The world of music reaction videos is a strange one. The concept of the reaction video invokes different responses in different people. Some folk embrace and love the reactions and reactors, some loathe and detest them them and still others have no idea what they are. But they are here and serve a genuine purpose and need for many people as a way to connect, share and talk about music. And the breadth of reactor’s styles is as wide as the breadth of musical genres out there! Even within one focused area, different reactors bring different skills, styles, personalities to the party.
If you are reading this and have come from my YouTube channel to check out the blog, you already know what I listen to and talk about. I like my music a little more challenging and rewarding than the three minute hook and drop tunes that festoon popular culture from radio, TV and commercials to background music in shops, hold music or music in pubs, bars and restaurants. It turns out I’m not the only one!
I invited several other reactors to join me on a group chat to discuss all things YouTube, reaction channels and music. Dr Doug Helvering is a music academic from Princeton New Jersey, Nick and Lex are a married couple from Centennial Colorado, and Dean Wolfe hails from Vancouver Island in Canada. We came together and chatted. It was fab!
I had initially tried to involve others as well but they were either unable to fit it in their schedules or didn’t respond to my requests. No matter, the four of us actually worked really well and the awkwardness of being pitched in together disappeared almost immediately, and we were chatting like old friends. But that’s a weird thing about your favourite YouTube creators…. They are known to you and familiar so already feel like old friends. That’s why they’re your favourites, because they endorse your own thoughts, they share the same values and you get their inflections and mannerisms…. you engage, follow, sub and ultimately share in their journeys.
So it is with the three camera feeds facing me on the Zoom call late one Thursday evening. I’ve watched all three channels hundreds of times and stop by from time to time to leave comments where I’m keen to share a thought or an observation. But as any busy YouTuber will tell you, getting round to replying to your own comments feed is almost a full time job in itself, let alone commenting on someone else’s content! This was a golden opportunity to talk to them all, to have group therapy for reactors, to share stories and learn from each other, to collaborate and to build a sort of alliance!
I’m hoping the experiment will continue and ultimately rotate the hosting on any of the four channels, so each has the opportunity to engage with a new audience. I’m by far the smallest channel here so am punching well above my weight but that didn’t seem to matter. We all understood, endorsed or sympathised with each other, and having a group of friends to talk to like this is invaluable.
Please do check out all of their channels if you haven’t already, and make sure you sub too if you don’t want to miss another episode of Reactors Assemble…. Who knows where it will pop up!
Jim’s Adventures In Music 
Hey Jim,
I discovered reactors during the pandemic along with 95% of the world.
I only follow three currently as I take my music seriously and I don’t enoy reactors who just rock their heads to the music with no real true appreciation to it.
Doug is not only in my tiny State but also in the same county, probably a 25 minute drive, Dean I never listened to and Nick and Lex are nice but I mostly avoid couple reactors.
There was a reactor who I loved but he brought his wife on mid channel and now he spends most of the time looking at his wife for approval instead of listening to the music. lol.
There is a channel of young guys who have half your viewers but they are in tune and make me laugh…I believe they are brothers and they understand music tech more than I.
https://www.youtube.com/@AirplayBeats
Pete Pardo of https://www.youtube.com/@seaoftranquilityprog/featured is not a reactor but he covers the music we all know and love, plus bonus he’s a NYer. ❤
He always has multicams with other folk maybe you can hookup with him.
Walt
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I know who you mean Walter. I still watch him from time to time but I think his channel has changed since his wife came on the channel. It’s more now I think about him trying to choose music that his wife will probably like. That is fine, however it means the more complex prog music is not getting the exposure it was when he was on his own, in particular Yes.
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This was an amazing 53 minutes, and I am so glad Nick asked about lyrics towards the end.
As a choir nerd myself, I’m with Dr. Doug here. For me, if a song has lyrics, they’re an integral part of the piece. Many of my favorite songs are more because of the lyrics and message than even the music itself.
But, this then brings me to ID.Entity by Riverside. I loved it upon first listen, but I didn’t have the lyrics in front of me. Having listened to it a couple of times since, I’m going to say many of the lyrics make me uncomfortable, and don’t sit well with me. But, I also think that’s very much a point of the album. The lush and sometimes heavy music washes through us, not just over us, in a melodic, harmonious way. Yet the lyrics are very much counter intuitive to that.
It’s a fascinating ride.
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Hi Jim!
Congratulations on an excellent write up once again and a great idea. It was amazing that you got everything together at the same time, regarding different time zones. You also brought together some of my favourite reaction channels together. The only one I don’t know is Dean (“Prog Dog”) but I will certainly check out his channel now.
The thing I love about reaction channels is it feels to me something similar to showing someone around your town for the first time, you experience a little bit of how you felt for the first time seeing the town but through their eyes. I feel the same with reaction channels. I love the excitement of “I wonder how they react to this?” Occasionally I will also get to hear some new music I don’t know on the channel. However, I’m not as adventurous at listening to new music as those doing the “first reaction” channels.
Shout to NicknLex you brought this event to my attention, I have a feeling I saw the post on your channel but not knowing what it was I didn’t click on it. Once NicknLex explained it I was there!
As I mentioned on a YouTube post it would be great if you all got together to hear something none of you had heard and listened together, although finding something that you have all not heard might be difficult.
Thanks again to all the “first reaction” channels on this video for providing an enjoybale chat.
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Jim needs to do In Search of The Lost Chord, and NicknLex need to do the second side of Days of Future Passed and all of In Search of The Lost Chord. I don’t know where Dean may be in listening to the Moody Blues Magnificent Seven. But, once all have heard Days of Future Passed and In Search of The Lost Chord, they’ll be caught up to Dr. Doug, and if they choose could all react to On The Threshold of A Dream forward on the Magnificent Seven journey.
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