...or, at very least, ONE of the most popular harmonica clips on the web. More than 1.6 million hits, more than 16,500 "likes," all of them accumulated since August 2011 (i.e., in less than six months). Have you seen this clip? More importantly, can you explain why it's so popular? I don't quite get it:
I don't know what it's like in the US but the Dubstep scene in the UK is pretty big. The spectacle of seeing it done by a guy "beatboxing" is pretty intriguing/entertaining. In a similar vein to Michael Winslow from the Police Academy movies I guess.
As MrVerylongusername says it probably has very little to do with the harmonica content as serious players may look at it, however the gimmick value probably goes some way, and he is using it to create similar sounds that you might find in studio produced Dupstep which is pretty cool.
I've seen this guy busking in the markets near where I live in London. He's very good at drawing a crowd. He's very funny and has a great way with people.
I think as a street entertainer he's got a pretty good thing going.
Last Edited by on Jan 19, 2012 4:14 AM
I think he's a good performer who knows how to use basic rhythmic techniques on the harp to control time. I wouldn't be surprised to see 16,000 hits and 165 likes. It's the fact that he's done 100 times that well in such a short period of time that surprises me.
The Buddy Greene video is a whole 'nother thing, as they say. It's brilliant, irreplaceable, and deserves every single hit it's accumulated.
Last Edited by on Jan 19, 2012 5:21 AM
Sir, I triple like your comment on Buddy Greene. Amazing player with amazing class. The true appreciation for his skill & talent is seen in his on-stage interaction with side-man Jeff. They have a musical friendship like nothing in the biz.. It just makes his harmonica playing that much more entertaining
I guess, as with many things on the internet, it has caught the imagination of the masses and been passed around, posted on facebook etc.
I work in a digital marketing agency and it is always interesting to see these internet phenomenon occurring. In most cases there seems to be no real way to tell why something has taken off. There is also no way to deliberately create something that is going to catch on.
Take this for example:
1,352,683 views in less than 2 months. National news coverage, endless parodies and memes etc. What!? – Exactly.
I guess that in the case of the clip in the OP, this is something which is going to appeal to a certain age group and demographic. A demographic who are certainly highly engaged with things like youtube and facebook and therefore have shared and passed this clip around to their friends, and therefore friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends etc.
Last Edited by on Jan 19, 2012 5:41 AM
Kudzu, you realize by posting the video you've increased it's view count by everyone that watches on the forum and anyone that searches google for dubstep harmonica and this thread pops up, lol. I imagine that's part of how it got so many hits.
I hang around guys in thier 20s-30s in PA & some of the techy IT ones, like I am, who dig stuff like daft punk do talk about dubstep quite a bit but usually as a joke. There's a number of user modified games with dubstep soundtracks as well.
I actually like this guy's performance before he touches the harmonica. The harmonica stuff sounds like child's play to me. But the guy is out there, I bet he spent time working on this whole bit. He's got an energy & humor about him that's very enjoyable.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Funny thing is I had no problem thinking of someone Id like to show this to cause Im sure he'd get some sort of kick out of it. So easy to spread videos from youtube with oneclick sharing on android devices, lol.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
This poor sap has been on over 2 years and hasn't hit 72,000 yet. Hopefully he persevered. Maybe he's made enough change by now to afford the rest of that drum!
I see nothing entertaining about that first video posted in this thread. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
Yes I've seen this video already, in fact I've seen a a couple from this guy just recently.
The interest in Dub Step is VERY high right now. Similar to Drum and Bass about 10 years ago, it is a new style of electronic music and has captured the attention of the younger generation.
Youtube is mainly young kids and you can see by the analytics who and where the clicks are coming from. A lot are from "first referral" directly from Youtube, and the rest are coming from it going viral on Facebook.
Total views: 1,619,146
Significant discovery events Date Event Views A 12/01/11 First referral from related video – PUMPED UP KICKS|DUBSTEP 80,360 B 11/25/11 First referral from related video – Best Beatboxer !!!!! 36,884 C 10/31/11 First referral from – facebook.com 74,719 D 10/31/11 First embedded on – facebook.com 69,827 E 10/31/11 First referral from related video 26,642 F 10/28/11 First referral from related video – BEST DUBSTEP BEATBOXER EVER!?!?! 136,965 G 09/03/11 First embedded on – vkontakte.ru 29,733 H 08/21/11 First view from a mobile device 361,369 I 08/21/11 First referral from YouTube search – dubstep beatbox 175,655
This video is most popular with: Gender Age Male 18-24 Male 13-17 Male 25-34
Similarly, I felt the same way about Issacullah's busking post from a while back. A number of people commenting on that vid were saying he had tapped into something new after watching all these kids gravitating toward him. To me, it seemed they were there more to hear the kid "freestyle" rap than anything else, which didn't seem like anything new to me. I didn't post anything at the time out of respect for Issac's request that there be no criticism, but I see a valid parallel here (ie: it's not really the harp here so much but that beatbox/drumloop/rap kind of feel)
I live in an urban environment, at least once a day in the summertime (and normally multiple times) I can hear from my window the pounding base and vocals from either rap or techno in the cars passing by. NEVER blues, rock, jazz, etc., not even any tracks from the younger artists trying to "modernize" those genres (eg: the black keys, Grace Potter and the Nocurnals, etc).
Now I'll admit, that's hardly an academic study, but from where I sit, for better or for worse, for 15 - 30 year olds, rap still dominates, and especially for any kind of urban outdoor "one-man band" kind of setups.
Regarding the astronomical number of YT hits, I read an article a whle back about how there were ways to game the system, tried to link to it here but the link was dead. Not saying that's happening here, but reading that article made me wary of the officially posted YT view numbers.
Last Edited by on Jan 19, 2012 9:01 AM
Aha! Now we're getting somewhere. Earlounge, thanks very much for that clarification. I'm utterly ignorant. I'd never heard of dubstep before this clip.
Please point me towards a couple of seminal dubstep recordings--whatever is hot right now, whatever is the acknowledged classic of the genre--and I will attack the project of learning it with all my might. I will create and upload a monstrous video and become famous among the dubstep crowd.
If you think I'm joking--about giving it a try--then you guys definitely don't know me. Isaacullah has been prodding all of us for a long time, insisting that the blues harp needs to connect with a youth audience. This thread has given me all the information I need. Just somebody please point me towards whatever "original" dubstep recording this harp guy is channeling. I will do my best to give it the AG treatment.
I'd like to know which dubstep recording, specifically, the harp player is referencing, or whether he's just trying to replicate a general dubstep sound.
I'm not sure if he's referencing a specific recording, I'd guess he's probably replicating a general dubstep sound. Here's a good place to start:
Dubstep is a fairly broad canvas these days. This is a track from a couple of years ago (I think), which is also considered dub step, the more commercial end of it. A cover of "Limit To Your Love", originally by Feist.
Street performing is all about location and personna! His sound effects (or what ever you call that) are very good I thought. His on the street! People didn't go to a concert. Find a spot in a big city on a nice summer day where there are alot of people and the cops won't bother you and people like that are doing that all over the place. It doesn't have anything to do with the harmonica. Why does he have so many hits? If that young dude knew a real harmonica player and when he started chording Mr. harmonica walked up grabbed a mic and let it rip for 2 or 3 minutes that crowd would have gone nuts! Now that would have been a cool video!
I hate modern dubstep, it started in the 90's it was alright back then but now dubstep has become a mash of DnB, oldskool jungle, and a lot of repetitive whup whups. Just to add im only 24 and seem to be the only one in my area (Livingston, Scotland) with a since of what real music is. Apart from all the old gezzers :)
From what I understand Dub is popular in Europe. There's a guy that's a full time professor at Community College of Philadelphia in the music Department. He was on the jury panel for a lot of my music. He regularly travels to Europe to do Dub concerts. His name is Paul Geissinger AKA Starkey. ---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
Last Edited by on Jan 19, 2012 10:52 AM
I could post a couple pages worth on this, but it comes down to this:
People want their entertainment to be accessible to them, most of the YT generation can relate to vids like in the OP moreso than others.
Being really good at something and being popular for it is the exception and not the rule. Frequently in music, the more ability needed to pull something off, the less likely it is to attract non-musicians. People just don't get .
Evidence? Pop music. It is total garbage from a technical standpoint, but widely accessible to the masses for a number of reasons.
People want you to reach them...too many musicians expect the audience to reach the musician. That's fine if you want to do your thing for yourself, it just comes at a compromise.
Finally, the current generation is much better at expediting material through the web. Middle-aged people are much less likely to pass this stuff around due to technology and being mature enough to realize it isn't really all that good.
In my opinion; it mostly has to do with the music style. Note that I don't consider the above video a harmonica video - even though it was featured in it. This is significant because people found this video by typing "beatbox" or "DnB" not "harmonica".
Blues is just not an extremely popular genre, it's not something a lot of people can relate to. Even as a harmonica player I'm not a huge fan of blues, I get it, I've listened to the greats I've analyzed it and I try to use it in my harmonica play. But I don't like it. I think a majority of the population couldn't listen to blues all day long.
It's far too easy to say that people don't listen to a song because it's to difficult to understand. Did it ever occur to you that it is just less pleasing to the ear for the majority? Sure you can call pop music crap for many reasons, but apparently it touches people more than Blues does and in the end, that is what music is all about.
If you look at the Gussow videos that score well it's the tutorials - ofcourse, there are quite a lot of harp players. It's not the music, which seems curious because the music is, considered within the genre exceptionally good. So what you have is that you have a harp player who is well known, has a large following through the tutorials, exceptionally skilled and still a low amount of hits on the youtube videos.
I don't think generation differences are really the cause. There are plenty of extremely popular videos on youtube that can be considered as videos suited for the older generation.
I didn't even know the shit had a name! now that I know I still don't care. lol Seriously though it's just another method of keep time rythmatically. I think it sounds cool. Am I going to buy CD's of it? NO! That doesn't mean it's crap though. If that kid lived anywhere near me you can bet I'd contact him to make another vid! I'd come in play some real harp for a couple minutes while he was doing his Choo Choo, look at the camera just drop the mic and walk away! That would be fun! We shouldn't be hating on the young dude for having fun and generating excitement
I am not an expert, but what I gather from Dubstep is all about the bass line "wobble". It is made from automating filters to give that pumping feel. Google "Dubstep Wobble" Also, a lot of songs have a half time feel in the drums.
This song is huge with 58 million hits
There is evidence of Dubstep in very current pop music... check out the break down around 2:15 in this Brittany Spears Song (if you dare... lol)
I don't think you need to take on an entire new style. Just vary the dynamics and attack that kick drum with a bit more subtle variety. In other words, make it swing.
I actually dig that Skillrex song quite a bit. Doesn't look like Im alone if you search youtube you can find lots of remixes & covers on other instruments. I even found an orchestral cover. Dubstep reminds me of an in your face sorta variation on trance music. Just more dancy electronica with a sucker punch.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Todd, all those notes & not a good sound made, lol. Is this the same fastest player who played the star spangled banner but didnt sound anything like the tune, lol?
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
Yes dubstep is ass. Or I just don't understand it, maybe I should play it at 2x speed.
I think a major problem why the beatbox+harmonica doesn't really work is, in order to give a good beatbox kick you have to exhale, so you're automicaly are blowing first position chords/notes. It makes it sound very hokey to me.
I think if someone could manage to replace the sonny terry whoops with beatboxing that could work. I don't know if this is been going on. But all I heard so far combining the two sounds like german schlager
Flow has over 11 million hits. It is much more musically complex that the first guy though, especially when you consider it's done live by just two guys.
You aren't alone on the spam guard. Lately it's been doing that to me too when I KNOW I've been typing it in correctly. Especially if I let it sit for awhile before hitting the post button. ---------- Hawkeye Kane
There was a song called "Hocus Pocus" by the Focus, an instrumental. It's been a while. Mid way through, the song goes into about twelve bars of gibberish. I learned it. A few years back I recorded it, just the gibberish, and played it back a tad speeded up for my phone machine. It was a greeting by me, then "To continue in gibberish, press one." Just another stoopid phone machine gimmick. People went crazy for it. I began to hear it everywhere. Well...not everywhere, but it really caught on. Who knew?
Amazing really that it gets so many hits. I have never heard of this 'genre' of McDonalds crap music. And I'm far too old to buy it. But sucker me I watched a mere fraction of the video so it got another hit.
Often when I'm searching for a tune on Youtube that I want to learn I Google 'song name - harmonica'. I might get a choice of eg. 10 videos to watch. My criteria for selecting those to view, if the player is unknown to me, is generally based on number of hits & time on the net. Often it's proven to be wrong with some of the worst versions/players having the most hits. It would be nice to be popular but I guess I will just have to rely on my friends...20 hits WOW!
I'm going to get to the OP, but first a couple of clarification points about Genre titles: "Dubstep" music is NOT "Dub" music. 'Dub" music is hiphop-influence reggae/ska with samples and faster, club appropriate beats. Sean Paul is probably the most famous artist who works in the "Dub" genre (albeit on the pop side of that genre), but "Dub" music goes back pretty darn far in Jamaican music. Lee "Scratch" Perry was one of the originators."Dubstep" is a fairly recent genre of club music, with roots in the house, grime, garage (that's pronounced the English way), and other rave/club music genres of the last 15 years or so. One of the reasons that Dubstep has caught on is that it goes along with a new style of street dancing called "Krumping". The heavy, aggressive stop-time bass lines of Dubstep go hand-in-hand with that dance form, and together they've forged a new musical/movement tradition that is really quite popular with the youth (think of early hiphop and break dancing in the 80's).
Okay, to the OP: I have read all the posts and it strikes me that most folks here are coming at this from a harmonica-centric perspective. This is logical in that we are all harmonica players, and that this is a harmonica forum. The gist of the comments are that the harmonica in the OP video is not the main attraction. Looked at this way I would most certainly agree. But if, as Adam says, one wants to insert the harmonica properly into a dubstep track, I wonder if it is possible to do that and still have the harmonica be recognizable as a harmonica? In some of the comments about my own recent hiphop harmonica looping experiences, it was said that the I was using the harp create backing tracks that could be done by any other instrument, and that, mostly, one would never be able to tell it was a harmonica doing it. I tend to agree with these statements, but I also don't see anything wrong with playing this way. Some types of music just need you to do that. That is one completely valid way of inserting harmonica into a genre where is currently lacking. Now, for me, perhaps the most interesting question is how to insert the harmonica into this genre and still have it be recognizable as a harmonica. I think I could probably come up with a fairly genre-accurate (if not great) Dubstep track using harp and beatbox. I'm not sure that I could do so and still have the harmonica be recognizable... I have a feeling that if Kudzu and I both make a Dubstep track, whatever he came up with would have harmonica in it that is much more recognizeable as harmonica... Hmmm... As I type this, I'm getting an idea! Maybe I will make a dubstep track as well! And then we'll see how Kudzu and I differ in our approaches! It'd be good for a laugh anyway!
Finally, I'd just like to say that Kuduzu is right. I most certainly have been prodding at the forum for a while about the insertion of the harmonica into newer music types. I have been quite adamant about it in several posts. But I want to say here that I also know that these forms of music just don't appeal to some folks, and that's okay. I guess I've been a bit "overzealous" on purpose. A bit of shock and awe perhaps. But my main purpose was to expose the forum to these new directions, and perhaps open a few ears that had previously been closed. Actually, I know and have known that there are only a few of us on here that actually do like these new types of music, and even fewer actually inclined to attempt to put the harp in the mix. And that's cool. :) ---------- == I S A A C ==
In my young opinion, I don't think the people are really excited about the harmonica playing as much as they are the harmonica: people just do not expect it, or know what to expect from it.
I think he would have gotten the same reaction if it were a didgeridoo or Jew's harp or one of those tuba-like serpents. Well, except that the harmonica actually sounds good.
It has a beat and something "neat". Hey, that rhymed...
OT: I've noticed the CAPTCHA's have been a little wonky. The second Captcha seems to work but about half the time the first one doesn't. If it doesn't clear up I'll put in a support request.
edit- of course, that didn't work the first time. I'll see what's up. :)
---------- Nate Facebook Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
Last Edited by on Jan 19, 2012 3:59 PM
Fastest Harmonica in the World, or Biggest Blowhard?
Wow, that dude was fast. Imagine, over three thousand hits in 3 1/2 years! At that rate he'll overtake Buddy Greene before the Apocalypse! Don't blink or you'll miss him.
Last Edited by on Jan 19, 2012 4:12 PM
"how to insert the harmonica into this genre and still have it be recognizable as a harmonica" (isaacullah). Maybe try to do it the other way around, how to take dubstep and mix it with a harmonica instrumental. Maybe do a funky dancey fox chase with hoots and hollars & maybe figure out how to take a stomp box and play it into an electronic device to create the heavy bass drops & kicks.
Topic within the topic: I second that Captcha seems to work about 55% of the time.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
@Boyen...I mean pop is crap regarding its musical sophistication. Whether it is good or not is more subjective. ---------- Mike VHT Special 6 Mods Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
The performer in the OP video is doing a parody of dubstep. The harmonica piece is something else entirely, more of a parlor trick. Does YouTube keep statistics on how many people watch a video all the way through? It would be interesting to see how many of the people who started watching that bailed out after the harmonica piece started. He's better at the dubstep parody than the harp, but he's obviously a good entertainer.
@harpninja, I always enjoy your posts, but I don't understand what you're getting at about pop music. It ain't my thing but pop is pretty broad genre. To call it musically unsophisticated is painting with a pretty broad and wandering brush. And "total garbage from a technical standpoint"?? Take both those criticisms and apply them to some quintessential blues recordings and see if they don't stick.
My own preferences rarely lead me to pop because I usually like my music raw and what I hear in pop is so often over-produced and so technically refined that it becomes emotionally dead.
