Among one of the YouTubers I recently stumbled upon, Rick Beato’s videos on music analysis are excellent. Because he is a huge Rush fan and classic rock fan, who deeply respects different genres or music from classical to newer top charts, he established strong credibility with me early. He interviewed Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Annika Niles separately on his channel (and asking them the geekiest questions about their gear and music they seemed to enjoy answering, as it wasn’t all the usual questions).

It’s not unique to them. He has interviewed so many really legendary musicians and has always seemed to do so in the most nerdy, enthusiastic, and thoughtful way, rather than asking the same typical basic questions many mainstream interviewers might ask. He talks about music theory in a way that is both digestible for those with limited to moderate proficiency with music theory, but with songs most of us know well.

I will say, he does have an anti-autotune bias (which I share), and over-compressing songs in the mix, but he’s clear to say it’s his opinion and why things he personally doesn’t like still work well and are popular. I do think his analysis is fair and balanced.

I haven’t seen him really dive into jam bands or electronic artists, for example, and other lesser known genres which deserve some more recognition. But within what he has done, I like him. He will give niche praise (where credit is due) on newly released top chart music that is unique and creative. Here are some of the non-interview faves. I like that he regularly listens to the top charts and assesses trends thoughtfully. I need to do that more often too and branch out.

  1. “Why Modern Pop All Sounds The Same” www.youtube.com/watch

  2. “The Real Reason Music Is Getting Worse.” www.youtube.com/watch

  3. “How Do People NOT Know This About Pop Music?” www.youtube.com/watch

  4. “Listening to the Spotify Top 10 So You Don’t Have To.” (I think this is the most recent one?) www.youtube.com/watch

  5. “Why STING is UNCOPYABLE.” www.youtube.com/watch

Good stuff indeed!