Hey y'all, I hope you enjoyed the video!! I wanted to make something that was more "casual" than a standard video essay. Half way between spit-balling ideas and a fully formed essay. Idk, experimentation is cool! There were a few things I glossed over to keep it simple (Like the times when pop-focused mainstream acts were actually trying something different & cool, Ghost's aesthetic impacting their success despite being detached from their sound, Spiritbox's success, etc.) just to cut down on time. So it's not the most thorough, but I hope you enjoy it regardless! And here's the artists who's work was sampled: Merzbow, Unicorn on K, Big Chef, haircuts for men, Opal Vessel, Industrial Forest (me), isolated path, Christian Lovers, Akira Yamaoka, Jarrod Alonge, Sugar Wounds, & Bonegraft. Okay that's it, see ya next video 🖤

Pop music is inaccessible for me cause Ed Sheeran doesn't sound like a broken car trying to run without gas covered in a wall of noise

Pornogrind is a special case because it's inaccessible to regular people but it's pretty much accessible in a way that it's a literal invitation to police officers to check your hard drive

I, for some reason, love it when artists are very accessible, build a huge fanbase and THEN start getting weirder and weirder... Because they were always weird on the inside, now they can just afford to be weird on the outside as well.

Your Knocked Loose/Elvis Point reminds me a lot of Rammstein, 20-30 years ago they played in front of some hundred people and now they're nearly mainstream without sacrificing their heavyness.

I've always felt accessibility is what society deems as normal, microtonal music is a staple of countries like Turkey, but would weird people out in the west. There's also stuff like gamelan music which would be weird to people in the west. I think if the time is right, maybe through memes or something else even stuff like grindcore could become mainstream to some effect. In some ways it already is, it's the first thing people think about when I say "metal" not knowing that metal is actually a lot more accessible. Like some girl I was talking to said she could never listen to metal but then had Black Sabbath in her playlist.

knocked loose and lorna shore hitting the mainstream without watering down their sound is still crazy to me

something thats kind of interesting to me is that gothic rock is not typically viewed as accessible even though a lot of it is just 80s pop but edgier

I’ve noticed even listening to my “inaccessible bands” many times the songs I initially love on the album end up being my least favorite for being too simple and the ones I didn’t “get” at first became favorites.

ITS CRUSTBAG TIME

That high five at around 3:09 should win an oscar for best visual effects

i find it so fascinating when artists can combine some of the most accessible genres ever like rock or pop music with way less accessible genres like idm/drum & bass/etc for example without compromising anything from either side of the spectrum

Crustbag was my bisexual awakening.

A weird phenomenon for me as a German is definitely Rammstein. An absolutely huge internationally successful band with very little accessibility considering that they sing entirely in german and are a neue Deutsche härte/industrial metal band. I guess a lot of Accessibility is through their live performances which are just a spectacle but I mean people listen to their music outside of that as well. Their music does vary vastly in accessibility with anything from soft ballads to fast paced riffs, heavy drums and rough screaming vocals. But funnily enough some of their heavier songs are the more known ones when you’d generally expect the complete opposite, that their softer more agreeable songs are the ones that would do well. But I guess some of the Accessibility also comes through not actually understanding what they’re saying, I’ve seen so many foreigners really enjoy the music and then be shocked and terrified when they translate the lyrics and understand what Rammstein is actually singing about. The guitar riffs are pretty accessible too I guess, most of the time. But largely the international success is still a mystery to me since they’re really not very accessible. Especially because they’re a lot more popular internationally than they are here in Germany. In Germany they’re faced with a lot of controversy and hate. I love that they never watered down their style. They’ve been sticking to what they do for 30 years now.

crustbag is kinda in this scale. niche, getting more recognition, but never chainging for the worst. keep it up man :)

Talking about accessibility, as someone who watches a decent amount of video essays, it's nice to watch one that's kinda just short and to the point. Like, you *could* do a deep dive on everything, I'm sure there's a lot there, but you went in made your points, showed some examples and that was good enough. All in all, good video.

love the Akira Yamaoka music kicking in at the wellness retreat.

"but the single most inaccessible music genre humanly possible would most likely be, say it with me now" Merzbow? "Harsh Noise." same thing. if you'd told me, when Chaosphere came out, that Meshuggah would be one of the most influential bands in Metal in 25 years, i don't know if i'd be surprised or think "yeah that makes sense." the best extreme music presents the inaccessible in a way that is so compelling that people are invested enough to engage, thus it gradually becomes relatively more accessible over time. Archspire, i would imagine, is pretty opaque to normies, but they're building on Tech Death ideas that Cryptopsy and Suffocation lay down decades ago, which provides context to understand how richly articulated their aggressive walls of sound are. there's so much you could go into, because inaccessibility is multifaceted, it isn't just fast and heavy or intentionally abrasive stuff. there are bands that are conceptually complex or just weird. Secret Chiefs 3, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Mr. Bungle, The Residents, Captain Beefheart. often that edge of weirdness ends up making them more engaging. if you forget that Tool is popular, they're a pretty weird band; long, doomy, contemplative prog metal in odd time signatures, but that made them stand out. Primus has made a 40 year career of being accessibly inaccessible.

I think comedic music is the great catalyst to the debate of making “good” or “bad” music. Personally, I’ve found that the more fun you have making a song, it gets better reception from peers, as compared to something with a lot of struggle, complexity, or vulnerability, it’s usually a lot more polarizing, in my case at least. Not to say accessibility is the goal, but for trying to gain an audience, working smarter and not harder helps a lot.

Scott Walker is a good example of someone whose music got less accessible but more creative and interesting over the years.

it’s a good day when crustbag uploads

Here in Estonia, one time local radio station accidentally played a really good local cult classic noise- rock song. This was the only time anything interesting was played in the last 7 years.

2:44 as someone who has seen gutalax several times live and always enjoyed them, i totally get this video from the bottom of my heart. sometimes sampled fart and shit noises mixed with gutturals and heavy guitars is everything ye need in life...

Here I thought you were making a video about accessibility options in music for Deaf/HoH people and I was super excited as both a disabled artist and a disability activist myself (on top of that, my main area of activism IRL and online is accessibility). Ah well, perhaps another time.

for me, accessible music is very inaccessible since i was very young. when i tried to get into punk, i thought it wasnt for me (i listened to dead kennedys and crass), until i heard nails for the first time and it immediately clicked for me

It’s a good day when DJ Crazy Dick uploads

Biggest example that follows the Elvis pattern is jazz. Jazz used to be called devil’s music back in the day. Now it’s probably the most universally liked/accepted/tolerated music. Ya like jazz? Everybody seems to like jazz or at least not dislike it. It’s not just because it’s old, country is pretty old too and you find plenty of people who dislike country. Even though by definition country is accesible as it gets.

For me, ambient music is fun to listen to because I have synesthesia. I get to watch pretty colours and shapes whilst nice calm sounds play. Ambient is also surprisingly emotive sometimes, which is awesome for writing or other fun hobbies I have. But I love so many styles of music, especially different metal genres because of the fun shapes and colours that I get to see with them. Music is so fascinating when you have synesthesia istg

The joy when I saw that you posted

seeing bo burnham and big chef on the background summarizes comedy music perfectly.

I really enjoyed the video!! It makes me think about the boom that brazilian funk music is getting recently. I am brazilian and it really is one of the most liked and common genres here, but internationally people were amazed by how "different", "weird" and "catchy" it sounds (quote-on-quote because to me it just sounds normal bc of my cultural background). Rlly like your videos!! I always find out about cool artists by them too :)

death grips are exactly that "harsh noise using accessible elements" you mentioned at the start like i recall getting the privileges to play my own playlists at work back at 2015 and like 3 people said "wtf are you doing?" but to match that energy, like 12 of the most valley girl customers you've seen in your life approached me and said "i love this, i need to know the name of this song" when no love came on the shuffle (also shout out to You might think he loves you... for getting all the cute gay boys to approach me to talk EDM)

Very interesting video and topic! It's interesting how rare it is to see someone talk about it. I think that this topic needs more attention, especially with a lot of alternative musicians getting mega famous over night due to TikTok.

Regarding speed, the slower you make something, it also becomes super inaccessible, i.e. funeral doom. I think there was a study done on an average listener's preferred bpm (might have been specifically about workout music actually) but it seems that the 80-120 bpm range is pretty normal. You slow it down to 30 ala Bell Witch or Thergothon and people get restless lol

i never thought of it as “accessibility”, that’s a good way to put this phenomenon. i noticed this kind of thing going on with music and other forms of media/interests among people. there are elements in popular media that is easily digestible to the general population (and maybe it even comes down to the wiring of people’s brains, personalities, culture/location, what type of upbringings and which are more common, etc.). in my own experience, observing the people i’ve always been surrounded by vs. those outside of my life or most of the population in general (in America/the west specifically), there more you diverge from the rest of society the more likelihood you have of being more drawn to the “inaccessible”. I’m autistic and i’ve always had a difficult time relating to most other people so I always isolated or found people like me to be close to; we’ve all tended to have our own strange niche interests. there’s definitely other autistic people who want to be among/relate to the general population so they may be more interested in the “accessible” side of things anyways. the rest of the world who do prefer more accessible media, the trends can provide a lot more relatability (not just that but more, i just don’t have the words for the thought rn) to these people that those of us who lean more towards the inaccessible don’t relate to. i’ve always had a hard time getting into music everyone else seems to be into (besides nu metal lol but that does lean more towards inaccessible but is still popular enough to be accessible).

06:01 I can not escape Guitar Hero. Not that I want to! It was and always will be a huge part of my journey through music and I still enjoy whichever iteration of the 5 button Plastar. But I really can not escape it.

Dude I've watched every video of yours at least 4 times. You genuinely have the perfect formula for a youtuber.

Immediate thumbs up for Lil Texas & Unicorn on K but for real I appreciate the passion put into this video. As an enjoyer of these styles it's nice to hear someone go into depth about them.

Classical music is a great example of this

These video essay's are so amazing, keep it up man

most of my playlists have a full scale of katy perry jcpenny elevator pop but then itll plummet right down to a local town harsh noise band

who's up crusting their bag rn ?

just found this guy recently and ive been loving the vids! When i watch his vids i feel comfortable just beacsue its so cool to see people that enjoy this music as much as me and the style that comes with it.

6:00 bro HUGE shoutout to you using GuitarHeroPhenoms Through The Fire And Flames video for that lol. Thats fucking awesome. Also I kinda wish that Psychostick would've been brought up when talking about Comedy Music cause they're absolutely killer and hilarious, but I digress.

I have always loved the inecsseable stuff. Not because it's underground and almost no one listens to it, but I genuinely enjoy the sound of them. Not many people get it, but I just love it. My favorite genres are dsbm, power electronics (which is bassicsly harsh noise but with vocals), slam metal and brutal death metal, and extreme doom metal subgenres. Also, goregrind and deathcore. I just felt like sharing that with everyone.

Knight and crustbag should make a video together, their videos aren’t super similar, but it’s the two men with the best hair in the business. (Please do a vid with Knight, that would be *so* cool dude)

Its also interesting how people perceive inaccessible music. I've seen so much "omg my taste is soo strange im scaring the hoes" and like... Why do some people use music as personal achievement like "look i can sit through hours of noise and you listen to pop stars. im just better, loser!" And from other perspective, some individuals just won't listen to anything that got less that 20 millions listeners on spotify. Music discussions are so annoying and music is the greatest form of art...

that personal connection thing is real. the first thing my boss said to me when i met him was "is that a band that blehs, IT IS" to my lorna shore hoodie.

Very well done, sir. You've earned a sub for this.

Cool video, the shifting of accessibility is a really interesting topic to me. Especially when you see some bands you like growing in popularity without changing their sound (like Knocked Loose). It makes me wonder how the music scene will continue to shift and what other bands or artists will become more recognized because of it.

This was so good🖤 you're always getting me to appreciate harsh music even more🥰

Man! That's an awesome topic to explore! Thank you for creating and sharing that one! 🙏 ps: shout-out to the HEALTH merch 😤

it's just like with scowl, they have become more accessible as of recent with the release of opening night and psychic dance routine (both the song and ep). but what is really cool is that they didn't stray from hardcore although they experimented with alt rock. it's really interesting to see their crowds now are a mix of hardcore kids and people who just like their music but aren't really into hardcore. you can easily tell which is which and that is a fun game to play

You're wrong. Calvin Harris has indeed the best quality production i've ever heard. It might be accessible since it's meant for a wider public, but if you put attention to it, then you'll find out how much care is put into the craft and sound ambience.

Really great video. VIdeos discussing music genres/popularity always seem so interesting.

I’ve been sick all day binging your content. I wake up, and see a new upload. The fucking goat fr.

As a musician myself I find myself at kind of an impasse with accessibility. I've gone into my current alias with the philosophy that I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it, that I'd refuse to be pinned down to any one genre. Which means at any one song I could be feeling VERY accessible, and then the next I'll break out harsh noise walls of brutality. This leads any multi song project I make, whether they be EPs or full length LPs, to flip flop when it comes to the "normalcy" of my art which in itself makes the projects more inaccessible in the long run. For example, the current album I'm working on so far has influences ranging from Sewerslvt to 1788-L to Massive Attack to Burial to Kazuma Kubota to Venetian Snares and a lot more. It's all over the place, which I see as leaning more inaccessible in it's own right even if individual songs play it safe at times. Really good video on an interesting seldom discussed topic!

I find this very interesting as someone who has slid up and down this spectrum a fair bit. At one point in my life I dove pretty deep into hardcore music, and I think on reflection I did so mostly because of some subconscious belief that I was “better” if I liked inaccessible music. I’m about to turn 19 now and I’ve accepted that accessibility is not the devil, and now I mostly listen to jazz or rap, genres that I used to despise because I perceived them as bland or basic but now I realise I actually get a lot more enjoyment out of them than the heavy stuff I used to listen to. I still enjoy some more inaccessible music but I think removing that standard when listening to music has allowed me to have a lot more fun as a listener. Great video, very thought provoking

something else that i note with people into inaccessable music, is that they will have the widest music taste youve ever seen in 3 levels you got me. i enjoy stuff speedcore and uptempo like UoK and diabarha then i like asking alexandria, prmsky kray, bulgarian folklor choir like kaval svidi then i enjoy katy perry, James blunt and alec benjamin and modern talking (sometimes bland ass easy to read shit is good, also cheri cheri lady is briliant) then i have a friend who likes afourteen, chemical burn by sophiaaaah and killdozer then she likes mongolian throat singing, sabaton, and some other russian artist i cant remember then she enjoys lana del rey, taylor swift and Olivia rodrigo nothings wrong with liking the safe music imo, sometimes its good and you just need to chill/turn your brain off by having the music equivalent of a glass of water

This was incredibly interesting and the way you presented everything had an engaging and natural flow. Great topic and video!

Cool video. I don't really know Knocked Loose, but the way you tell it, it sounds like they didn't become more accessible, but more accepted by sticking to their unaccessible music. While Code Orange really became more accessible. Sorry to be nitpicking. Love your videos! Cheers from munich, germany!

Knocked Loose got me into the hardcore scene and it was because of the hype around them. Never even knew that type of music existed before i was introduced to them. Wont claim OG fan but thanks to them having those accessible tracks like Counting Worms gave me a bite-sized piece of a much larger amazing genre

I think jazz is an interesting part of the conversation, in that jazz can be accessible but also deeply inaccessible depending on the subgenre.

fascinating video! lots to think about. i think the point on replicability is especially noteworthy. if a song can be hummed or sung along to, it's memorable, and it's approachable to the listener, which affects how fans interact with it.

Shoutout to Kilby Court! I went to a few shows there around 2009 or so, but I don't live in those parts anymore.

This was great. I feel like I've been watching some of my favorite bands creeping towards accessibility lately, and this video helped me crystalize my thoughts on the discussion I've been having with myself over it. This is a topic I think about a lot. I would listen to you talk about this for a lot longer.

I have the unfortunate fate of working at my local convenience store and can confirm that the music is exactly like what you described at the start of the video. with the occasional decent old rock or metal song. I got so tired of it that I started bringing my own music. Whenever I have a shift that keeps me in the back of the store, you can find me jamming out to a mix of classic and modern rave music in genres such as Hardcore, Speedcore, Breakbeat, Uptempo, Hardstyle, Acid, and DnB.

Your videos deserve so much more attention man. I discovered you through your incel vs metal lyric video, and I've been hooked ever since. Genuinely one of my favorite channels. Keep putting out bangers man ❤

god I loved this video so much. it was extremely interesting to see someone put into words so eloquently something I’ve thought about for some time but had no idea how to process. probably one of my favourite videos of you!

When I first saw death grips they were opening for ministry and tickets were 50$ maybe even less. I just tried to go see their recent tour and the closest event to me was a stadium show where the worst seats were still almost 100$ and also sold out several months in advance.

definitely gonna be using this video in real world conversations about this topic^^

He’s literally the voices in my head breaking down my douchey music nerd micro aggressions but in the way the logic makes sense in my head. Anyway I’m in love with you and you have my vote for president

I love that the premise is that pop is too simple and repetitive.. and the goes hard into repetitive noise music lmao

I find it funny your points about ambient and noise music, because they are literally the different sides of the same coin. Its like noise music is the goth sister from the christian and peaceful ambient sister. For me noise music can be as relaxing or as mezmerising as ambient music.

i saw the hannatarash clip 💪💪💪 i know they’re kind of a mini joke, but i genuinely enjoy them lol

yellow swans - going places is the only accessible noise album i know

I'm so glad I found your channel, your editing job keeps it entertaining and generally themes are really interesting. Thank you!

Using Silent Hill music while talking about ambient music. Didn't think I could respect your content more than I already did.

You spoke to my soul in this video! Even the examples! VI's drummer is one of my fav drummers, and Archspire is one of my fav Tech Death bands. And also as a musican who produces genres like extratone, harsh noise, hypertone, and more experimental stuff, talking about the "inaccessible" end of this spectrum and showing your appreciation made me happy. cheers inaccessible brother!

Hey!! You featured some clips of mine around the 1:20 and 7:20 marks. thanks for usin em, someone sent it to me and it was cool and i hadn't heard of your channel Just wanted to say this is a SOLID take, agreed af. My general philosophy with makin tunes is making weird experimental sounds for curiosity sake then giving it some familiar/accessible context.

The reaction to ambient music is interesting. My partner doesn’t like anything heavier than 90’s uk indie music. She will complain that sulfuric cautery sound horrible but if I play Towers or even Tim Hecker the apparent lack of musicality will really wind her up. It gets much more of a negative reaction than grindcore’s “this is horrible”

Accessibility has a lot to do with people getting used to stuff in my opinion. Me for example, I didn't really like Metalcore at first, now it is my favorite genre, then the same happened with deathcore; I have been getting used to more stuff that past me would've considered unaccessible. This year I discovered this band named VCTMS, and they are my current favorites along with Bleed From within. Highschool me wouldn't have liked them. Finally, knocked loose was where I drew the line, but not anymore. I wouldn't go to a concert, or I would stay as far from the pit as possible because I value my physical integrity, but I'll gladly listen to them on a Sunday morning. Great video dude.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for showing me Lil Texas, i instantly loved it!

Kilby Court rules. I was fortunate enough to catch Wormwitch there, and during their set there was a group of 5 or 6 friends that were taking turns crowdsurfing, but they kept it contained to the friend group. So just 4 or 5 people kinda holding up one other person for a short period and then dumping them over their shoulder into a lazy flip while a new person rotated in/up. I got a kick out of it. Apparently The Black Dahlia Murder played there for the Unhallowed anniversary tour, and it was so packed that the courtyard was full and even overflowing into the street. That would've been a cool one to catch.

i dont care what people say, the younger generation has good people like this carrying the torch for us

im late because i wait for the PERFECT time to watch your videos. everything has to be perfect and its always worth it

This is one of the best commentary videos I have EVER seen and am eager to see your future content!

Looking at harsh noise within the context of good or bad is an approach that will generally land opinions fully in the latter. Listening to those pieces as an experience where you let it take you along with it has usually caused me to have a more positive opinion on it. I love to lay on my living room floor and turn the music up extremely loud and just take it all in.

A topic that has swirled around my head forever and you covered it so well i feel i came away with an even greater aporeciation for my innacessible tastes. Excellent stuff bro, subbed

I personally love Harsh Noise. Hanatarash is one of my favorite niche celebrities ever. ICEP3AK actually had a break in their sets at their US concerts where the dude would play his noise music mix. I was the sole member of the audience cheering. There was like 150 people max too so he definitely noticed I was the only one vibing.

From one chord, one font, and one sound effect I immediately knew you were a Silent Hill fan and had that "hey, you're in the same weird club as me" moment that you described.

I like how you talked about elements outside the sound itself contributing to in/accessibility. The concept overall reminds me of that Best/Worst song experiment that was done several decades ago, where the 'best' elements combined to the most generally agreed boring thing ever while the "worst" song was fascinating. I know there's some jokes in the comment section about pop music being inaccessible for people who prefer a harsher sound, but that got me genuinely thinking about why I gravitated to not-pop music in these terms. The mainstream pop industry represents the mainstream status quo in a lot of other ways, like, the way people look and musicians who have to contort themselves to those mainstream standards (among other standards). I hate that sort of thing - and I'm thinking about how that made it feel inaccessible to me - mainstream music in that vein wouldn't accept me. Punk would. To me that's the most important kind of accessibility. Also people are such goofballs seeing comedy/silly music as not as good as 'serious' music. Comedy is not easy, and being silly is fun

Great video man! One thing I really enjoy is when an artist starts their career with something that sounds more widely appealing but then journies into some obscure genre, often keeping some of the core aspects of their old music, making something unique and new. One band I think did this very well was System of a Down but I would love to hear about some other examples!

Both Code Orange and Knocked Loose got rained out of Chicago open air 2019, they played in a tiny venue afterwards with Vein

This video is one of the best videos ive watched in the past few months. Thank you!!!

keep putting out bangers like this w this much dope original insight & you’re gonna be on k//l’s trajectory in no time

hey crustbag i just wanted to say that I fucking love your videos! i love that you are really passionate about music and its awesome to see other metal/ actually alternative people out there and not doing it for clout. love your videos long or short ill pretty much always watch :)

ive been wating all week for new video 🎉🎉😀

best yt channel best editing best everything

I played Kilby Court on tour with Citizen Fish in 2011!