I am not sure about this beef. Seems he has had plenty of big names , Jarrett, Joel etc. Hard to imagine Mick and PMac would now go on under duress.
I thought well maybe the Rick Rubin thing was filmed over a period and they can edit. But some of Beato’s interviews are done in stages and I am sure there is editing.
Some of the Mick interviews have been quite derailed musically, not puffery.
Rick Beato and the big names snub
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err detailed not derailed.
He did the whole “Dave Gilmour won’t appear on my channel” thing a couple of years ago, and subsequently Gilmour did appear. I presume it’s his way of gaining the attention of the handlers for the big hitters. I guess that many of them would appreciate the opportunity to talk just about the music, equipment etc.
That Why Paul McCartney Won’t Be On My Channel segment is by some distance the most tedious thing Beato has ever done. Who gives a shit?
Errr… me I guess since I posted.
As some wag on Twitter said, I’ve also never interviewed Paul McCartney but I don’t feel the need to make a video about it.
In general I like Beato’s videos (and I wish I had his ability to hear music and instantly work out the chords and play along – that is not to be sniffed at), but sometimes there’s a real air of self-pity about him.
So he hasn’t got to interview Macca, who’s relatively interview-shy compared to some of today’s much lesser stars? If I had achieved even a tenth of what Macca has done, or been world-famous for anywhere near as long, I wouldn’t do many interviews either. I expect my first thought would be “Been there, done that.”
Yes, a chat with Beato would be more technical than “Tell us about your new album” or “How do you write a song?”, but I’m sure PM must have had many a muso-based natter over the years.
He doesn’t need publicity or a higher profile, and if I was him I’d probably stay away from somebody who is so aggrieved about not meeting me that they made a moaning video to their large audience.
Still, Beato’s long chat with D Gilmour was fascinating.
Sorry to offend, but all stuff about views and hits (a million hits in 3 days!!!) and followers etc etc. I’ve got a lot of time for him, but…
He hardly grills them anyway. He’s enthusiastic and knowledgeable and asks interesting questions. I’m not interested in Paul McCartney anyway.
I enjoyed Beato’s interview with Mike Mills – that’s Mike Mills out of R.E.M., not Mike Mills the film director (or Mick Mills of Ipswich Town and England).
I have no idea who Rick Beato is. I rather suspect that is the point of his Macca video.
Thank goodness, I thought I was the only one . .
I actually assumed he was a Ramones roadie or an acolyte of Beavis and Butthead.
Well dive in. He is informed, as Twang says, asks smart questions and it is usually worth your time.
I don’t watch them all just watch ones with artists or engineers I am interested in. Ken Scott for example.
I will give it a go.
He has lots of different approaches – “What makes this song great” ones are fun, the Billy Strings interview was a recent highlight, plus more muso-y stuff about harmony etc which is maybe less interesting.
His one from a year or so ago about the new Adele single was good.
He’s a former uni guitar professor, music producer etc. He is now an online educator looking at mostly theory-based topics (although check out his great vid from years ago where he analyses the Levee drum sound to prove it wasn’t echo from a stairwell). He is pretty divisive, because some people hate free content, I guess, and he also a bit dismissive of much modern music. The reality his that he is a better guitarist than many of his guests! The interview thing started as a side note but has now become his main thing.
Also check a a vid from a decade or so ago where his then 10yo or so son demonstrates a level of perfect pitch/harmony identification which is beyond comprehension.
Also also check out any of Pat Finnerty’s “What makes this song stink” videos, made as a sort of anti-Beato. The “Stop the Train” one is epic.
I actually watched that Beato video last week – he wasn’t actually complaining, but, he claimed, answering enquiries as to why he hasn’t interviewed McCartney.
The problem lies with agents rather than McCartney. But he also compared where he has given interviews recently and the number of views, which all tend to reach a smaller audience than Beato’s own channel.
He treated it with good humour rather than a whinge.
Thanks you for this clarification @Carl, as I too was itching to post something pointing out that if anyone had actually watched the video in question they would have realised that the gist of the thing was to answer the perennial question you mention.
I did watch the whole thing – although I must admit my attention was wandering towards the end. I absolutely got his point about Sir Thumbsaloft, but I found the whole I got more views than them thing tedious. That’s ok, surely?
Fair enough. I just take that Tuber stuff on the shoulder, figuring it’s largely due to the fact that he rattles off some of his videos ad-lib off the top of his head, and that’s when his internal – tangential to the gist – thoughts leak out to the microphone.
I watched it too, after this debate. In addition to answering the question his point was, IMHO, these people are great artists and wouldn’t you think they would want to discuss their music seriously and in detail rather than phone it in on a generic slot on mainstream TV. Especially since more people would see it. Apparently not.
Evidently Thumbs, M&K either can’t be arsed or aren’t capable of discussing it in detail. I’d certainly like to hear Mick talk in detail about the Stones catalogue. Keith is largely incomprehensible these days unfortunately.
My experience of artists of the visual persuasion is there is a reluctance amongst many to talk about their work in detail or even generally. Personally I find it incredibly difficult to express in words an artistic gesture that is by it’s very nature abstract and to an extent created instinctually, relying upon years of education and practice to bring it to completion. I know what I’m making and how to make it but the expression of it is entirely visual and resistant to any other way of expressing it. Matisse once said that artists should have their tongues cut out. I largely agree with that statement, of course much of this may not be applicable to artists working in other fields of expression, upon that I cannot comment but I suspect it may broadly be applicable. I’ve found that artists are far more inclined to want to discuss sales, how to make them and for how much. People who buy art want to talk about the art, artists want to know how to pay the rent.
Obviously I defer to you on all matters art but I have known lots of musicians at all levels and it’s very rare that they don’t want to witter on at length about music, especially if it’s their own. Mind you I don’t know any jaded superstars it’s true though based on the vast number of podcasts etc of them doing exactly said wittering most of them conform to type. In fact it’s hard to shut most of them up.
In turn I defer to your good self over musicians and their readiness to discuss their practice or not. Obviously there is a divergence in this between the two.
I have met painters and the odd sculptor that has liked talking about their work but they are generally dull company being so self-absorbed that any conversation about such matters quickly becomes a monologue devoted to their unique and deathless talent. It often turns out that talking about work is about as far as they have progressed. The actuality of putting in the hours to make a piece is often less than palatable to them.
It’s heartening to hear that musicians are less up themselves but with the acceptance that there will be among them more than a few similar minded arseholes.
There are always arseholes.
I occasionally have musicians on my radio show (to talk, not play) and I can’t shut them up. Whether it’s answering a question about their first album or describing why they’ve chosen a particular track to play, once they’re off and running they’re unstoppable.
I’m not sure that artists should talk about their art. If they really want to , that’s fine. But someone whose knocked out an album I love shouldn’t have to explain it to me as part of the deal.
They don’t have to but lots want to.
If you have to explain a joke…
This.
The video where he takes apart The Mayor of Simpleton is an absolutely brilliant deconstruction of how to make a recording. You might not want to see how they make laws or sausages, but this is fascinating. Don’t think of it as explaining the joke, think of it as an art critic pointing out the brushstrokes on the Mona Lisa. Or that bit in Dr Who where Bill Nighy talks about Van Gogh.
That is genuinely interesting (and a great song to look at that way). But I wouldn’t think any less of the song without that video. The video is the thing here, not the song.
I’d have thought the issue here is that while people like Macca and Mick have a lot to offer to Beato, (revenue, kudos) there’s very little on offer to them in return, and they are never going to be short of offers. It’s a highly respected channel but pretty niche and wouldn’t be reaching anyone who didn’t already know who they were, what they were offering, and already decided whether to buy it, or not. Likely therefore their respective publicists (who this is really aimed at) would select channels that offered the best promotional opportunities.
Which is how Macca ends up on Chicken Shop Date. A much younger demographic than Beato’s, a superficial chat that is easily clipped for Tik Tok and Insta / Fbook. Job done. Would Beato be “too much” for Macca? I think the point being missed here is he doesn’t care, and doesn’t owe Beato anything. Beato does come across somewhat entitled, albeit he knows his stuff. The dilemma is that long form work like his has a limited audience
Macca probably feels anything Beato would chuck at him, he’s already answered ad nauseam over decades, not least that recent thing with Rick Rubin. How many more times can we hear about Yesterday, John singing “couldn’t get much worse”, “the movement you need is on your shoulder”, recording in Lagos, recording in the Virgin Islands. Whereas the Chicken Shop Date interview was clearly enjoyable for him to do at this venereal age.
That said, Beato certainly has an audience, albeit a more earnest, humourless one than Macca might want to be aligned with these days. That reflects the thinking across the Beatles family right now – see Giles Martin’s repeated digs at the “socks and sandals” brigade for instance
Incidentally, that McCartney moaning video has now had 1.8m views making it currently his second most popular video this month (next is his *actual* interview with Billy Joel at 1.7m).
A friend a fairly snobby garagey band type guy was full of praise for the Joel interview. I haven’t seen it yet.
It’s really excellent. Especially if you appreciate Billy’s work. It’s a little masterclass in watching how a pianist can be astonishingly at ease with his art. And it has funny bits. Ah, I see further down that you’ve discovered these things. Ignore me!
Not so niche given that his Dave Gilmour interview got 4.2 million views.
I don’t understand/agree with your contention that Beato comes across as somewhat entitled. He’s a musician who is interested in talking about the process and mechanics of music making, not in gossip about significant others etc.
Exactly right. But I’m probably earnest and humourless.
Me too, or so it seems…
Add me to the list as well.
I appreciate the different point of view Carl. I’ll offer a bit more context to my comments which I said niche because I recognise Beato is pretty popular, and that’s what I think 4.2m views speaks to. But my argument is it’s niche given the focus on pre 2000 rock, with scant coverage of electronic music, hip-hop, R&B, world music, rap etc as well as it’s concentration on recording / writing / performance techniques.
I think entitled isn’t about the content of his work – unquestionably it’s serious, well informed, insightful. I get that he’s frustrated that they won’t play and agree with his points about how music publicity works now, but to me it just comes across as all about him – who clearly would gain from their appearance – but sidesteps any serious insight on what he thinks they’d get from it. If entitled is unfair, it’s certainly lopsided. Gilmour changed his mind when he was promoting Luck and Strange, but McCartney remains unpersuaded. I wouldn’t expect Beato to like it, but he must understand it.
It’s also an interesting evolution of self made content. When people began to create stuff, podcasts, video etc, the idea was to emulate existing broadcast standards as much as possible. I’ve noticed in recent times, that the ‘breaking the fourth wall’ stuff is proliferating – content makers pivoting from pro content to posting videos like this McCartney one, in which they complain, :”have to say something to you all”, and so on.
Certainly in the analytics I see at work about the stuff we push out – shorter, spontaneous, more off the cuff “behind the scenes” material, especially if it’s complaining, (we all love to watch someone complain) is rocketing.
@slotbadger
Which venereal disease? This is huge, if true.
lol, it’s one of Macca’s interview tics, inspired by his dad “At his great, venereal age”
I did not know that *thumbs aloft*
Beato is really well researched and the interviewees dig it. It’s like that Ray Padgett book on Dylan. They get something out of it coz it is a discussion. He interviews boomerish type music artists coz he is of that age. Interesting in this Billy Joel interview Billy says that Phil Woods solo on Just The way You Are was spliced from 6 takes. Phil Ramone doing a Teo Macero.
Wish he wouldn’t do the woe-is-me bollo for clicks and concentrate on the in-depth interviews, which are very good indeed (Joel, Mills, Wakeman). See also the “the Top Ten is rubbish” vids. That music isn’t for you, old man! (I am also old).
Yes that’s one of the things that can get grating at times, the old man yelling at a cloud thing
I’m surprised that you watch his vids, given how much you find to dislike.
I don’t go out of my way to. I’ve tried a few times.
I like those Spotify countdowns he does every few months. It’s one of the few times I get to check out what’s hot now.
The good news is that classic Pop is still being made, although you have to sit through some drosss to get to it. ‘Twas ever thus.
With his “heard it all before, it’s so simplistic” attitude towards current pop music, I’d love to see him interview a younger musician or producer and get their perspective. To have a Billie or Finneas Eilish, or a proven hit single producer like Max Martin explain what goes into 21st century pop would be fascinating- “Calm down Rick, it’s only pop music”
I seem to remember a piece about a Billie song, in praise of. He’s not necessarily such a simple man, or a bad guy for that matter.
Who the feck is Rick Beano?
The heir to the DC Thomson fortune…
Well played! 😀
I think he’s related to that Rick Dandy bloke from The Band.
Disappointing that no-one so far has said “That was Rick Beato and the Big Names Snub, three more from them later.” We must keep up the traditions.
No HJH for Beato
There’s a persistent Rick Bleato YouTube clip I don’t seem able to avoid, where Rick is griping about the state of modern music. Put a sock in it, I say.
Given a good talkative subject, his clips can be interesting and even good. The less of him in the clips, the better for me.