I'm finally getting around to reacting to reaction videos. I know, 2007 called and wants its meme back 🙄
For the most part I can't stand the whole genre of reaction videos. Most of them are just jumping on a popular bandwagon and rarely add much value (one of the few examples of a reaction video by unknowledgeable participants which is entertaining is the two kids who listen to In The Air Tonight for the first time. Even though they add nothing in terms of expert commentary to the track, you know what they don't, and their reaction to a 40 year old song is genuine surprise and pleasure). They're also a good way to post copywrited content on your channel since you are technically transforming the original material.
Recently I've found some music reaction videos which are genuinely transforming and adding to the original work. The first I need to call out is Rick Beato. Rick is a former music prof and recording artist. He does a great job of breaking down a song, including isolating specific instruments, and even playing parts to demonstrate what is being play. Warren Huart is another great resource for breaking down iconic songs. He comes at these videos from the point of view of a producer and artist and not only covers the music but also the historic context and importance of the music.
But neither of these are really reaction videos. This is music they are intimately familiar with, and they're providing a well researched break down of the songs. I recently found Doug Helvering's channel. At first I was turned off the recommendation because it was the classic YouTube click bait title "Classical composer reacts to (insert song here)." I understand why he's using this kind of title. Viewers really do click on videos with these kinds of titles, and the algorithm then keeps pushing it in front of more people. In this case I was being pushed towards his reaction to Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Now I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan. I've been a fan since I was kid, and an album like Wish You Were Here, which was published the same year I was born, has been in my life as long as I can remember. It was fun to watch someone who is a music lover, and music expert, hear a song I know inside and out for the first time. His music theory commentary was also interesting as I'm trying to get back into learning guitar again and learning Floyd songs has been an obvious direction for me (my music theory is very weak so I like hearing people like Doug and Rick talk about it with songs I know well).
For anyone unfamiliar with the album, Shine On bookends the album. Parts 1-5 open the album, and parts 6-9 close it. Doug decides to listen to the song as a whole, and tackles the three middle songs in a separate video. I think this makes sense for the format of his videos, but if you've never heard the album I would suggest listening to it through in order the first time.
As much fun as it was to watch Doug react to my favourite Pink Floyd album, I saw he went through my favourite song in a different video. Echoes is an odd song which people who aren't fans have probably never heard of let alone heard. It was the entire B-side of the 1971 album Meddle, and comes in at 23 and a half minutes. Not exactly radio material in a world of 3 minute singles. While the entire band was credited with writing it, it really was keyboardist Richard Wright who was responsible for creating it. David Gilmour has always said it was a conversation between him and Wright when they played it. As such he's only ever played it when Wright was on tour with him. I had the pleasure of seeing the two of them play it in 2006 at Vincent Massey Hall. The single opening note was enough to get the crowd going. It was the most powerful live music performance I've witnessed. The version Doug watches in his reaction is the live version from Live at Gdansk. This is easily one of the best recordings of it, and benefits from having HD footage of the show as well. It's also the final time Gilmour and Wright played it on stage. Wright passed away from cancer less than two years after this performance.
If you're unfamilar with Echoes I recommend sitting down and listening through it at least once with a good pair of headphones without distraction. The good and bad thing about the reaction video is Doug talks through the song. It is great to hear his commentary, but it is worth listening at least once without any distractions. 50 years on it is still a powerful song with a message of empathy which the world could probably use right now.