lot.
Myself, I’ve definitely never seen a single episode of any CSI 
.
Every time I watch one of her videos I think ‘maybe just turn the radio on while you’re driving and you’d hear most of this’. However, it’s fun to watch her react to a song she’s never heard. Especially since she emotes like a Disney character.
When she played a Chicago song for the first time, I think she was entirely caught off guard by the horns. But she does some research on the bands before watching them, so I’m unsure as to how she missed that. I’m assuming it’s some combination of maybe doing minimal research, said research not delving into the horns much and/or just not being aware of how big of a part the horns have. She reacted, I think, the same way a lot of us did in the 90’s when we first heard ska music.
Also, some of her “first time” videos are more like ‘first time I’ve really sat down and listened to the song instead of just hearing it in the background somewhere’.
I’ve never heard a Beyonce or Taylor Swift song.
Which is almost certainly untrue. Odds are good that I have, in fact, heard multiple songs by both artists. But it was in a situation where it was just background noise to me - something I heard on a radio in passing, or caught a bit of in a TV commercial, or had on the TV while I was busy doing something else. If you asked me to name any of their songs, or hum a few bars, I wouldn’t be able to do so. But if you sat me down and started going through their catalogue with me, I’d almost certainly hear a couple that I recognized from somewhere.
I figure it’s mostly the same with these YouTube videos, even after allowing for some exaggeration for clicks. They’ve probably heard of Led Zeppelin. They’ve probably heard Stairway to Heaven. But they’ve never sat down with the intent of “listening to Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven,” so they don’t associate the name Led Zeppelin with any particular piece of music, and they don’t know that that song they’ve heard bits of over the years is called “Stairway to Heaven.”
I’m not a regular viewer of her channel, but I have watched a few videos and I do recall her mentioning on more than one occasion that she can’t drive. A lot of Europeans rely on public transportation. They don’t understand why public transportation in the U.S. is so bad until they come here to visit and realize how spread out things are compared to Europe.
I also have my doubts about how much U.S. classic rock is played on local radios in Ireland.
As an American, I assume that radio in Ireland is just a constant loop of Enya and U2.
I think we’re talking about different people The Charismatic Voice (Elizabeth Zharoff) is from WA and lives in AZ.
The person mentioned in the OP, Diane Jennings, I’m not familiar with, but I assume that’s who you were talking about.
Yeah, I could say something pretty close to this.
I can assure you that there are “well-known” songs that I’ve never heard, or at least am not aware of having heard. More so when I was the age that many of these reactors are. Even more so if I hadn’t made an effort to seek out and listen to music.
There are also plenty of well-known movies and TV shows I’ve never seen.
So I can believe that some of those YouTube reactors (though maybe not all) are being honest when they say they’re experiencing something for the first time.
Yep. Sorry. Somewhere along the thread I got confused about which posts referred to Diane Jennings and which posts referred to other people.
Are you talking about The Daily Doug? Yeah, he lights up sometimes during his programs.
He’s a composer and professor of sacred and classical music who does response videos, mostly to progressive and metal songs. A recent tune I was quite surprised he wasn’t familiar with before he played it was Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street”, but then remembered that he was a baby when it topped the charts (he was born in 1977). He also did Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime” but didn’t show the video; I hadn’t known that Adrian Belew played on that track, but I do know that King Crimson are VERY diligent regarding copyright issues. The Daily Doug had to take a live video down that I found quite impressive because the band had THREE drummers seated at the front of the stage, playing full kits in unison.
Other than NPR, me neither, for the most part. My up to date knowledge of popular music essentially ends in 1999, when MTV completely stopped playing music except for obscure hours, and Clear Channel/Cumulus pretty much took over American broadcast radio.
Yeah, that’s the guy.
So, can I do videos and monetize myself listening to “new” music… and just raising an eyebrow?
.
Then you can do “An American Boomer Reacts to Diane Jennings’s Reaction Video Where She Listens To The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band”.
Sure, just don’t piss off the wrong person.
I’d never heard of SSSniperwolf before I saw that video, but apparently ‘low effort’ reaction videos are a thing and seem to be little more than just a camera on them as they watch a video.