The Normal Album: A Deep Dive

[@WillWoodmusic]

Very cool interpretations! What an incredibly well done essay, heck yeah! Fun addition: Black Box Warrior is a reference to a Black Box Warning, which appears on packaging for medications that carry potentially life-threatening side effects! Marsha, Thankk You's title is a reference to Marsha Linehan's Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, a form of talk therapy designed to help people struggling with black and white thinking find stability between seemingly opposing feelings or ideas! Yeehaw!

[@ravsucks]

@@WillWoodmusic Oh my god, thank you so much, Mr. Wood! I’m beyond honored to have made a tribute you enjoyed, and as always, I couldn’t have done it without your wonderful music! A few people had mentioned Black Box Warning and Marsha Linehan as reasons behind the titles, but I guess that makes it official! Always more to learn and unpack.

[@noradi123]

Omg hello mr will wood

[@A_betta_fish]

Honestly, the most accurate depiction I had is for Suburbia its my favorite song

[@lobotomy4zombii]

omg it’s wee woo (will wood)

[@GarbageCat413]

releasing this mere days before a remixed version of the album comes out, and on the same day that a bunch of demos from the album dropped. your timing is impeccable.

[@ravsucks]

OMG you don’t understand i was a day away from finishing the video and i saw that announcement - i was FREAKING OUT

[@Mooster-qq7ul]

Hold up what demos and what's the drop date

[@GarbageCat413]

@@Mooster-qq7ul The Laplace's Angel, Momento Mori, and I / Me / Myself 2018 Live In Studio demos are on streaming services, and the remixed Normal Album doesn't have a release date but it'll be out sometime in mid august (A.K.A. soon)

[@Thatcher-Davis]

"Who are you to question the doctor? You're just the patient." *Novacaine by ghost and pals slowly fades in*

[@smilematsu]

OMG a ghost and pals and will wood fan😭??

[@Doughnie]

I really like these kind of video essays, the format is plenty pleasing. The way the content creator analyzes the music has intrigued me. I think I might start paying more attention to the meaning rather than simply saying; 'Sound good, I listen.'

[@ravsucks]

@@Doughnie tbh that’s perfectly valid, i started listening to will wood bc “sound good” LOL

[@DevelopingCity]

Never clicked on a video so fast. Love from Palestine, dude! 🤍

[@ravsucks]

@@DevelopingCity Love right back!!

[@marxiliary]

i actually love this album so much it like digs into me head and brings out everything i didnt even know was there also the music fucking slaps

[@elijahyoung8172]

Yo! Keep up the good work! Can’t wait for the “in case I make it” video, awesome well edited video man!

[@ravsucks]

@@elijahyoung8172 Thank you!!! I was thinking of also doing a video on Jhariah, I like his style and he’s a bit similar to WW

[@elijahyoung8172]

@@ravsucks HELLYEAH! It is the 3rd anniversary of “A Beginners Guide to faking your death” so makes sense

[@exoskelepathy]

isn’t it the second anniversary of icimi today? or am I just confused-

[@Television_Addict]

28:11 I actually personally relate Blackboxwarrior to my experience with demonizing certain mental disorders (i.e. cluster b disorders such as NPD (the one I have), BPD, or ASPD.) The entire final verse shows this imo. “Why to thine own self be true when it is YOU who are the problem! not the things you do, but something sick inside.” Like, it’s not even what you’re doing anymore. They’re saying ‘you have this disorder so you’re just evil. It’s you who are the problem. Something sick inside people with cluster B disorders that makes them this way.’ Again in “Boy, you really IS defective! CBT don’t seem effective for that cluster B, accept it.” He actually SAYS cluster B. I relate to this song a lot. The entire time it’s like- “seals himself from reason in a Kevlar baby blue tuxedo” I find is like people talking about me- and my experience with NPD- as if “he thinks he’s so great and perfect. What a narcissist.” Or the lyric “well they found him with a map to every victim of his love” reminds me of how people sometimes say ‘your partner is narcissistic’ instead of saying they’re abusive, as if by default of a person is a jerk they’re a narcissist.

[@ravsucks]

@@Television_Addict A bit of common ground I’ve found among a lot of commenters is that Wood’s music relates so well to them. They feel seen in their own struggles with mental health and identity. I myself listened to SELF-iSH over and over while struggling with depression. And he gets the point across pretty well - the demonization of mental disorders that aren’t ignorable by the neurotypical populace.

[@madison2648]

I normally (haha) am not interested in videos like this about will’s stuff because im scared about them getting too personal or try to relate it directly to will himself but this was very good and well put together analysis!! Great video!!

[@madison2648]

Also great editing!

[@ravsucks]

@@madison2648 That was my intent! I had heard when I started the first one about people being invasive so I wanted to explore the themes and story of each album while respecting his boundaries

[@quotheravennn]

your video on SELF-iSH and what i’ve seen of this video so far are really good, but what really made me hit subscribe was the inclusion of the Adventure Time clip. that scene with Betty was perfect for what you were trying to say. And, you know, people who like both will wood and adventure time, some of my favorite things, are usually pretty cool. keep it up!

[@ravsucks]

@@quotheravennn and they say there’s no benefits to watching a bunch of cartoons! that scene has always haunted me, just the unnatural droning when she tries to make a wish, how small she is on the screen - scarier than anything else GOLB did. also, thanks!!!

[@quotheravennn]

⁠@@ravsucksSERIOUSLY that scene is so good and that episode in general is one of the best of all time from one of the best cartoons of all time

[@quotheravennn]

@@ravsucksp.s. this video essay is keeping me company working a somewhat-late shift at mcdonald’s lol so thanks for that too

[@ravsucks]

@@quotheravennn godspeed, brave minimum wage warrior

[@Michelangelo-qf8zd]

perfect timing just, a bit before the remaster! Welcome back, will wood obsession!

[@Television_Addict]

Dude my autism is so pleased with this. As a birthday gift to myself I will watch EVERY will wood album breakdown you made and stim aggressively

[@ravsucks]

@@Television_Addict happy birthday! hope you enjoy!

[@raffawho6070]

This need more views

[@ravsucks]

@@raffawho6070 hehe, thanks

[@sheedays]

your video on self-ish as well as this one are absolutely incredible. very well made and formulated. there’s so much to dig into with will wood’s music

[@ravsucks]

@@sheedays tyvm!! i’m so behind on making ICIMI

[@ri_s9671]

after that phenomenal self-ish analysis i knew this one would be just as great. i love how much thought was put into this and i was not disappointed at all!

[@ravsucks]

@@ri_s9671 yay! i’m happy you enjoyed it!!

[@smallfryry6328]

26:36 YES PLEASE I WOULD LOVE A 20 MIN VIDEO ON EVERY SINGLE SONG

[@blossomoasis]

These videos are feeding my hyperfixation

[@ravsucks]

@@blossomoasis i feel the same tbh, making them feeds my hyperfixation

[@feelshowdy]

I really appreciate the imagery you use while analyzing each song. Specifically, the line in Laplace's Angel that goes "It doesn't take a killer to murder, it only takes a reason to kill" reminded me strongly of The Killing Joke, so I was delighted to see the Joker flash on the screen for a couple of seconds.

[@ravsucks]

@@feelshowdy my process involves listening along with my voiceover and grabbing any images or videos that come to mind, so same brain

[@blossomoasis]

Martha thank you for the dialectics i thought was about a type of therapy called Dialectic Behavioral Therapy and the person who created it was named Martha

[@ravsucks]

@@blossomoasis that’s probably a better explanation than the one i gave

[@blossomoasis]

or marsha i can never remember

[@starscott22]

⁠@@ravsucksWill confirmed this in a q&a at his Portland show last weekend 👍

[@SmirkMirk]

This gets me so hyped up for the remixed version of The Normal Album, great timing.

[@ravsucks]

@@SmirkMirk thank you! i totally planned this out and didn’t learn that there was a remixed version the night before i uploaded lol

[@ComfyLilith]

2:57 It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No it’s superego!!!

[@gnuffe7778]

THE NORMAL ALBUM JUST GOT A FUCKING 2024 EDIT!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@ravsucks]

@@gnuffe7778 I SAW I WAS LOSIJG MY MIND TODAY

[@strateupgamr7]

I'm convinced Will had all the props in the music videos already and just wanted to gauge how much people would spend on another ridiculous album

[@ennea_solaris]

wow. literally wow. i have no words. i've been interested in will wood's music for a little bit now, but i'm not really the best at deciphering the meaning of lyrics (which is pretty unfortunate considering how deep his lyrics are) and this video genuinely left me without words. there's so much in this album to understand which also means that there is so much more that i never knew about this album, so this video was a genuine shock to me, and in the best way possible. i am genuinely so surprised that i saw that you only have 1.57k subscribers, you are genuinely so underrated. thank you so much for this

[@ravsucks]

@@ennea_solaris to be honest, a lot of times i’m publishing these hoping my pile of words made any sense 😅 but i’m glad i could help make sense of it!

[@cihloun]

More Wee Woo, yippe. You describe them so complexly, but it's understandable, great videos

[@ravsucks]

@@cihloun wee woo

[@cihloun]

@@ravsucks Yeee, Wee Woo :3 (I am mentally unstable, because of Will Wood overdose)

[@LucieEllison]

Ty for this, my hyperfixation is GROWING

[@nachomori5764]

Yesss let's go just watched the Self-Ish one last night!!

[@kayon99]

it's peak.... you're criminally underrated omg

[@ravsucks]

@@kayon99 you have no idea how cool it is to have my videos called peak

[@kayon99]

@@ravsucks ITS COOL BECAUSE ITS TRUE.. the peakest, even

[@Elliot-l4t2v]

MIRROR MAN MENTIONED🗣️🐺🔥‼️‼️

[@mallowkai8702]

Woah pls more content like this there isn’t enough ppl doing stuff like this!!

[@Green_Box7]

2:43 JACK STAUBER AND WILL WOOD?!!!

[@ravsucks]

@@Green_Box7 i actually used clips from the mirror man song in both will wood videos - it’s just so cool visually

[@YALC_LIVE]

The Normal Album is so special to me this video is actually so awesomesauce!!

[@ravsucks]

@@YALC_LIVE i’m glad you like it! i hope you enjoy the remastered album release in a few days :)

[@YALC_LIVE]

@@ravsucks I’m looking forward to it!! Your video also helped me understand the album better which makes the album a lot more interesting to relisten too

[@Ray-op7xc]

The effort you put into this video is actually insane omg!! Tysm for this breakdown, now I can understand the album a bit better! Esp. since Im european and while (for Suburbia) I know about the cultural norms of that time in America my brain didnt connect the dots rightaway since I have a different background. Yk plus just some general cultural references fly over my head. So again, thank you! I can now appreciate Will's art even more❤

[@ravsucks]

@@Ray-op7xc i’m glad i could add to your experience!

[@polinaivanova7844]

thank u for making my brain literally explode

[@ravsucks]

@@polinaivanova7844 any time

[@etonunderscore]

i love you for this video vro... ❤

[@goober324]

Loved your analysis cant wait for the next one!

[@ravsucks]

@@goober324 tysm!

[@Chiste26]

Woah you'r work on this videos Is so good I enjoy how it's edited, really awesome

[@ravsucks]

@@Chiste26 thank you! i’m glad you enjoyed it!!

[@Aleximo]

I recommend watching the live in studio recording of Marsha on Will’s YT! Seeing the band play really brings you into the song and greatened my respect for Will. Great vid and I just subbed!

[@ravsucks]

@@Aleximo thank you! i’m excited to see the whole remix of the album he’s got planned - whenever that comes out

[@AzulioSwoop]

AHHHHH WILL WOOD YAYAYYY I LOVE WILL WOOD

[@japhy5147]

Socrates is now my favourite she/they icon 😌 I love your videos so much !!! I guess you will eventually do a ICIMI video :0 can't wait but also please take your time and get some rest uwu

[@ravsucks]

ahhh tysm! don’t worry an ICIMI video is planned, i was thinking of having it be 1K sub special if we keep growing at this rate, but if it’s been too long i’ll do it anyway :) in the meantime, i’ve got some shorter vids and deep dives of other artists planned!

[@Alisuslol]

First saw this channel, and HOW MANY SUBSCRIBERS? You are awfully underrated, the video is peak and very greatly stylised, absolutely subscribing and wishing you’ll gain the recognition you deserve!

[@ravsucks]

@@Alisuslolthank you, it means a lot! even this amount of attention is crazy to me, and all i can hope is that people enjoy these videos as much as i enjoy making them :)

[@Jax675]

OMG NEW WILL WOOD VE!!! IN TIME FOR IN CASE OF MAKE IT ANNIVERSARY & TNA REMIX + DEMOS😱😱😱🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@ravsucks]

@@Jax675 YOU KNOW IT! THIS WASN’T AT ALL A COINCIDENCE THAT I FOUND OUT ABOUT YESTERDAY

[@quinnmuffin]

how does he have only 425 subs?????this guys fucking great omg

[@ravsucks]

@@quinnmuffin oh, you make me blush it’s actually grown surprisingly fast! i was at 280 something before i posted this video

[@klank9409]

more will wood? count me in

[@ravsucks]

@@klank9409 i figured since people liked the selfish vid, it was worth another go-around

[@klank9409]

quite a few songs i really liked, hard to pick a favorite. never realized memento mori was one of his songs, i've heard it before. excited for the next greek philosopher

[@CIoverleaf]

This video was rly good, keep up the good work mate! :D

[@ravsucks]

@@CIoverleaf will do!

[@Tasmint]

Glad KZbin recommended me this Mweheheh ty for making this I shall now sit back and enjoy the show

[@ravsucks]

@@Tasmint ty for watching this! always a pleasure to make videos :)

[@YourMuseBillCipher]

Thank you so much again, I needed it :)

[@ravsucks]

@@YourMuseBillCipher no problem, happy to make these!

[@StUp1dIty0]

Keep up the good work! :)

[@ravsucks]

@@StUp1dIty0 thank you! i’ll do my best :)

[@xeniavenyaketchupfish]

gosh i love ur vids sm,, i was freaking out when this showed up on my recommended. do you ever plan on covering everything is a lot?

[@ravsucks]

@@xeniavenyaketchupfish maybe eventually! i’ll admit that my eye is on ICIMI next, because it feels like a good progression from this and SELF-iSH. but i do like will wood, so it’s not off the table

[@idontownamustache42069]

this rocks man!!!!

[@ravsucks]

@@idontownamustache42069 thanks!!

[@jaycap]

We live in a society

[@Mango5_]

Very well made video! 👏

[@ravsucks]

@@Mango5_ thank you!!

[@Bliffenstimmers]

Excellent analysis!!

[@ravsucks]

thank you!

[@AngDGG]

no entiendo casi nada pero es interesante verlo

[@ravsucks]

@@AngDGG ¡Gracias! Lo siento, ¡tal vez trabaje en subtítulos en otros idiomas!

[@Elliot-l4t2v]

I currently don’t have any money to spare so I’m doing the best I can :3 I subscribed, liked and I’m going to share!

[@Mr-wd2wn]

will wood plays the piano btw

[@ravsucks]

@@Mr-wd2wn ah that makes sense

[@goober324]

You made 2 videos on the man and you didnt know!??!​@@ravsucks

[@ravsucks]

@@goober324 i may be stupid,

[@happyepicboi6910]

this is neat

[@ravsucks]

@@happyepicboi6910 thank you!!

[@malware1987]

hello! wonderfull video, truly. i was just researching about blackboxwarrior, although most of it is a bit... difficult to analyze, the thousands of words I had to search up were genuinely fun to investigate and once you get all off it is is one hell of a ride, lines like phineas gage flagpole (which relates to being subject to so much pain for your country/flag to the point of lobotomy (in a way I guess)), to "Why to thine own self be true" which is from hamlet, the song could really have a full fledged full video dedicated to it!

[@malware1987]

Also i can't quite point out why but listening to this album and watching serial experiments lain is like dark of ozz 2

[@ravsucks]

@@malware1987 i remember dying a bit on the inside when i opened the lyrics page and seeing all those words… like “how the hell am i gonna analyze all this” a little follow up breaking it down is a very cool idea tho! i’m def adding it to the list (and will credit you dw)

[@SHUICHIKAGEHARA11037]

instead of calling the timestamp 'welcome to the show', it shouldve been 'welcome to Mary Bell town' 😔😔

[@ravsucks]

@@SHUICHIKAGEHARA11037 luckily i can fix that

[@Television_Addict]

30:10 commenting again lol 1: I taught myself some will wood songs on piano! (I’m in school for piano) 2: I think its will wood playing the piano

[@Lochness-i4b]

Thank you so so much for making this awesome video and including information about how to help Palestine as well!

[@ravsucks]

of course! thank you for watching!

[@AkkozinhaStar]

IM HAVING A HEART ATTACK I LOBE TH NORMALM LBUM"!!!!!!!!! IM GONA CRY

[@ravsucks]

@@AkkozinhaStar real

[@AkkozinhaStar]

@@ravsucks THIS VIDEO IS SO GOOD BRO GOOD JOB

[@ravsucks]

@@AkkozinhaStar thank you!!

[@ArchaicAltruist]

11:17 Homestuck reference!!!!!!!!

[@ravsucks]

@@ArchaicAltruist >:]

[@ArchaicAltruist]

@ love your vids man they make my day }:]

[@ravsucks]

@ thank you!! knowing people get something out of the stuff i create always makes me happy

[@tom-on]

He lied about the apple thing :(

[@xMeme52x]

DO CAMP HERE AND THERE SOMETIME

[@ravsucks]

@@xMeme52x never heard anything from it, i’ll have to check it out!

[@LectroNyx]

2econd 2ight 2eer TELLS you its genre... Disco.

[@the_mcgeeky]

Congratulations on 420 likes

[@ravsucks]

@@the_mcgeeky blaze it

[@arsonstick]

do you have any thoughts about black box warrant? its an early version of blackboxwarrior, released originally on "the real" and theres a good portion of changed lyrics (he goes even faster though, good luck understanding lmao)

[@ravsucks]

@@arsonstick never heard it! i’ll have to give it a listen

[@0utcast09]

26:35 PLEASE DO, I LOVE THESE VIDEOS 🙏🙏

[@ravsucks]

@@0utcast09

[@sillyoofling]

5:09 project 2025 be like

[@FordKensa]

23:02 Is this a reference to that ad

[@DiamondVR6534]

Do Everything is a Lot next

[@ravsucks]

@@DiamondVR6534 I’m working on ICIMI at the moment, but I do plan on that!

[@DiamondVR6534]

@@ravsucks awsome

[@behdoop]

I think the genre that 2econd 2ight 2eer best fits into is ska music

[@Coopycoopercooper]

7:36 hey i uhh think you accidentally flashed a dead body here

[@docjackson8165]

New Rav video??

[@flourish7759]

you should do in case i make it :)

[@ravsucks]

@@flourish7759 don’t worry, i plan on it! i promised it as the 1K sub special, but i reached that goal faster than I was prepared for, so it’s gonna be a few weeks

[@therobbiebandswho]

WERE YOU WEARING AN APRON OR A BAG TO REPRESENT A STRAITJACKET? I'M SORRY, I KNOW IT WAS SERIOUS AND DRAMATIC, BUT IT MADE ME GIGGLE SO HARD

[@ravsucks]

@@therobbiebandswho an apron lol, in hindsight i don’t know why i did that whole live action section but it seemed fun at the time

[@WilliamWhyles]

Will there be a Everything is a Lot or In case I make it deep dive?

[@ravsucks]

@@WilliamWhyles Yes! ICIMI is next, working on that (it’s supposed to be the 1K subscriber special, but just taking longer than I expected…) After that, I’m not sure when I’ll cover EIAL, but I’ll get to it!

[@arz9910]

I got confused, because i know next to nothing about Socrates because I don’t like history.

[@ravsucks]

more video essays kzbin.info/aero/PLTDI2Ca2o6Ahia5On4F0j4CZOc3UT35IU&si=60eBF5YLIcA-qb3V

[@driftingthruspace]

Isn't the term BlackBoxWarrior a play on a black box warning?

[@steernaught]

It really is awful out here, Socrates.

[@paticornio9592]

Who is Socrates?

[@ravsucks]

@@paticornio9592 In this video and my SELF-iSH one, I give names to the narrator to easier describe them. Plato’s Cave was a metaphor in the last album, thus I called him Plato. Socrates was Plato’s teacher, ergo I named this guy Socrates. Also, it was the name of Will’s pet rat, so double reference.

[@paticornio9592]

​​@@ravsucksohhh! that's smart. If you explained it here, I missed it, and I'll watch the selfish vid next. You did a very good job with this video!!!! Btw, it's will who plays the piano in every track, including marsha

[@ravsucks]

@@paticornio9592 thank you! and sorry if i wasn’t clear in the video itself

[@RoseRelisnot]

38:28

[@Jax675]

fyi 🫶🫶🫶2nd 2ight 2eer is ska with disco influences you said you didn't lnoe tje genre b its almost an omage to his oingo boingo influences

[@ravsucks]

@@Jax675 idk anything about ska but that makes sense! i thought it sounded disco-ish but i couldn’t find a second opinion to back me up

[@funkfreaked]

yeah i see i can definitely see the oingo boingo influence thing, especially with ww’s vocals in his older stuff (less so now, though). some other bands/artists i KNOW for sure influenced him are tom waits, squirrel nut zippers, and mr bungle. would recommend all of those three btw

[@Jax675]

@@funkfreaked don't forget Andrew Bird and Green Day!