You Choose YouTube

What is the world coming to when the most viewed clip on YouTube is Avril Lavigne's video clip Girlfriend? No this is not a hoax, or a joke, or a trick. With 117,549, 807 recorded views at the time of writing YouTube rates this video as the current most viewed of all time.

I feel ripped off for three reasons. First, I can't even view the stupid clip because "this video is not available in your country". Second, I can't embed another version of the clip here because embedding has been "disabled by request". Third, I searched for the most viewed clip on YouTube out of curiousity and this is what I got?

Was it unreasonable to expect something a little less shallow and a little more substantial? What is it with this clip that has made it the most viewed? What does it say about YouTube viewers?

I was introduced to YouTube back at the beginning of 2006, not long after it had officially launched in November 2005. Originally it represented a way for me to access tv and music videos on demand, without the lag of waiting for the Australian release and without the concern of pirating and illegal downloading. Today as the copyright and content restrictions are much more stringent (see here for example), YouTube has simply become a source of random entertainment and amusement. For me anyway.

Beyond my surprise that the most viewed video was in fact a music video, and not some slapstick Jackass-esque stunt, I was appauled that it was Avril Lavigne. I know the little Canadian pop punk princess is one of the highest selling artists in the United States, but I didn't realise her badly painted black nails had dug in to so many avenues. Sorry Avril, but your entertainment factor is not as high as a Charlie the Unicorn. Not that the other music videos in top 10 most viewed clips on YouTube are much better. The four other music entities are Chris Brown, Rihanna, Leona Lewis, and Alicia Keys (all of which have had "embedding disabled by request"), none of which are my cup of tea. In future I think I'll be sticking to the search function in YouTube and going by my own taste, especially when it comes to music.

Although there may be hope for the future of YouTube's most viewed, for the month of March at least. With last weeks most viewed video Extreme Sheep LED Art by BaaStuds:



Or this months most viewed video Fred Rescues the Neighbourhood Squirrels by Fred:

Screaming Girls and Music Snobbery

I hate music snobs. I hate the type of people who sneer condescendingly down their nose at you because you don’t know everything about a certain musical someone. Just because you don’t know every little detail and piece of backwards gossip about the history of a band doesn’t mean your right to say you like/dislike a band or their music is automatically removed. How is knowing the name of every song and every album and every band member for any given band that comes up in conversation really going to change how you feel about their music?

You are entitled to like a band just because. Even if you can’t articulate why. For me a lot of the time I like a band because I’ve heard a song and found it catchy. It doesn’t make a shred of difference how many albums they’ve released, who listens to them, or who they were influenced by. I like their music, knowing everything about them is unlikely to change that. Let me reminisce for a moment.

Fall Out Boy. Friday February 20, 2009 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, with supports Hey Monday and The All American Rejects. Walking in among the crowd of predominantly mid-teen girls wearing various band-tees, converse shoes, and spiky hair I look somewhat out of place. But you know what? I don’t give a damn. I’m there to jump around in the mosh pit, sing along to my favourite songs, and all in all have a good time. Just because I was mocked by my brother, my boyfriend, and my housemates for going to this gig was not going to stop me.

They might not be the coolest obscure indy type, or be a hardcore metal band, but that doesn’t mean I can’t think they’re awesome. I might not know (and when I say might, I mean don’t) everything there is to know about them, but that’s not going to stop me digging their music. I might be an amateur when it comes to the music industry, but that doesn’t make my opinion any less valid. Sure it might be different to yours, but so what?

When was the last time you let someone tell you what to think? For me it stopped when I was about five years old and realised that I had a brain of my own. When was the last time you let someone else shout down your opinion just because they think their own is more valid? In all honesty, for me it was probably on yesterday. But really, what’s the difference? Just because I don’t like the same bands or know everything there is to know about music doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion about it. And just because you might know everything there is to know, doesn’t mean you should be snobby about it.

I don't know everything about Fall Out Boy but I do know that I wasn't the only 22+ year old having an absolute blast at the Brisbane gig. So if someone tells me one more time that Fall Out Boy are only for snivelling thirteen year old girls who are in love with Pete Wentz I think it will be time to resort to violence. I'm thinking about cutting off their noses. At least that way they can't look down it to snub me.

Me and some fellow Fall Out Boy fanatics, prior to being drenched in the sweat of some eight something thousand teeny boppers...