Wikipedia

/mu/

/mu/ is the music board on 4chan, an English-language imageboard. Created in 2006, the board is dedicated to the discussion of music artists, albums, genres, and instruments.

/mu/
Type of site
4chan imageboard
Available inEnglish
OwnerHiroyuki Nishimura
FounderChristopher "moot" Poole[1]
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedApril 8, 2006; 20 years ago (2006-04-08)
Current statusOnline

Described as "4chan's best kept secret" and a "surprisingly artistic and esoteric side of 4chan", /mu/ is used by users to share their music interests with similar minds and discover "great music they would never have found otherwise" with many moments of insightful candor that can affirm or challenge their own musical tastes.[2][3] The board has been noted for promoting and raising popularity for various music artists, uncovering rare and lost albums, hosting Q&A sessions, and contributing to online memes and discourse related to music.

History and culture

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The board has gained notoriety for earnestly focusing upon and promoting alternative, challenging, and otherwise obscure music. Some common genres discussed on /mu/ include shoegaze,[4] experimental hip hop,[3] witch house,[2][5] IDM,[6] midwest emo,[7] vaporwave,[8] and K-pop.[2] Other discussed genres include soft rock, folk rock, bubblegum pop, baroque pop, jazz, and cumbia.[2]

A big part of the board's culture is posting album charts, i.e., collages featuring cover art of albums that users have recently been listening to. The most discussed and essential albums on the board are referred to as "/mu/core", with common arguments being on what constitutes that list.[9] The /mu/core list is often seen as an entry point to /mu/'s culture and music taste. Individuals with a refined music taste are referred to as "patrician".[10] "Sharethreads" are common on the board, where users request and post links to albums on file sharing platforms, often including rare recordings or underground albums.[11]

The board's culture has inspired many online music communities and meme pages on social media that emulate /mu/'s posting style.[12] Artists including deadmau5, Anamanaguchi, and Andrew WK have held Q&As on the board.[11] There is a significant overlap between user bases of /mu/ and music site Rate Your Music.[13] According to Eden DaSilva, the board declined in popularity around 2016, following the rise of streaming services and increase in far right users on 4chan.[11]

Impact

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The board has played a significant role in popularizing various music artists, as acknowledged by music publications such as Pitchfork and Entertainment Weekly, including Death Grips, Neutral Milk Hotel, Animal Collective, Car Seat Headrest, and Have a Nice Life.[14][15][16][17]

Prominent music critic Anthony Fantano, described as the world's most important music critic by New York Times, began his career on /mu/ and developed a significant following there.[18] Fantano describes /mu/ as an "original sin that all humor traces its roots to".[19] Several musicians have acknowledged using the board to receive feedback and find inspiration. Zeal & Ardor developed their distinctive sound, which combines black metal with spirituals, based on suggestions from two /mu/ users.[20] Classical pianist Conrad Tao has posted his music anonymously on the board for feedback[5] and rapper JPEGMafia promoted his music on the board.[11] Death Grips seeded various clues on /mu/ in 2012 about their then-upcoming albums The Money Store and No Love Deep Web.[21] A rendition of the chart-topping song "Royals" by Lorde appeared on /mu/ in 2012 before its official release, although she denied ever writing on the board in 2014.[22] An alleged unreleased Radiohead song, titled "Putting Ketchup in the Fridge" and "How Do You Sit Still", was initially reported as genuine by NME and Spin until CNN revealed it was a hoax promoted by the board's users.[23][24]

Andrew W.K. did a Q&A with the board's users in 2011, causing the servers to crash from the increased traffic.[25] In 2011, deadmau5 also held a Q&A session.[26] In 2013, electronic musician Oneohtrix Point Never debuted on /mu/ the music video for his Still Life (Betamale), created by the visual artist Jon Rafman.[27][28] In 2013, Anamanaguchi posted a Q&A thread shortly after a music video cameo appearance by 4chan founder Christopher Poole.[29][30] In 2014, bassist Devin Ruben Perez of indie rock band DIIV posted in a series of Q&A threads on the board, running into controversy when the contents of his posts became public outside of /mu/.[31] In 2015, singer Lauren Mayberry shared on Twitter a link to a thread on /mu/ about her band Chvrches' song "Leave a Trace".[32] In 2019, Anamanaguchi had another Q&A thread.[33]

The board has been acknowledged for sharing rare music recordings and uncovering lost albums. Notable example includes sharing the works of Duster throughout 2010s, which was a factor in their later popularity and reunion, and uncovering D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L by Panchiko (from 2000, uncovered in 2016) and All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling by Godspeed You! Black Emperor (from 1994, uncovered in 2022).[34][35] NPR described this aspect of the board as resembling "a secret club of preservationists obsessed with the articulation of a near-dead language".[36] "Sharethreads" are common on the board, where users request and post links to albums on file sharing platforms.[11]

The board has attracted further attention for various projects done by its users. Users on the board sometimes recreate popular albums or create new ones collaboratively.[37] A group called The Pablo Collective posted a 4-track remix album of Kanye West's The Life of Pablo titled The Death of Pablo to /mu/, claiming it was based on a recurring dream from one of the board's users.[38] A role-playing game based on Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, designed with help from the board's users, received coverage from Polygon[39] and Pitchfork.[40]

See also

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  • 4chan – Anonymous imageboard website
  • Rate Your Music – Online collaborative metadata database of music and film established in 2000
  • /b/ – Imageboard or online forum on 4chan
  • /pol/ – Political discussion board on 4chan
  • /mlp/ – My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic discussion board on 4chan

References

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  1. ↑ Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine (2 October 2018). We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of REDDIT, the Internet's Culture Laboratory. Little, Brown Book Group. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-349-41635-9. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Flanagan, Ian (20 August 2016). "/mu/: 4chan's best kept secret". The Pitt News. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  3. 1 2 LaPine, John (5 April 2017). "28 Years of Daft Punk: A Retrospective". Drunk Monkeys. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  4. ↑ Fishman, Hunter (17 June 2021). "Shoegaze: A Complex History of a Powerful Sound 1963-2021". Newsweed. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Barone, Joshua (15 November 2019). "Conrad Tao Was Never Just Another Prodigy". New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  6. ↑ Nicholls, Parker (2021). Braindancing Through the Mainstream: Intelligent Dance Music as Popular Music (Thesis). Carleton University. p. 86. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  7. ↑ De Sá, Mateus (14 January 2021). "The Summer Ends: The Story of Midwest Emo". The New Collection. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  8. ↑ Glitsos, Laura (June 2018). "Vaporwave, or music optimised for abandoned malls". Popular Music. 37 (1): 100–118. doi:10.1017/S0261143017000599. ISSN 0261-1430. S2CID 165274914. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  9. ↑ Bowe, Miles. "The Year In Death Grips", Stereogum, 26 December 2013.
  10. ↑ "Plebeian vs. Patrician, or Fuck /mu/", 9 December 2012.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 DaSilva, Eden (2026-04-15). "The Evolution of Internet Music Nerds". Pigeons and Planes. Retrieved 2026-04-26.
  12. ↑ Murray, Owen (February 15, 2019). "Patrician Music Chartposting: Toxic Pretension in the Internet Age". WECB.fm. Emerson College. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  13. ↑ Press-Reynolds, Kieran (8 July 2021). "How Dismiss Yourself Became a Hub for Internet Weirdness". Bandcamp Daily. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  14. ↑ Winkie, Luke (April 12, 2016). "There will never be a more hipster meme than Neutral Milk Hotel's 'In the Aeroplane Over the Sea'". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  15. ↑ Cohen, Ian (28 June 2018). "Death Grips — Year of the Snitch". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 18 December 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  16. ↑ Renner Brown, Eric (20 May 2016). "Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo talks 4chan, Green Day, and why drugs suck". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  17. ↑ Gordon, Arielle (12 November 2019). "Have a Nice Life — Sea of Worry". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  18. ↑ Coscarelli, Joe (30 September 2020). "The Only Music Critic Who Matters (if You're Under 25)". New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  19. ↑ Coscarelli, Joe. "The Only Music Critic Who Matters (if You’re Under 25)", The New York Times, 30 September 2020.
  20. ↑ Kelly, Kim (7 July 2016). "The Real Story Behind the Spiritual Black Metal Blues of Zeal and Ardor's 'Devil Is Fine'". Noisey. Vice Media. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  21. ↑ Zadeh, Joe (23 September 2014). "Musician rebels embrace darknet to explore uncensored internet frontiers". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  22. ↑ Hopewell, Luke (4 February 2014). "Lorde Posted 'Royals' To 4chan Before It Hit #1". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  23. ↑ Abramovitch, Seth (December 22, 2011). "Long Lost Radiohead Song 'Putting Ketchup in the Fridge' is Probably Fake". Gawker. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  24. ↑ Goodwyn, Tom (December 30, 2011). "Lost Radiohead track 'How Do You Sit Still' revealed as a hoax – audio". NME. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  25. ↑ Read, Max (February 13, 2011). "Andrew W.K. Apparently Crashed 4chan by Partying Too Hard". Gawker. Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  26. ↑ "deadmau5 Q&A", 11 September 2011.
  27. ↑ Rafman, Jon. "Jon Rafman + Oneohtrix Point Never", 25 September 2013.
  28. ↑ Soderberg, Brandon. "Oneohtrix Point Never Discovers the End of the Internet in “Still Life (Betamale)”", Noisey, 05 October 2013.
  29. ↑ Rubio,Justin. "Chiptune meets 4chan: Anamanaguchi vomits the 90s in its new 'Meow' video", The Verge, 09 January 2013.
  30. ↑ "/mu/&A", 14 May 2013.
  31. ↑ "DIIV's Devin Ruben Perez Under Fire for Sexist, Racist, Homophobic Remarks on 4chan". Pitchfork. 14 December 2014.
  32. ↑ Wyat, Daisy (19 August 2015). "Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry responds to misogynistic 4chan abuse over new music video 'Leave a Trace'". The Independent. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  33. ↑ "anamana q&a thread", 25 November 2019.
  34. ↑ Wilson, Robyn (2 February 2022). "Panchiko: How a Mysterious Shoegaze Album Sparked an Global InterSearch". Vice. Archived from the original on February 19, 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  35. ↑ Helmen, Peter (5 February 2022). "Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Lost Debut Album Appears To Surface Online After 27 Years". Stereogum. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  36. ↑ Lorusso, Marissa (March 22, 2019). "The Old Disappearing-Reappearing Band Trick". NPR. Archived from the original on July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  37. ↑ "/mu/ + 4chan ALBUMS", Discogs.
  38. ↑ Darville, Jordan (2 February 2017). "4Chan Remixed The Life Of Pablo Into A Four-Track Experiment Based On A Recurring Dream". Fader. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  39. ↑ Garrett, Martin (16 January 2013). "Hitler, a potato and a flaming piano: How a '90s rock band inspired a fan-made JRPG". Polygon. Archived from the original on November 19, 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  40. ↑ Stosuy, Brandon (19 August 2011). "Listen: Jeff Mangum Covers Roky Erickson Live; Plus Neutral Milk Hotel: The Video Game". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
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