You can spend hours digging through Netflix for big budget blockbusters while most of us stay in from work and school, but you could also spend a lot of time going into these odd, entertaining, and made-for-alternative music people channels on YouTube. Here are my five favorite channels right now on the Tubes. And while you are at it, subscribe to our channel to watch all the cool stuff we got recorded in the Lounge.
This may be my favorite channel that covers music. Does it review music? No, it goes into how music (mostly alternative bands you hear on 101WKQX) have shaped culture and the below-surface actions it took to get there. They are so well researched and written, it’s almost like a really engaging Rolling Stone article come to life in a video.
Waveywebsurf
For those of you on the older side of the millennial generations, you may remember the first wave of modern meme culture from viral videos of news bloopers to YouTube personalities who filled your Facebook feed when Obama was in office. Wavy has reach backed into this not-too-long-ago nostalgia for ‘deep dives’ into these big internet things like that video of the ‘grape lady’ falling down and yelling for 30 seconds. His best videos are his recent videos of Chicago comedian Robert Hines and his classic ‘Toby Jones’ collaborations with sketch comedy group B.D.E.C.
Defunctland
Disney has created a huge chunk of our modern culture with their films and TV shows. That has made their theme parks into this dream world for fans, but there is a story behind every attraction, every ride, and beyond. Defunctland creates these 12-20 minute documentaries that show memories like Space Mountain were created for generations to enjoy. You also learn about parts of the theme parks that don’t exist anymore and how they faded out.
Red Letter Media
Watching bad movies and making fun of them is a renewed genre online, thanks to Wisconsin based movie nerds Red Letter Media. They first came to prominence with their in-charcter ‘Mr. Plinkett’ reviews of the Star Wars films which garnered millions of view but the group has evolved with new sketch comedy / movie review content including the must-see ‘Best of the Worst’ which sees the group endure some hilarious bad movies in panel discussion. Some of these despicable VHS tapes are so bad, they are ‘good’. This episode covering an 80’s instructional video ‘Defending Yourself Against Edged Weapons’ is a dark humor gut-busting funny good time.
Whang!
When he’s not playing guitar, Justin Whang is digging to the odd sub cultures of gaming, anime, memes, and generally weird tales online with these breakdown videos that features a good level of sarcasm and wit. His look into legendary Chicago based story about the Max Hedroom incident which interrupted an Sunday news broadcast on WGN is going to scare you to your toes.
