In every social media platform, there’s an unusual subculture that resides within it. For example, Twitter has “Weird Twitter” and YouTube has “Weird YouTube." Soundcloud, the audio platform based out of Berlin, Germany, is no exception, with Weird Soundcloud.
Originally, Soundcloud was created so users could upload, record and share their original music with millions of users online. However, the sounds on the website have changed exponentially over the past couple of years as an influx of EDM mashups and parody tracks were created. Mainstream artists like Miley Cyrus and Bruno Mars have had their music remixed and frequently appear in the group. Macklemore, arguably the most popular artist in Weird Soundcloud, has his own meme called Macklecore, which consists primarily of his mashups.
The subculture is an “in-joke,” as one user calls it, and a good portion of the music is tagged as “Soundclowns,” but some say the sounds are a middle finger to today’s EDM culture. Many users feel like the genre is too cliché, and by mashing music from popular artists like Skrillex and Avicii—who many of the users detest—it’s their way of poking fun at them.
Ideaot, the creator of the “Hey Macklerena” mashup, agrees.
“I think that many of the sounds people are putting up are in fact a critique of EDM culture, especially recently,” he says. “A lot of things are just uploaded because they sound funny though. Also, I think Skrillex is more of an inside joke than anything since he's like a go-to electronic non-music ‘this sounds like someone puking’ musician for everyone on the planet.”
