I never much cared for Vinny and Mike's band, Red Vox. pretty bland indie rock. they self-apply the label "psychedelic rock" and I'm like, yeah? which psychedelic? cuz they're all more interesting than this lol. their music is the soundtrack to realizing your acid is bunk.

even at the peak of my attachment to the clowns, I still had lots of criticism for their music. I always thought Vinny's vocals were the band's obvious limiting factor. I've also repeatedly said he'd benefit enormously from vocal coaching, but he chooses to continue sucking.

anyway, Vinny's stupid cult thinks they love his band's music. but absolutely motherfucking nobody outside of his cult thinks Red Vox is good. every time I've seen their music exposed to a novel audience of any kind, it gets panned and derided. only Vinesauce people like them.

even though my critiques have stayed consistent, I've definitely experienced fluctuations in how forgiving I am of the music's flaws and how much I've subjectively enjoyed or been affected by it, seemingly based on how invested I was in whatever tf I had with Vinny and Mike.

the shifts I experienced were relatively mild compared to how much I've seen this parasocial attachment modify the tastes of others. like... Red Vox would not organically be anyone's favorite band lol. the cult never looks more delusional than when they stan them in the wild.

several times now, I've seen content creators try to tell an ornery subset of their audience that the music their streamer guy made is bad. they just argue, they never concede. "you didn't listen long enough" "you need more context" they sound like Jordan Peterson fans lol.

or Trump fans. they're all, obliviously, foot soldiers of narcissists who will never know nor care that they stood up for them like that. these ones got roped into the ego orbit of a lazy cunt who can't even be fucked to get help with his shoddy vocals. omg my fav band lol.

this experience caused me to re-evaluate exactly what I like about the music I listen to, especially if I have some parasocial bond with the artists. but at some point, you really do just have to stop and accept the interplay between that attachment and your opinion.

does that mean I think it's fine for Vinny's delusional fans to stan Red Vox? who fuckin cares. Drake has fans, too. however, I don't think it's fine, as a trend, for lackluster artists (esp. white dudes) to take space from excellent ones by exploiting parasocial attachment.

that's what Vinny does, no question. he's landed a ton of undeserved profiles and interviews, free promotion from websites and better bands, oodles of attention and praise for his mediocre music, solely because he has a substantial audience for his gaming stream. is that fair?

this is becoming a bigger problem. what separates Vinny from Jake Paul and Ricegum other than genre and age of audience? how many bands like Red Vox are out there sucking the life from the indie scene? when does it become a meaningful threat to music quality or credibility?

furthermore, perhaps most importantly, how the fuck are you supposed to know how much -you- ever really like anything once a parasocial connection has tainted your objectivity? well, you can't. you just have to accept and consider it as a factor in how much you enjoy anything.

and if you ever find parasocial attachment is the main thing driving your enjoyment? reflect, maybe it's fine. but if you're so into an internet celebrity that you blindly defend their questionable ass music to strangers who are more qualified to judge it, you're in too deep

this is also impacting film and other media, in new ways and old ones. but this thread picked a lane and it's gonna stay in it lol.

anyway all my homies hate Red Vox, stream The Beaches