The Problem with Rick Beato transcript

[Music] you know something not to sound like a video essayist cliche but it pains me to make this video how has it come to the point where i have to make an angry response video to someone who a loves amsterdam by coldplay enough to make an entire video about it and b loves swerve driver enough to have an in-depth interview with adam franklin rick biatto should essentially be zaddy to me that's a bad series of words that i just said anyway over the years rick beato has been generous enough to showcase various production techniques behind the scenes stories and a general love and appreciation for music maybe that's why it's extra frustrating when time and again he uses his sway within the music scene to publicly espouse these baffling takes that i think are quite frankly to employ a phrase we used in the industry really just the [ __ ] frowny face so rick starts this video by talking about his experience with video games from 80s arcade games to current games that he's playing with his kids he talks about how engaging the gaming experience is for him and i'm just gonna play this part of the video for you and it reminded me as i'm playing these video games how addictive they are playing mario kart i mean they're incredibly addictive i was talking to billy about this he's like didn't you like the music i said what music he said you didn't hear the music in this i was like i didn't notice the music i was focused so on the game i'm just trying to win i wasn't thinking about the music and i was like man this is so addictive and i realized this is why kids that i meet for most of them are just not interested in music they like video games rick implies that because he wasn't paying attention to the video game's music means that other video game players aren't acknowledging taking in or listening to the music not as they play or as they watch someone else play or independent of the game itself the funny thing is he seems to imply that his friend billy in the anecdote does notice the music so instead of coming to the conclusion that oh i guess people experience video games in different ways my friend is able to notice or enjoy the music as he plays and i am not able to do that and that's fine instead of coming to that conclusion he concludes that you can't enjoy music when you play and young people don't even care about music nowadays kids when they grew up the gen z kids they grew up with the internet with wi-fi iphones started in 2007. when i talk about gen z we're talking about basically 1995 to let's say 2012. they have only known a world of the internet of gaming of wi-fi of you know interacting with things while they're playing video games they're on discord and they're talking to their friends and they're all playing together some get together in groups and do it some go online and do it with complete strangers so he seems to be implying that because gen z has access to the internet they aren't using it to listen to music they're using it solely to play video games and go on discord the latter of which had its initial launch in 2015 so if you were an older zoomer as he defines it 1995 to 2012 you were an adult by the time discord had its initial launch so i think it's ironic that he as a successful youtuber doesn't acknowledge the tremendously wide array of information art and people you have access to through the internet and instead lazily equates the internet solely with gaming like you were there when napster happened dude you know the ease with which people can access music through the internet but no the kids are just gaming they're only gaming and they're not listening or appreciating the soundtracks of the games either not as they're playing them or otherwise iconic contemporary soundtracks like minecrafts or undertales soundtracks his argument is so flimsy that it's hard for me to even summarize it and i don't even really want to focus on the video game aspect of his point quote unquote but before i move on i will say this video games are a valid form of audio visual art music is often a big part of the experience of engaging with them there are whole conventions dedicated to video game music bands orchestras djs play music from video games it's good fun when i was growing up the way that we you know our coming of age thing was buying records that that you know we would save our money for and spend whatever 15 bucks to buy a record and you can only buy a certain amount of records and you would listen these records all the way through they're the things that you shared with your friends you'd hang out and you're going to your friend's house you'd sit around in their basement listen to records and talk and and do things and you develop all these memories that were associated with these songs at the time that you grew up with and it was different music than your parents grew up with right this was our music wasn't our parents music rick so strongly associates these rituals that he took part in as a child with being the objectively correct way to engage with music that when these practices fall by the wayside he concludes that music must just not be being engaged with anymore when i say being engaged with i mean like you know listening to or talked about you know cared about basically if the younger generation didn't go to the five and dime and grab a copy of blood sweat and tears and pop it on the turntable they must not even care about music this is not an uncommon take to have it's just really [ __ ] stupid it's a really stupid take look here's the thing what makes rick beato as a youtube personality so engaging is also his greatest flaw he is so wrapped up in his own singular perspective on things that he pushes them on the viewer as objective fact and look i'm aware that in order to create videos like his or like the one you're watching now that i made there has to be at least some semblance of objectivity you have to have a take or the video doesn't work normally but what many aren't noticing is that rick's reasoning is often very short-sighted or even just unfounded so you have these half-baked ideas that even he is fumbling to communicate becoming the basis of whole videos that get hundreds of thousands of views or more look i've worked as a music teacher teaching gen z kids and i arguably am a gen z kid and i can assure you that our love of music has not been lessened because we don't consume music in the exact same way as rick did when he was our age with ages i would also argue that gen z's music consumption practices aren't even especially different than they used to be maybe you replace going to the record store with browsing youtube recommendations or you don't because there are still record stores and i see young people in there all the time and maybe you replace discovering a popular song through a movie or something with discovering it through tick tock or you don't because something in the way in the latter half of the video he talks about how the people writing most of today's pop songs are not gen z they're in their 30s 40s 50s you know i always joke about these pop songs they're written by committees of people nine people whatever a lot of people are in their 30s 40s 50s that are writing that are songwriters and yes some are in their 20s but a lot of them are older he doesn't outright state it but he seems to be implying he wasn't implying a lot in this video he seems to be implying that this is because there literally aren't enough gen z people who even care about music to be songwriters i mean i might be wrong about this point maybe that's not what he's saying a lot of ricky out of videos are just unfocused ramblings about topics that are tangentially related to each other but say that that is his point maybe sort of don't you think that there are other aspects that might be hindering zoomers from being pop songwriters like maybe a music industry that's difficult to break into the music industry that you've been vocally critical of now that being said some of the best players are alive today young kids but a lot of them develop their playing skills because of things like youtube because of tutorials but they don't have to really have a good ear all they have to do is be able to watch people play stuff and they can do it but if you gave them an ear training quiz probably a lot of them wouldn't do that well on it they're great at figuring out stuff where they're taught things by row or they can slow it down with their with every aid in the world to learn how to play things better they've got them all they play with their drum machines they do all this stuff they have very little interactive experience though playing with other musicians live but they develop these skills as super virtuosos now this point is borderline unhinged he's knocking younger guitarists for using the technology at their disposal to improve their skills which is just rude so when rick is talking about how they have very little experience playing with other musicians live i think that he might be you know implying that if they were in a band setting they would flounder which i think is unfounded there are plenty of super technical math bands out there composed of super technical musicians some of whom i know personally who are younger than i am and when they get into a group setting they don't just crumble also in the current state of guitar music i wouldn't say the focus is on technical ability at least not entirely that sounds like a criticism that would be more relevant back in the 80s when mainstream rock guitarists were often criticized for being solar shredders trying to emulate eddie van halen the modern guitar landscape is extremely varied probably in no small part because of the internet which wait a minute what does this even have to do with your point this video is called why gen z doesn't care about music and you've decided to spend a good portion of your video talking about young super virtuosos who are working to become as technically skilled on their instruments as possible dude that doesn't sound like a good example of a zoomer who doesn't care about music this video is hardly the only example of rick beato throwing flawed or incomplete criticism at generations is junior so i'm gonna jump to a video called will rock music ever come back will we ever see him again rick beatto can't decide if he's making a video criticizing contemporary rock acts for not being of equal quality to their forebearers or lamenting rock's dwindling popularity independent of that notion at first he's simply stating that there aren't many new rock stars which is true he talks about dave grohl being the last big rock star i can understand that take then he uses politia as an example of a contemporary rock act politia has 691 thousand and one of the problems with the music is that there's that's just guitar based it's not song based there's no hooks right there's no lead singers that have hooks there's no van halen with hit songs you know running with the devil and all right so he criticizes politia for being an instrumental act he then quickly and subtly jumps from the idea that instrumental acts are inferior to the idea that politia represents the norm in modern rock where in back and rock's heyday there were hits like van halen's running with the devil now they're simply goat by feliphia and other tracks devoid of hooks because instrumentals can't have hooks or whatever so a couple things you've had tim henson on your channel multiple times now maybe don't throw shade at his [ __ ] band it's not cool dude but also this portion of the rant really showcases something rick biato's knowledge of current rock bands seems to be extremely limited now i think that's due to a mixture of things he's clearly a little out of touch it's easy to miss out on the loads of buzzed about underground bands if you don't know where to look but i think there might be something that's informing his not knowing where to look that's more than pure ignorance it seems as though he equates popularity with quality which i'm sure he would be loath to admit but he has an obsession with the concept of the rock star dave grohl is on you know in big magazines things like that he's in the rock and roll hall of fame and this is a different level of fame and like i i get it from his teenage years through to his adulthood rock stars were a legitimate thing like in a way that they aren't now young exuberant rock and roll celebrities whose mythology took on a life of their own music institutions have deemed these artists worthy of canonizing arguing their quality is undeniable and their continued popularity is a testament to that i don't think that rick is willing or interested in looking for underground or modestly sized rock bands and musicians because in his mind they're not worth it i mean this is conjecture but i find it hard to believe that someone as well connected and supposedly hip as he is can't possibly seek out and keep tabs on black midi or nova twins or barty strange or death heaven or meet me at the altar or narrow head or code orange or avlav or origami angel or snail mail or glass beach or fontan's dc or shame or black country new road or car seat headrest or pink shift or hop along or foxing or joyce manor or tropical [ __ ] storm or idols or turn style or knock loose or soul glow or mannequin [ __ ] but the chance of any of these bands achieving the level of fame and adoration that a led zeppelin has given the current musical landscape is extremely unlikely sure a lot of them are very popular and very acclaimed but it's not something that could even be on his radar those bands don't have billboard number one hits they're not tabloid fodder but that doesn't mean that they should be discounted look i get it to quote nickelback we all just don't want to be big rock stars but not being on nirvana's level doesn't mean you don't hold value the sonic and aesthetics of these bands help shape and inform the mainstream and even if they didn't that would also be fine because it's music and music holds value it's not a popularity contest it's not the nfl playoffs everyone's a winner i mean yeah there is a conversation to be had about musicians being underpaid or exploited but that's a problem for mainstream acts as well and that's also for another video look i might be totally wrong maybe this sort of cynicism and judgment isn't barring rick at all maybe he just needs a tip from someone with their ear to the ground but given the attitude he has towards the younger generations i feel like my theory isn't entirely unfounded look the question of how and where younger generations are engaging with music or how rock has changed throughout time and how the concept of a rock star has changed these are questions worth asking but let's be honest do we think that rick is even scratching the surface when it comes to legitimate answers no i don't think so i care immensely about music it is a central part of my life just as much as it is yours rick i'm a gen z person as you define it i was born in 1996 for someone whom in the past i have appreciated for their perspective and their wisdom to tell me that i just don't care and that my friends my peers people who i've taught music to talked at length about music with played music with gone to concerts with though we just don't care about music that's insulting so rick i want to end this video by asking you a question do you realize the implications of your actions right now [Music]