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Rick Beato - "The Top Ten Songs Are...Horrible?"

Rick, the man himself, doing another top 10 review? Yes!

(Warning, this is simply my opinion , not fact.)

I mean, I will disagree with Rick on one thing and say that I love that Reggaeton beat. Can't get enough of it, lol. But honestly, @LinearLineman put it best in my "Within Gadget EP" thread...

I came across a jazz track yesterday where the piano player got over 200k listens. It was total boredom from a nondescript player. I mostly get a couple of dozens.

https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/comment/1187902/#Comment_1187902

And I'd much rather listen to that Jazz track by a "nondescript" player than any of these forgettable top 10 tunes, because at least that player has musicality.

I mean, all the wonderful people here in our humble forum are writing and producing and composing music (whether writing it straight in the DAW, or notating out a musical sketch before producing it, or selecting/recording a field recording for the basis of the next Ambient piece, or however you do it) that I consider masterpieces of musicality and wonder and noise and timbre, but it seems it's the most banal "TikTok-friendly" fodder that make the "big bucks".

I mean honestly, if ChatGPT were to replace any of these Top 10 "songwriters", would it be that huge of a loss? 😂 (Actually, it would be an improvement if nothing else, haha.)

But, as LinearLineman put it in the reply in my thread above...

Your life is full of music. That’s the important part. Validation is good but it’s a tiny hit of endorphin and gone leaving a craving for the next fix. . The music is what counts.

And he's absolutely correct. In the end, it's the joy of producing quality content that counts, even if not that many listen to it.

After you watch Rick's video (whether the whole thing or just skimming through it), what are your thoughts?

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Comments

  • Well, once again it's a number of pop songs measured against Rick's personal preferences. Which is as unique as any other human's musical taste.
    As interesting as a new pop song concept can sound at times, I'm generally bored by the 100 knock-offs following it, showing only enough variation as to be recognized as a different song 😂
    It's interesting to see slightly more advanced harmony coming back though here and there.

  • @rs2000 said:
    Well, once again it's a number of pop songs measured against Rick's personal preferences.

    Is it though?

  • @Ailerom said:

    @rs2000 said:
    Well, once again it's a number of pop songs measured against Rick's personal preferences.

    Is it though?

    Don't get me wrong, I highly value Rick's experience and knowledge and I'm sure that a lot of his videos are a great watch, not the least his interesting interviews and musical analysis of songs that he finds amazing.
    It's just that it looks kinda useless to me when he starts to analyze musical work that he obviously doesn't like in the first place. What's the point? To question other people's tastes?

  • Ha i like that Sza song. I remember hearing it for the first time and thinking how stupid music had become and now every once in a while it just ends up under my fingers at the piano. 😂

  • Quite honestly he comes over as an intolerant old fart sometimes.

    Some of his videos can be pretty good, but he balances that out with sometimes just being really dreadful.

  • i like how modern pop is more eclectic, in terms of incorporating world music, older disco, soul styles etc. That being said, its all just regurgitated garbage lol. Still a sucker for it tho

  • Random responses incoming. IMHO and all that.

    Top ten songs are largely disposable - well, who’d have guessed? It’s been like that for decades. News at 11. Large swathes of people like music that is largely unchallenging.

    He likes the ones that fit into his largely rockist viewpoint, where everything has to have structure and melodic/harmonic progressions that he can recognise and pontificate about. No surprise there.

    He beefs about a couple of songs having an anti-groove or some such. Which says much about his inability to recognise a groove when he hears it, unless it fits his mindset - the one where he first complains was actually the most immediately danceable thing he’d played up to that point.

    All of which boils down to him not liking songs that don’t fit into his expectations and biases. Which is what we all do, just that he makes videos like these and the rest of us just find something else to listen to!

    Sometimes the man makes videos that are interesting, but he’s very stuck in his ways and a bit narrow minded.

    YMMV. Which is a good thing.

  • @michael_m said:
    Quite honestly he comes over as an intolerant old fart sometimes.

    See, I was thinking he was remarkably generous in his evaluations.

  • I think every generation should create its own music that other generations don't get.

    Else why be a new generation?

  • @rs2000 said:

    @Ailerom said:

    @rs2000 said:
    Well, once again it's a number of pop songs measured against Rick's personal preferences.

    Is it though?

    Don't get me wrong, I highly value Rick's experience and knowledge and I'm sure that a lot of his videos are a great watch, not the least his interesting interviews and musical analysis of songs that he finds amazing.
    It's just that it looks kinda useless to me when he starts to analyze musical work that he obviously doesn't like in the first place. What's the point? To question other people's tastes?

    Seems to be more about the way music is made. Maybe he is spot on, maybe he just can't connect with it. I really think his evaluation of the current state of the art is worth more than my tone deaf friends who love music (in the background of their lives).

  • I don't think the charts reflect the 'state of the art'.
    Google tells me that McDonalds sells 6.5 million hamburgers every day, clearly popular, but nourishing? Nope.
    I don't complain when I see folks eating a hamburger, its their choice, so while I applaud Rick for trying to connect with the tastes of others, at the end of the day he should keep his energy invested in things he does like!

  • Haven’t watched the video, and while I may agree with him on some of this, the more important thing is - gotta keep those view counts up.

  • edited April 2023

    I don’t see anything wrong with the video, He dissects the songs in an interesting way and with obvious knowledge and experience. He points out things he finds interesting, like chords, bass line, etc… but ultimately these songs are plain boring, it’s hard to not agree on that.
    Take reggeatton, for example, the beat is interesting, the sounds are interesting, the vocoder is fun. It’d be a great song. But it’s 100000 variations of the exact same thing!. “Stock rythm we’ve heard a million times” as he calls it.

  • @tahiche said:

    But it’s 100000 variations of the exact same thing!.

    So is most blues, and jazz often recycles the same chord progressions over and over. Many well-known standards have taken themes from folk songs or classical music and just added lyrics.

    The concept of reusing music has been going on for a long time.

  • edited April 2023

    @michael_m said:

    @tahiche said:

    But it’s 100000 variations of the exact same thing!.

    So is most blues, and jazz often recycles the same chord progressions over and over. Many well-known standards have taken themes from folk songs or classical music and just added lyrics.

    The concept of reusing music has been going on for a long time.

    Yes, to different degrees. I personally can’t stand the typical “play a solo here” blues for the same reason.
    But in punk, hip hop, heavy metal or other genres that might sound very similar, at least there’s a few possible rhythms and some minor tempo changes…. In reggeatton you have hundreds of songs with literally the exact same beat. IMO it’s extreme in how similar the rythm and production is.
    In Spanish you have a great way to identify that “standard” beat. If you can sing “atún con pan” (tuna with bread” over it and it falls right on beat.

  • Reggaeton has always had that "Dembow" groove as its backbone. Without that, I don't know if it would even be reggaeton anymore.

    There's obviously a cultural barrier going on here since reggaeton is HUGE in latin america and has dominated almost as long as hip hop.

  • @AlexY said:
    Reggaeton has always had that "Dembow" groove as its backbone. Without that, I don't know if it would even be reggaeton anymore.

    There's obviously a cultural barrier going on here since reggaeton is HUGE in latin america and has dominated almost as long as hip hop.

    I might be wrong in generalizing as reggeatton. Probably just the current production trend that’s everywhere. In Rick’s video out of the 10 songs 3 or 4 sound exactly the same. My nephews love this kind of music, exact same beat, exact same vocoder use and overall a very limited palette.

  • People over 30 shouldn’t comment on the top ten. And I say that as an ‘almost’ 48 year old. It’s simply not for us. And that’s ok

  • @sevenape said:
    People over 30 shouldn’t comment on the top ten. And I say that as an ‘almost’ 48 year old. It’s simply not for us. And that’s ok

    It never turns out well when someone does…

  • edited April 2023

    These songs are all brilliant and deserving of all the Spotify pennies they are getting.

  • Guys, I mean, until you've written a song THIS GOOD, you don't have the right to criticize Mr. Beato.

    For the record, I like Rick's videos and his obvious enthusiasm for music. I even can overlook the cornball sideburns and that mouthful-of-Lemonheads face he makes for every single sweet guitar lick that he hears. But this "Carolina" song, which he produced and cowrote? It's total shit. It's a blight on the airwaves, a cynical, studio-engineered anthem for people who consume music but don't really like it. It's borderline unforgivable. But I'm not going to make a YouTube video about how bad it is, because that's a waste of time.

  • @tahiche said:

    @AlexY said:
    Reggaeton has always had that "Dembow" groove as its backbone. Without that, I don't know if it would even be reggaeton anymore.

    There's obviously a cultural barrier going on here since reggaeton is HUGE in latin america and has dominated almost as long as hip hop.

    I might be wrong in generalizing as reggeatton. Probably just the current production trend that’s everywhere. In Rick’s video out of the 10 songs 3 or 4 sound exactly the same. My nephews love this kind of music, exact same beat, exact same vocoder use and overall a very limited palette.

    As a datapoint, I'll say that way back in 1995 when I was listening to Playero 39 nonstop, my anglo roomate eventually had to make the comment that it all sounded the same. :wink:

  • can we talk about how he called Shakira, SHARIKA !!! i mean its fucking Shakira , lol.

  • @shinyisshiny said:
    can we talk about how he called Shakira, SHARIKA !!! i mean its fucking Shakira , lol.

    More evidence of his old fartiness.

  • @shinyisshiny said:
    can we talk about how he called Shakira, SHARIKA !!! i mean its fucking Shakira , lol.

    LOL! Yeah that one made me laugh when I saw it in the video. 😂

  • Also, "Boy's a Liar" is fucking awesome.

  • @ExAsperis99 said:
    Guys, I mean, until you've written a song THIS GOOD, you don't have the right to criticize Mr. Beato.

    For the record, I like Rick's videos and his obvious enthusiasm for music. I even can overlook the cornball sideburns and that mouthful-of-Lemonheads face he makes for every single sweet guitar lick that he hears. But this "Carolina" song, which he produced and cowrote? It's total shit. It's a blight on the airwaves, a cynical, studio-engineered anthem for people who consume music but don't really like it. It's borderline unforgivable. But I'm not going to make a YouTube video about how bad it is, because that's a waste of time.

    Spot on. This is utter formula crap, actually worse and more annoying than the shitty songs on the video.

  • Indeed... This is pure generic crap > @tahiche said:

    @ExAsperis99 said:
    Guys, I mean, until you've written a song THIS GOOD, you don't have the right to criticize Mr. Beato.

    For the record, I like Rick's videos and his obvious enthusiasm for music. I even can overlook the cornball sideburns and that mouthful-of-Lemonheads face he makes for every single sweet guitar lick that he hears. But this "Carolina" song, which he produced and cowrote? It's total shit. It's a blight on the airwaves, a cynical, studio-engineered anthem for people who consume music but don't really like it. It's borderline unforgivable. But I'm not going to make a YouTube video about how bad it is, because that's a waste of time.

    Spot on. This is utter formula crap, actually worse and more annoying than the shitty songs on the video.

  • Spot on. This is utter formula crap, actually worse and more annoying than the shitty songs on the video.

    It's a toss up for me. Formulaic crap from past vs. Formulaic crap from now. What crap is the crappiest?

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