≡ Menu

“Too Much Heaven” Would Be Good for the Soul of America

In the guise of a bit of pop entertainment, Neo has crafted a formidable video essay on how the past can soothe the present and shape the invisible. If all American adults of whatever sort were to read and listen to all of this together of a Sunday morning (9 AM Pacific), race relations in the USA would improve by at least 50% above current levels immediately. Depend upon it.

From Reaction videos: the Bee Gees “Too Much Heaven” through young ears – The New Neo

If you’re unfamiliar with the genre of the reaction video, it involves a song – usually one popular between the 1950s through the 1980s, but it can be any song – which a person listens to for the first time while videoing himself or herself simultaneously reacting to it. The song performance is usually featured in a small square down at the bottom. The reactor is required to stop the recording at intervals and speak, or risk running afoul of the YouTube copyright ax.

One reason I’m so taken with reaction videos is that through listening to them music feels a bit more like a shared experience rather than a solitary one. Another is that I enjoy watching the surprise on the faces of the young people – and they’re almost always young – hearing the “old” music for the first time. In addition, their comments are sometimes poignant expressions of yearning for the sentiments of an earlier day compared to the harshness and vulgarity of today….

Take a look at the woman in this next video reacting to that same Bee Gees’ song. Watch her reaction when she first hears the Bee Gees’ falsettos. It’s not just surprise, it’s a relaxed kind of delight:

RTWT AT Reaction videos: the Bee Gees “Too Much Heaven” through young ears – The New Neo

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • CW March 7, 2021, 6:10 AM

    These videos are gold. That one ended far too soon — she did indeed act like she’d had an epiphany of sorts.

  • John Venlet March 7, 2021, 6:21 AM

    I think it’s easy to understand the mesmerizing aspect of these reaction videos to individuals, along with the surprise military homecoming videos and random kindness videos, which deeply stir emotions within. They strike the same shared chord deep within folks which goes back to the creation of man. That chord is love, which is the basis for humans’ existence. God created man in love. Is it any surprise, then, that when love shines through the reaction video individuals’ faces, that the viewers can not only see it, but feel it?

  • Rob De Witt March 7, 2021, 6:38 AM

    That’s just fine, every bit. The openness on the face of that beautiful black chick with the hoop earrings just makes you want to hug her.

    The comment stream is packed with appreciations of harmony singing – Linda Ronstadt’s ““You learn so much about singing from each other because you get to sort of be them for a second when you’re shadowing them in harmony,” for example. I got to sing with her once, and I agree about harmony singing – it’s simple when you listen to the other singers instead of yourself. You get sung as much as you sing, and your part just emerges from the harmony. Blending is natural; your voice becomes the same voice you’re listening to.

    I’ve sung church music since I was five years old, bluegrass much of my life, Gregorian chant with international experts; it’s all just the direct experience of loving and being loved. If only we could all sing together…

  • Roy Lofquist March 7, 2021, 7:24 AM

    There are a number of different types of music reaction videos. This one is of the type “amateur emotes”. Another of the genre is the “professional analysis”, presented by voice coaches and others in the music industry. An example:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VDBIgfpmRg

    Watch the video. The young lady has the most enchanting voice I have ever heard in my almost 80 years. Her name is Angelina Jordan and she is from Norway. She is going to be something else – a Sinatra or Elvis type of something else. This is her catalog of 130+ songs.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VDBIgfpmRg

    Warning! Highly Addictive.

  • Roy Lofquist March 7, 2021, 7:33 AM
  • Geo March 7, 2021, 8:53 AM

    Roy, thanks for those links to Angelina Jordan.

    Wow! Just freakin WOW! What a voice. I seldom like covers, but this kid brought tears to my eyes.

    Her take on Whitney Houston’s ” I have Nothing” is the only person I’ve ever heard that did Whitney justice.

    The kid is something else, thanks for that lead.

  • Snakepit Kansas March 7, 2021, 3:20 PM

    Maybe I am just old and grumpy today, but I’ve seen several of these videos where some famous song has never been heard before from some guy/gal. I’m not buying it. Do you all live in a cave? Maybe I am just that old and the next generation missed it. C’mon man!

  • Ronald March 7, 2021, 5:46 PM

    Amira

  • Sal Odierno March 7, 2021, 6:01 PM

    Rob, you nailed it. I’m blessed enough to be part of the worship team at my church. Played in a band, on and off with the same guys, for thirty odd years, and the bonding is nearly the same. I believe that once you play music with someone(s) a bond is formed that goes beyond friendship and into something magical. Nothing like it.

  • Jack March 8, 2021, 8:33 AM

    Snake, I’m with you. The YT vids I have seen seem to always portray some black listening to music by white artists and performers and then acting as if they’re stunned or impressed, having never heard these songs or performers before. That’s a dump truck full of BS if one has ever been conceived.