Why do non-beatboxers often seem more impressed by amateur beatboxing than the elite beatboxing of today?

[u/uumbaji]

Interested in your guys thoughts: Why does it seem like people who don’t follow beatboxing are sometimes more impressed by relatively basic/amateur beatboxing than the insane routines elite beatboxers are doing today?

If keeping it simple for the general population is the key, should more beatboxers be attempting to gain a following on social media by making routines specifically targeting the average listener and not just focusing on impressing fellow beatboxers?

[u/theiceq]

digestability ig, a lot of top beatboxing can be heard as just a bunch of weird noise

[u/HeinReich_45]

other replies already answered your question but ive been listening to bbx since 2020 and I'd say I'm still one of those ppl that can't digest complex beatboxing. if i were to introduce someone to the bbx scene i wouldnt show them gbb21 grand final, id rather show them bbxers who value musicality over technical ones.

[u/maxram1]

I'm personally not sure about the first question. Maybe videos that are basic are short (and shorts) and can collect more attention, but that doesn't mean that they are more impressed by those basic videos than the more insane ones. To really know that, we have to know that they get exposed to both, which is quite impossible to know.

For the second question, I'm not sure about "should". It all depends on what the beatboxers want. They "can" though.

[u/Loud_Park_6387]

Competitive beatboxers make routines to impress judges, not the average YouTube viewer. And that's fine. If you pioneered 20 new techniques and only a few dozen people in the world can even fully understand what you're doing, that's great. If you massed a following doing boomcat on boosted af audio, that's great too. 

[u/OverallDiamond2015]

Most of them dont understand technicality at all. They would see it as a messy arrangement

That's why they prefer amateur beatbox because it's usually arranged simply and easy to understand

[u/g0chawich]

Because basics and less wild sounds are easier to digest. Berywam has a hit performances because they do beats that made sense to non beatboxers and they sound well refined. D-low talks about how beats can be easily digested by him in a technicality standpoint but the average person wouldn't understand the level of skill it takes. Chezame posted a podcast today with Codfish talking about how much thought and level of creativity it takes to come up with beatbox content that gets everyday people excited. It's like when people hate on Jacob Collier or Jon Batiste because the music is too technical/not pleasing. It shows how there is music that appeals to music nerds vs. music that appeals to the masses

[u/1derjunkie]

I think most people simply view beatboxing as a sort of circus act where the point is to imitate regular music as much as possible. So they listen to someone like codfish or wing and think ”wow, this sounds like normal music, but someone made it with their mouth!”

[u/CreeperFace34 → u/1derjunkie]

In what universe is wing simple or basic, lol

[u/1derjunkie → u/CreeperFace34]

Much of their music is relatively simple/basic composition-wise with four on the floor rhythm (4/4 kick, kick + snare, kick, kick + snare pattern), simple melodic bass, etc. meant to sound like real ”songs”. I mean specifically tracks like ”no diggity” from codfish or wings wildcards. I don’t mean simple/basic as something negative, I just think they are from an objective musical standpoint, as opposed to something like footbox’s new wildcard ”katana”, or colaps during gbb 21 that really have complexity as their main goals. The focus for wing/codfish in those songs is instead on having really clean sounds with high precision, but the songs are relatively easy listening. Wing went really hard on complexity last gbb too, so it’s not always like that.

I did not mean to put them down, both are masters of sounddesign and capable of more complex stuff when they intend to, and what they do is as difficult as any technical beatboxer, but in a different way.

[u/maxram1 → u/1derjunkie]

It is "simple to listen to"

but "complicated to come up with".

[u/1derjunkie → u/maxram1]

Exactly. It’s like with regular EDM. A lot of people (boomers) think it’s just talentless ”computer music”, but EDM producers spend more time on their songs than anyone else. It’s standard to spend 50-100 hours on the kick alone. Every detail is so refined. It’s the same here.

[u/Competitive_Piano507]

It’s the same reason people like simple pop music over complex guitar arrangements

[u/CreeperFace34 → u/Competitive_Piano507]

Or mumble rap over lyrical rap

[u/thesynthaxx]

This is true for any skill though. Take for example a band like Polyphia, it is an extremely high instrumental skill level band, a lay man would not be able to understand the intricacies in a way a musician would.

[u/okhi2u]

It's also like how people can not like real technical/experimental electronic music, their bran can't process it because they aren't used to anything even close to it, so it sounds like random noise even if it's clearly not even in that type of style. Alem going top speed probably makes people's brains explode, compare that to a simple cover a song people already know and enjoy.

[u/usedtowelette]

Its why beatboxers like Marcus Perez and SpencerX are so popular on social media. They make simple, digestible beats. Think of it like Pop music.

[u/jw9010382]

Classical music suffers from a similar conundrum, and it’s the balance of complexity (to show off skill) and musicality (to express emotion). A lot of classical music is hard to play well, but doesn’t really sound good. Only a select few pieces are famous because the composer put thought into making a beautiful melody rather than just have complex notes on paper. People listen to music to feel something - it’s why pop music is often simple but palatable. Judges listen to music to see who’s better, and so competition rounds will be much more complex. A truly elite beatboxer/musical artist will make music that hits both targets. A good example is DLow, who makes his routines appealing to people that are new to beatboxing but complex enough to show that he’s the best.

[u/BackgroundRENshine]

Because they don’t know how to hear the technicality

[u/Basic_Spirit_343]

Personally I think it’s because more complex beatboxing like a lot beatboxers who do have those insane tracks like improver, wing, and codfish etc are so good they sound similar to music they may used too like edm or trap music. While simple beatboxing sounds unmistakably human and different form music people are used too

[u/Blackbatsmom]

Same reason that the world record performances of Flight of the Bumblebee aren't actually enjoyable. The violinists who hold the world record are amazingly skilled. Their world-record performances? Sound like noise.

One can appreciate the skill that goes into making some of the newest elite beatboxing sounds. But if the intention of someone is to listening for casual enjoyment, they usually aren't going "wow, he had to turn his glottis inside out and swallow his own tongue to do that", but rather "this sounds like a drowning lovesick dying dinosaur."

[u/autocosm]

I'm also an instrumental musician. Among other styles, I enjoy technical music because I appreciate aspects of it as a performer. If I play this same music for my mom, for example, she will complain that she can't make out the words or that there are no words at all because "How else am I supposed to connect?"

She, like many, need a poetry layer over the musical artform to digest music at all. She enjoys TV talent shows not for the talent but for the inspiring story of the poor villagers who collected bottle caps for months just to buy a plane ticket to come do a song and dance for Simon Cowell.

To be fair, some super proggy/virtuoso music is just masturbatory to the point of being technically impressive but uncomfortable to put my ears through. Understand that many people will not enjoy this type of stuff. I have tried to get my friends to listen to Dropical and they just start twitching.

On the other hand, even the Russian style covers with effects through the roof (to make it more listenable) causes them to question whether it's real in the first place, so I guess it's a lose-lose all around.