Infuriating and Lovable Youtube Cliches

Over the last five years of my life I've spent way too much time on the Internet. Much of this time, in particular, was wasted watching videos and/or listening to music on Youtube. Hell, even as I write this I am listening to The Machine Girl soundtrack via Youtube and after that video ends I'll probably click on something else (and wash, rinse, repeat 'til I step away from my laptop). What attracted me to the site initially was the wide range of videos available at my finger tips. When that appeal wore off the site became both a symptom and cause of boredom and frustration. Don't get me wrong I still love the site, but a lot of times nowadays I visit it more for a quick distraction rather than out of genuine interest. I will often get stuck on certain videos too (the Precious trailer was a big favorite of mine a few years back...don't ask me why) and watch these over and over with a single-minded zombie-esque intensity.

Let's be honest, there's a vast amount of crap on that there website. And I mean vast. Like, enough fecal matter to fill the Grand Canyon three times over type of vast. Many of these crappy vids in question feature such loathsome cliches as lip syncing, "cute" cats, "witty" pop song parodies, and/or screaming as a form of humor. This post's not going to be about what I hate on Youtube, though that topic could indeed account for a encyclopedia's worth of blog posts. But no. Instead I wanted to compose a little list of Youtube video cliches that, while I may not actively like them, are endearing in their cheesy Internet-ness (for lack of a better word). What amuses me about the following types of videos is that they have absolutely no meaning or purpose outside of the context of Internet fan culture. And that is exactly what makes them both so infuriating and hilarious. So without further ado here's my three picks for the best (and I mean worst...kinda) Youtube fan video cliches:

1. The tribute video
Tribute videos are the ever-present yet incredibly strange style of Youtube video in which a fangirl (or boy) posts what is usually a slideshow of pictures of their favorite celebrity. What makes them so strange is that they are often simply a static slideshow of pictures ripped from Google images set to a cheesy pop or country song, yet they still manage to get views and comments. I suppose a lot of their popularity can be chalked up to hormonal teenagers lusting over celebs they've got crushes on. Still that doesn't make them any less of an interesting phenomenon, as you have to admire the sincerity of the tribute video creator. Check out this Wikihow article entitled "How to Make a Tribute Video" My favorite bit in the article is when the author stresses the importance of music in the tribute genre, " A silent tribute is the worst you could do, because then it's just like staring at still pictures which lacks emotion." While I will never make a tribute vid in my life, I've got to admire the pure love and total lack of irony that people put into them.

2. The lyrics video
The lyrics video is an extremely straight forward creature. These videos generally consist of a song playing as the song's lyrics are simultaneously flashed across the video screen. They seem to exist solely to turn Youtube into a music player. Which I haven't got a problem with. What I do find funny, is many lyric video maker's apparent delusion that they are in anyway responsible for the views their video gets. Look, people are clicking on your video just because they wanted to listen to Justin Bieber, or Miley Cyrus, or whatever else that tasteless assholes listen to nowadays (just kidding, "See You Again" is a stirring composition). And yet, just as I admire the tribute vid creators in some ways, I admire the way that lyrics video creators obliviously take responsibility and pride in a video whose major components don't belong to them. And confidence is sexy...right?

3. The longest note video
This is a much rarer species of vid than the first two that I discussed, but it's still got Internet fandom written all over it. Longest note videos simply consist of a clip of famous singer belting out a note and holding it for as long as possible. These clips are often taken from concert footage. A cousin of the longest note genre, in my opinion, would be the movie quote video. The movie quote video consists simply of a fan favorite moment from a film. I want to say something sarcastic and snarky about these types of videos, but in reality I actually think they're making a pretty good use of the medium. Fans can point, click, and watch without having to invest a significant amount of time into doing so. Are these types of videos obsessive and geeky? Yeah, but that's why they're fun.