The Rise & Fall Of Finn McKenty (The Punk Rock MBA)
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- Опубліковано 13 січ 2025
- Another deep dive documentary, this time on the controversial figure that is Finn Mckenty AKA The Punk Rock MBA, enjoy 🙇🏻♂️
The views and opinions expressed in this video are those of the presenter and do not reflect or claim to reflect 100% factual evidence. This content is for informational purposes only and is based solely on the presenter’s personal knowledge and experiences. The information provided in this video should not be regarded as fact but rather as the presenter’s personal perspective.
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#finnmckenty #punkrockmba #breakdownmedia
I remember a dm conversation that I had with him a while back and I even said "dude, you don't look enthusiastic in the videos you're making lately" and he even said i'm not really. His old videos like the christian metalcore scene, you could hear that he cared about the topic and wanted to contribute to part of the conversation. I feel like now he is jaded and been forced to do shit he didn't want to do for a loooong time.
I DM'd him before this all went down too, and he refused to take any compliments and would deny any praise or constructive feedback I mentioned about his videos. It was honestly really sad because he refused to acknowledge any merit in his work and basically said that it was a joke to look up to anything he's ever done and he ranted about how much he hates musicians and the mentality of the scene. I think the guy is just depressed and jaded as he grew out of all this a long time ago. It was clear in the beginning of his channel that he wanted to incorporate the business and self-improvement mix into it and it just didn't pay the bills like the content he hated did
Weirdly enough my interaction with him was back in the Metal Inquisition days when he was posting as sergeant d. and we talked about the Christian crossover band The Crucified who were basically the Christian version of D.R.I. It surprised me how knowledgeable he was about the band.
I haven't watched his channel in years because of the strange history of videos which he clearly just read Wikipedia plus it didn't seem like the same guy who was heavily into 80's thrash metal.
He was enthusiastic in the past because the money was new and he was in a brighter period in his life, but he was still a fake. The problem with faking is that the second things take a turn for the worse you sink into depression and lose the drive to do things. If he were a real rock fan from the beginning this current drama wouldn't have driven him off the internet.
Remember: This was Sargeant D in MetalSucks, the biggest troll in the history of that website.
Also Stuff You Will Hate and Metal Inquisition. I used to comment SYWH when he had that site while doing occasional troll postings on MetalSucks. You're the first person I've seen point out that he was Sergeant D.
That is extremely telling. Thank you for that insight.
@@RobertHastings12 Never forget Enpedestalment and the Yoga Pants song. And that clanky, ringy slam snare drum.
7:39 Yes. If Finn had just disappeared from UA-cam, people would have just moved on (like I did after videos stopped in September).
But no, he had to come back just to say f*ck all you "smooth-brained" morons, I don't care about music, I was just doing it to get the bag, now I'm gonna bounce, bye losers.
Just...why?
Exactly right.
Arm chair psychology take: insecurity. Oddly, no amount of financial security will ever fix that.
@tomlotti240 Totally agree. Assholes beat Finn down so he became an asshole. Not really a mature solution.
@humblemumble80 He knew the internet was coming for his ass on the grooming allegations and too many other up and coming rock, punk, metal channels were calling him out on his lack of rock knowledge. Finn's entire "Rock MBA" is MTV pop-punk between 1997 and 2005. That's a Rock GED, not an MBA.
He's bowing out before he's put in handcuffs. The truth is he developed an underage Asian fetish while he supervised sweat shops in Southeast Asia and it almost got him locked up.
My guy... he didn't call HIS viewers smooth brained. He called his haters smooth brained. It's crazy how that 1 2 second clip is getting passed around with zero context whatsoever to make the dude look worse than he already does.
Poor guy. Imagine having to unwillingly listen SOAD or LP to make money. Sounds like torture.
Not having an interest in music at all, vs not having an interest in music making a living out of it, seems completely different.
But Finn didn’t pacifically clarify that..
He means he's not interested in talking about old music from 30 years ago. He wants to talk about good music not nostalgia.
He may have done it Atlantically but the time zones are ahead so we may have missed it
“I was only doing it for the money”
No wonder he wouldn’t shut up about trap, and it turned him into a lolcow
He's about as bad as cyraxx lol
@ I don’t even know who that is but I’m going to agree with you dead ass
@@Metalheadreaper87 Cyraxx is a failed musician who likes teenage asian girls just like FInn
I don't like this whole thing. Finn was actually getting really bummed out by trolls towards the end and it was clearly effecting his mental health. When he says "he doesn't like music and was only doing it for the money"... I don't believe that for a second. I think he had become disillusioned and probably didn't enjoy what he had to do to please the algorithm (in fact he said as much)... but it's that "he lost his passion, and the trolls got to him"... that's obviously what happened. I don't like seeing this pile-on. Give the guy a break.
In this video every time you mentioned his "critics" you showed clips of people like Nik Nocturnal or Anthony Fantano, and I think for the sake of clarity it should be noted these two actually liked and respected Finn - And even worked with him on a couple videos - up to and until he admitted to being a poser & a grifter. These aren't the "critics" who hounded him pre his recent scandal, these are people who are criticizing him now based on his own admission.
I noticed that too. Nik was definitely not a critic. If anything, in his video on the subject, Nik seemed just confused, disappointed and sad.
@@SkorpioMusic ngl I feel bad for people like Nik, Nik himself isn’t a bad guy by any stretch, I think he just gave too much benefit of the doubt in this particular instance
I still don't believe that he doesn't care about music... maybe some of the bands he'd talk about,but there's no way he doesn't care
When he said "i don't have interest in music", i took it as he has no interest in music related topics, bands and genres that will generate views. And who can blame him. Yes, he took a massive dump on most stuff i like ( european metal, power metal etc), but who cares. I didn't watch him cause of his music taste. I watched him for his takes on bands and genres from business/marketing perspective.
It was absolutely all the negativity that made him want to quit. He's clearly very thin skinned about himself and can only respond to ANY comments negatively himself.
Yes, I know he was a "famous" troll on some hardcore message boards, doesn't matter, he's a crybaby lil binch.
Been a sub of yours for a while. Great video. Nice writing and editing.
Dude really said "i have millions of eyes on my videos 😢" when he hasn't cleared 100k views in literal ages
He produced videos like daily though right. If he had like 1k videos on is channel, it’s possible that he’s getting lots of views daily. His type of contact isn’t latest pop culture news where the videos are only relevant for a short time period.
It’s wild that people don’t remember his old blog “stuff you will hate”. His low vibration comment is very relevant because the music community en masse is very bad at detecting sarcasm which is indicative of low intelligence.
or just being on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, but that mainly goes for much younger people w/ high-functioning autism and aspergers
"very bad at detecting sarcasm which is indicative of low intelligence." - it's actually a sign of high IQ
I'm really enjoying every single video about his downfall. If you go into his comments and read his replies, it's always been clear he was never interested in music. He just wanted to grift dollars out of people who are. My fav memory of him is when he called people who smoke weed "creatively bankrupt" then said emo rap is the new metal... his example? A song that literally goes "i am smoking loud. I am smoking loud." For a minute straight lmao
he did care, but stopped caring a long ass time ago lol
Dude, the problem is that half his deep-dives and analysis takes were bullsht. That's what ultimately did him in. So many people were writing dissertations on how WRONG his takes were that his ego told him to just bow out.
you pretty much summed it up
His early videos were full of sht and he was being called out back then for how again, WRONG they were. Finn is a dark period in rock commentary and so many people who are coming out now and saying they inspired him to start commenting is exactly what we were trying to avoid 6 or 7 years ago. Rock commentary is not supposed to be a redux of a band's wikipedia article and whatever their latest mainstream publication mentions are.
Part of me is annoyed at Finn for pulling me in with decent content and developing a parasocial relationship. The other part realises he needs therapy because he looks angry and burnt out, as his content fell off and he got too petulant and volatile.
I’m not gonna lie. The hatred for Finn is already getting old. 😒 You can only make so much hatred videos to the point. A lot of people will naturally move on from it, we get it. Some ppl still hate him, but people who have moved on already have the right to not care as much.
Overtime you get a different perspective, depending how deeply you had a connection to a UA-camr that you look up to, but then realize you never knew him personally, you may not like him as a content creator, but you never talked to him as a person outside of being a content creator of what he does for a living.
Finn, probably has good opinions and can actually offer you a great conversation outside of the music stuff. If you actually gave him a chance to show a different perspective on himself outside of doing what he does for a living.
A lot of creators have talked about how they talked to Finn personally outside of UA-cam and he has a lot to offer about many other topics outside of this UA-cam job. Personally, I just want him to move on and start a new chapter in his life. You can only care about so much drama to the point you have to accept, that it doesn’t bother your life personally at all.
UA-camrs who have hated Finn personally, do have problems with outsiders, who don’t have or share the same hatred for Finn and that’s the problem for these UA-camrs, you keep making videos on him but we just don’t care as much.
Why hate somebody that you never met just because you don’t like what he does for his job as a content creator?
I understand people can’t separate the artist from the person or the content creator from the person. And think they’re completely the same thing! But half the time they aren’t, but it’s up to you, if you want to trust what you want to trust or believe in.
I personally have already moved on from this drama, but I think it’s personally sad to keep hating on somebody that you never met. If you have a problem with Finn on a personal level, then get in contact with him and have a private conversation so your hatred can go or, it will never leave your mind!!
Also, please consider the fact that some of these UA-camrs, who make videos on Finn, don’t actually hate him. They’re taking advantage of other people’s hatred in order to make content out of it, and creating a character for themselves that they hate the exact same person, but in real reality, it’s just a character for the camera because the audience want to feel trusted that a UA-camr hates the same man that they do, but in reality it’s just an act. 🙃
You absolutely did not watch this video did you 🤣🤣 hahaha holy moly every single point you just tried to make was discussed
@@BreakdownMediaYT my comment was about the idea of all the drama/hate put together!
It wasn’t about you or your video, sorry for the confusion! 😊
@@delix787you’re commenting on THIS video. First time on the internet or what? 😂
@@mommytsunami I get their point but honestly I don’t think this is the place to be commenting smth that can be perceived as attacking others who might have an issue w/ his content, which admittedly can show a rather unpleasant side of that person, which is why they’re conflated as often as they are
the rock community on the Internet is too toxic, it's better to ignore and just like the music, chat it up with folks who like it too and keep it at that. There's nothing wrong with expressing disappointment in something but on the Internet people take it too far and act like some kind of stupid music police.
so i get where he is coming from, and I understand, but I really don't agree with the way he left us all hanging - then comes out in an interview that he was fake as fuck this whole time. he just left a shit ass taste in my mouth for someone I supported and looked up to a lot. If he was just more upfront and honest about everything then he wouldn't have so much hate. I don't think he's a bad person, but made a shitty decision to build a fanbase off of his lies and greed. then an even bigger shitty decision when it came to how he decided to quit. I hope he feels like shit about it and he deserves the backlash IMO
Regardless of what Finn is saying in his recent interviews with regards to “not caring about music” this is evidently not true -someone will not go to the effort of promoting shows and doing all the scene related stuff if they were never into it. Like many bands, there comes a point where you can choose to stay underground and make the music you want to (or in Finns case videos) or make music/videos that will appeal to a more watered down broader audience for monetary gain. He got fed up making videos about bands/sunjects he doesn’t care about and has had enough, now he’s burning the bridge so he can’t be swayed to going back into it. It’s a simple as that.
Why do we put people on pedestals in the first place? I liked his content, I learned a lot about bands I would have never learned without him. Most media companies do the same thing, but music gatekeepers don't get nearly as worked up. I'd still watch him, not because I think he's a hero, but because he's good at content creation. I'd also watch anyone good at content creation without worry about their cred.
Also, I don't think he's not interested in music. I think it's this music culture that's toxic.
Yes, authenticity and being genuine matters. Especially in regard to any form of art. Specifically regarding music, if he had been doing videos on the "most popular" artists and just pop music in general, no one would probably care as with pop music, most of us know that the music isn't genuine, most often not written by the performers, and obviously made with the sole intention of making money. Of course there are examples of "pop" artists who don't fit the mold I just described, but most do.
However, for those of us who came from a more punk/hardcore/post-hardcore (Specifically 90's post-hardcore) background, yes...being genuine and authentic mattered. I gravitated towards those styles of music because of the messages in the lyrics and the raw emotions behind the music. Yes, I also listened/listen to plenty of music that is popular (i.e. a lot of the 90's grunge stuff, but being a Gen Xer, I love a lot of 80's New Wave, certain styles of hip hop, etc.), but the reason I gravitated more towards bands like Snapcase, The Refused, Boy Sets Fire, Fugazi, etc. was because of the messages and causes they proponed. While I grew to appreciate metal more over time, I was more interested in hearing bands rail against our corrupt society and economic system than some dude singing about wizards and dragons in falsetto. So for me, it's simply the fact that he chose to grift off of punk rock/hardcore specifically, and he was always open about him placing a priority of "selling"/being popular, over any sort of integrity.
Anyone else remember Rockitoutblog? Come back Sami. We need you.
I love how people keep calling it "the fall" and "exposed" when he literally admitted to doing it voluntarily and said he was done on his own terms lol. Video Essay UA-camr drama is so cringe
I swear I’ve never seen more people upset about something that doesn’t affect them at all. I don’t give two shits if he did it for the money or anything. My life goes on. I think it’s weird as fuck everyone’s losing their mind over this.
100%
Finn: I did it for the money, I don't care about the music.
Interviewer: Wow, yeah cool. Alright, man.
That clip makes me feel like I could have made a better interview with Finn. 😅
Anyway, Finn talked shit in that interview to give one final push to his name and it worked. He marketed/socially engineered his name another two weeks longer in trending topics. Good for him, he's added another project to his portfolio. 👍
Agreed 100%.
We need not speculate as to why he did this promotional interview in December. 😆
It’s funny how we need to listen to one person for music information .. 😂😂😂
Do we? Do you?
I liked his content. I don’t understand the hate.
Are people really that dense that they take what he said as “I’ve never been interested in music”
I get him, i would do the same. Why even work when you dont have to work anymore if you hit your financial goals
So what’s he doing now? It’s not like his channel has generated multi generational wealth. What’s he grinding at these days?
Bro this man already has a rise and fall. He said fuck the Internet and they said fuck him
OoOOoOoOoOO... my god, how does somebody live ACTUAL life when the "internet" hates them? The internet fucking hates everything. It's the most negative space (specifically social media) you can associate yourself with.
Great perspective
What sucks is I supported this guy.. even had him do a review on my bands first music video.. smh just disappointed even with low standards for humans… fraud
i loved his channel. i found his takes entertaining so who gives a shit why he did it. you got free videos, he doesnt owe anyone an intention THEY expect.
On the subject of Sleep Token, what I've heard of them, they just sound like a rip off of Thou.
Every band is a rip off of another band
@@ChadAV69 to a certain extent, but there are certain bands who’re definitely more blatant about it than others, to say the least
Fall? He hasn't fallen. It was great stuff till the last video. - He quit this thing.
Good riddance is all I have to say.
“So take the photographs and still frames in your mind” 🎶
Bye Felicia, don’t let the door hit you in the a.. on the way out now
Has a hatebreed tattoo but doesn’t care about music
I'm happy I never liked listening to him and his pompous attitude.
...never speak too soon.
Reaction channels are for the room temp ppl. It's not his fault he told you what you think about music for money, it's your fault for listening and supporting.
You’re a little late to the party, chief. This topic has been beaten to death. Help me understand why people are so fixated on this clown 😂
get real. he loves music. he's clowning on yall. i've seen his books in the background about hardcore and what not. I remember how he loved talking abotu seattle scene punk bands and shit. lol.he was so hyped about talking to caleb and guys form beartooth and acacia strain and shit. i know he liked it. pbbbt He just got old. This is what happens when you get old and boring and youy ahve a family and sh it. youre too old to be keeping up with all of the kids.
he used to care but doesn’t anymore
But it wasn't like he was ever secretive about not caring. He talked about that in many videos and even had entire videos dedicated to the topic. People made it the biggest thing for like no reason.
He was a poser plain and simple
As always, gatekeepers were always right.
👍
I think Finn likes music, but he finally did shrooms, met the real him, and realized the real him is a poser.
Who cares? Maybe stop believing people online?
Why are you here then?