YouTube Music App Frustration

[Zzzptm]

So my family is all on the YouTube Premium now because I'm done with the ads. The latest Chrome update won't deploy an ad blocker against YouTube and ad blockers don't work on my smart TV or phone... so premium it is.

As I enjoy the no ads, my family members are giving YouTube Music a go. The app offers to build a profile by you clicking on five bands and it goes from there. Seems pretty straightforward, so all right, I'll try it.

I decided that I want to build a profile around the type of music I enjoy most of late, stoner/desert rock. Surely, YouTube in all is algorithmic wisdom, will have record of all the artists I've clicked on in that genre and assemble an appropriate slate of choices for me. Oddly, I can't search for an artist I like in this profile-building task. I can only click on things as they are offered.

While I saw some acts that I do indeed enjoy, I held out for the stoner/desert acts. And while YouTube threw every current pop and rap and hip-hop act at me, none of them stuck. Of the classic hard rock acts, it only offered up Slade and Deep Purple. Never mind that I've been clicking on tons of Black Sabbath for the one-offs in the song by song threads, that data meant nothing to the big algo in charge, didn't see that band offered up at all. And there were ZERO stoner/desert bands in that list, even though I frequently go for Wo Fat, Sasquatch, and Mos Generator on the YouTube. I like to search for new acts in that genre with those very key words, but nada were offered up to me.

And I got all the way to the end of the list with nothing.

I decided to play a few songs in the app - those I can search for, no prob. I then went back to the "Pick 5 artists you like" to "Create a unique experience" just for me. The first page: Drake, Taylor Swift, Kane Brown, Rolling Stones, Mashmello, Outkast, Shania Twain, H.E.R., 2Pac, Christian Nodal, Madonna, and Bad Bunny.

 

But a few more scrolls and I see Black Sabbath and Queen offered. Then Stevie Ray Vaughn. OK, so it's figured out I'm old, lol. It even tosses out AC/DC before going to Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, and Missy Elliott. 

Two screens later, I do see Motorhead, which is nice, but I want more recent stuff... I continue to scroll... Metallica and Led Zeppelin in and around Lady A, Faith Hill, 50 Cent, Nas, and Phil Friggin' Collins... 

And I KNOW it's using SOME of my search history, because I see Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan 2 screens later. But I press on, I seek the desert here... I do see Greta Van Fleet in this go-round, but that's not what I'm looking for, newer though it may be. Anthrax and Judas Priest on this round, definitely more metal, but the Ludacris, Ana Barbara, and Boyz II Men tells me that YouTube only *thinks* it knows me...

And then I see BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND. What the hell, YouTube? You pull THAT search result of mine and NOT 1000mods or Deaf Radio?



It gets SO CLOSE with a Halestorm recommendation, then blows the opportunity with Jodeci, NLE Choppa, P!nk, and India Arie... and then BABYMETAL!



Seriously, YouTube, I searched for ONE stupid Babymetal song and you think that's my jam? How many times did I play through Brant Bjork and the Low Desert Band tunes and you not notice, but the ONE TIME I looked up Babymetal, that gets it a place on my list o' recommendations? Sheesh...

Nice to see Iron Maiden and The Who, but useless to see Jeezy, SZA, N.W.A., Duran Duran, Sade, Eminem, and Baby Keem. Sheesh, I'll even take trash glam bands at this point, maybe I should scroll back up to The New York Dolls and build out that playlist. But, no, I am on a quest for the desert bands, I must find them. Even though I see many, many more one-off searches manifested in the list, not one of them is a desert/stoner act.

Hang on, wait a minute... Queens of the Stone Age. But, uh... that's a two-edged sword, what with their latest dancey-dance record. Not sure if I should click that one. I'll keep looking...

Neutral Milk Hotel? Who in the hell are Neutral Milk Hotel?

And I'm at the end of the list, again.

[Charger]

I've never really understood how those youtube and google algorithms work...as they very very rarely actually predict on the things that I've previously done. Especially youtube. It always tries to throw in that "popular" stuff that THEY want to be searched...most likely the stuff that gives them the most $$$...stupid.

[Zzzptm]

The weirdest thing is that it *did* pull up stuff that I know came out of my ancient searches and playing because the band was totally obscure/not currently popular/bizarre. So why those and not others?

To be sure, there was a total lack of Russian and Eastern European rock that I've played on YouTube, like Aria, Master, and Kabat. No South American stuff, either, or African music. But it did include tracks from Homestarrunner.com, so I don't know.

One thing for sure is that I'd trust the gang here to make a better playlist for me than YouTube. There would be surprises on that playlist, no doubt, and maybe a song-bomb or two that I'd play a few seconds of before asking, "Who the hell put THAT on there???", but all in good fun.

Maybe I should ask for your playlists for me to consider...