YOU TUBE AND MUSIC

Psy seems to have a sense of humor...

The entire world was made aware of K-POP last month when Gangnam Style blew up on the u tubes.
No one can deny the entertainment value of that video.  I doubt anyone watched it just once.  I compared it to a giant bowl of Halloween candy that you just can't stop eating... Huge sugar rush!
But, unfortunately, it is not really representative of most K-POP.  Even the totally bizarre choreography was much more inventive than most K-POP mvs.  Like a lot of people I looked at other Korean bands after watching Psi do his thing and was mostly disappointed.  Firstly, there are a gazillion of them, and secondly, they are mostly watered down/candied up versions of American pop.  A lot of them have American names like "Super Junior", "Girls' Generation" and "Miss A".  After watching a half dozen or so I concluded that while they have fairly successfully mimicked the basic moves and wardrobe, they  have a different attitude towards pop.  There is no "POP".  Unlike Psy's phenomenal addictive video, the rest are bland and redundant.

2ne1 is basic pop but this animated video (here) is very cute.  Maybe it's my American taste, but this song and video are a perfect match and something we Americans love about Asian pop culture - Animee.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

Of course Lady Gaga is an inspiration to just about everyone, but this Japanese artist has taken a slightly weird turn with this video and even weirder with this one.  It gets hard to watch all the way through.  Basically the opposite reaction I had to Gangnam Style.
BTW, this commercial/movie for Gaga's new perfume is impressive (here)

watch

So, yeah, not only Asians are inspired by American music.  Poland has found much love for gangsta rap.  Makes sense.  And like the Asian pop, these Polish rappers have all the look, moves and sounds of American rap.  Maybe even some soul.  But, something is missing still...

Rammstein

If you skip over to Germany, you can find massive amounts of industrial, electronic, metal, and punk that is purely German.  No need to involve America at all.  I suppose they were influenced somewhat in the 70s and 80s by English and American punk bands but watch this video by Sie Arzte and you can see they owe no tip of the hat to anyone (here).  Oh, I almost forgot to link to my favorite Rammstein video (here).

These two bands got started in the 90s when soooo much good, creative music was out there.  Here in America, we had outstanding rap videos like Missy Elliot's "Work It" (here) and Busta Rhymes "Dangerous" (here).  The creativity and talent and originality of these 90s videos makes me almost sad.  You would think that some of these other people who are kinda new to the music scene would jump in and raise the bar... That said, you can't get much newer than a 5 year old and her 8 year old cousin.  From the UK where so much awesome musical talent has come before are Sophie Grace and Rosie!

OMG!!! My heroes!!!

Wow. Sophie Grace and Rosie are keepin it so real!  Watch (this).  Then watch all their Ellen shows.  They make you cry and laugh and want to hug someone.  They get POP.  They get it better than just about anyone.

So, POP of course, stands for popular and oftimes creative and interesting is not "popular".  Or not massively popular.  Tons of "underground" bands have rather huge followings and try to avoid catching the attention of mainstream.

Versailles

This Japanese band "Versailles" is a metal band of sorts formed in '07 and kicks so much ass you MUST watch THIS.  Not that it matters, but if you are curious or confused this is an all male band.  I wanted to include it because Japan has so much art and fashion and creative talent for such a small country I needed to make sure and show some respect...

This is a very superficial ( meaning just scratching the surface ) post concerning music and you tube.  I started out with KPOP and decided to kinda stick to pop.  But the truly awesome thing about music and you tube is that I could make a music video today and post it and someone might watch it.  Or like Psy, 300,000,000 people might watch it.  That should inspire someone !!!