Pat Finnerty
Birth namePatrick Quinn Finnerty
Birth datec. 1980
Occupation
  • Musician
  • YouTuber
  • podcast host
Years active2004–present
Pat Finnerty
InstrumentGuitar · vocals · bass
Genre
Current member of
Past member of
  • Okay Paddy
  • And the Moneynotes
Pat Finnerty
Youtube handlepat_finnerty
Youtube display namePat Finnerty
Youtube genreVlog · music
Youtube subscribers230 thousand
Youtube views14.8 million
Stats updateApril 25, 2026

Patrick Quinn Finnerty[1] (born February 13, 1980)[2][3] is an American musician and YouTube personality based in Philadelphia. As a singer-guitarist, his projects include Okay Paddy, And the Moneynotes, Pat Finnerty and the Full Band, and August is Falling. On social media channels, Finnerty is known for posting original song compositions and giving critical reviews of popular music songs in the What Makes This Song Stink series.[4]

Early life and education

Finnerty spent his early life in Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States.[5] He began playing live music in bands at the age of 16, Finnerty has said in the past that he was inspired to start playing by acts like Weezer, Ween, and Nirvana. Finnerty later attended Temple University.[6][7] By 2010, Finnerty lived in West Philadelphia, where he still resided as of August 2020.[2]

Career

Musical projects

Finnerty has been based in Philadelphia since about 2010 (he currently resides in West Philadelphia, though he was not born nor raised there).[5][8] His musical projects have included Okay Paddy, And The Moneynotes, Heavy Blonde,[9] The Tom Petty Appreciation Band, and Pat Finnerty and the Full Band.[10][5][11][12] In 2015, The Lid, a rock opera by Pat Finnerty, had a three-night run at the Underground Arts theater.[13] Finnerty has also taken on gigs as a sideman guitarist,[4] such as performing onstage with members of Dr. Dog[8] and touring as a guitarist with Strand of Oaks.[14][15]

YouTube and Instagram

Finnerty joined YouTube in 2009. By the early 2020s, Finnerty's viral online content and musical performances had made him a renowned singer-guitarist in the Philadelphia music scene.[16][17] Toward the end of 2023, he had over 166,000 subscribers and over 7.74 million total views.[18]

Finnerty is known to use social-media platforms to release original song recordings. In 2014, he released the humorous songs "Raggae Dog" and "Raggae Dog II: Reflection" via YouTube.[19]

His social-media channels gained national acclaim in May 2020 when he posted videos online of his band performing live, rooftop concerts in Philadelphia that complied with COVID-19 social-distancing measures and that supported Black Lives Matter.[17][20][21]

On the Instagram platform, Finnerty's presence is branded as "The Pat Finnerty Show".[5] In August 2020, Finnerty staged a 24-hour Instagram livestream event referred to as "Grohlathon"[22][23] in an attempt to get the attention of Foo Fighters' front man Dave Grohl.[24] At the nine-hour mark of his stream, to the surprise of Finnerty, Grohl joined via chat while hosting a dinner party with his friends. Grohl and Finnerty chatted for several minutes, and Grohl played part of the Dire Straits' song, "Money for Nothing", at the request of Finnerty.[5][2][25][26]

Finnerty became well known for his video series What Makes This Song Stink, a spoof of YouTuber Rick Beato's series "What Makes This Song Great?", where he analyzes the musical concepts in popular songs and offers social commentary about the song's lyrics and commercial appeal.[27] The series has reviewed "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down, "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock, "Beverly Hills" by Weezer, "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train, multiple songs by Lenny Kravitz, "Dani California" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Emo Girl" by Machine Gun Kelly, "Try That In A Small Town" by Jason Aldean and "Lonely Road" by Machine Gun Kelly and Jelly Roll. [28][29] Finnerty also releases "Little Stinkers", which are shorter videos than the approximately 45-minute videos of the main series including songs by artists such as Nickelback, Walker Hayes & Monster Truck.[28] In 2022, Finnerty adapted the What Makes This Song Stink series as a podcast.[30][31]

Finnerty's videos are characterized by his niche humor, social interaction with people on the street and running gags, such as saying "Beato!" after mentioning music theory concepts.[4][32]

In April 2021, Finnerty's critical review video of the Weezer song "Beverly Hills" helped popularize the term, "The Weezer Conversation", about the complicated relationship fans of the band Weezer have with how the band's songwriting and album development have progressed over the band's tenure.[33]

Finnerty is good friends with members of rock band Dr. Dog and to support his critical review video of Train's "Hey, Soul Sister", he convinced the band to release a cover of "Here Comes the Hotstepper" by reggae singer Ini Kamoze.[34]

August is Falling

Finnerty founded August is Falling, a pop-punk, emo-style music project.[35][36] Finnerty wrote[37] the songs and played guitars and sang vocals, and Eric Slick played drums,[citation needed] on the band's The Simple Plan EP that was released independently in 2022.[38] Lyrics of the songs on the EP take aim at the popular music industry, internet culture, and the state of the emo movement.[38] The EP's fifth song track, "August is Falling", was mixed by acclaimed music producer Butch Walker.[35][36][39][40]

A running gag on Finnerty's social media channels was that he hoped to earn enough money from The Simple Plan EP to purchase a hot tub.[41] As of December 2023, he has achieved his goal of acquiring a hot tub, in the form of an inflatable non-permanent hot tub in the confines of his garage.[29]

Discography

Okay Paddy

And the Moneynotes

  • This Year We Hunt (2007)[44]
  • New Cornucopia (2008)[45]
  • On The Town, on The Vine (2009)[45]

Pat Finnerty and the Full Band

  • "The Weezer Conversation" (2014)[46]
  • The Lid (2018 digital release)[13]
  • "Lake House" (2020)[46]
  • "Tough Gig" (2020)[46]
  • "Rest of It" (2022)[46]

Other projects

  • Pat Finnerty, "Reggae Dog" and "Reggae Dog II: Reflection" (2014)[19]
  • Heavy Blonde, compilation of 11 song tracks (2015)[9]
  • Tortured Agony, "Dead Man Trail" (2021)[47]
  • August is Falling, The Simple Plan EP (2022)[38]

Other credits

  • Toby Leaman, Military Applications (2022)—lead guitar[48]

See also

References

  1. ^ Finnerty, Pat (February 15, 2026). "Night Hawkin' - Zakk Wylde & Joe Bonamassa Crossroads". pp. 33:01. Retrieved February 15, 2026. – via YouTube
  2. ^ Hudak, Joseph (2020-08-17). "How a 'F-cking Nobody' From Philly Got Dave Grohl to Jam With Him on Instagram Live". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  3. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU0z-_gqRGI
  4. ^ Kovac, Adam (2023-05-02). "Pat Finnerty: "I knew millions of people were gonna get What Makes This Song Stink 'cause millions watch Rick Beato, and maybe 10% know how ridiculous this man is"". Guitar World. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  5. ^ "Scranton musician Pat Finnerty got Dave Grohl to sing and chat with him on Instagram". NEPA Scene. 2020-08-17. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  6. ^ "Excellent article from the (Scranton PA) sunday-Times about being a local musician". The Gear Page. March 24, 2013. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  7. ^ Wilding, Patrice (2013-03-23). "Musicians on a mission". The Scranton Times-Tribune. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  8. ^ DeLuca, Dan (2022-08-10). "3 new live music venues by Avram Hornik will energize Philly nightlife". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2022-08-10.
  9. ^ Lello, Michael (2014-02-18). "Heavy Blonde: 'Your Not Going to Get the Same Thing'". Highway 81 Revisited. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  10. ^ "WXPN to air weeklong celebration of MTV's 40th birthday". PhillyVoice. 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  11. ^ Zenyatta, Eugene (2021-08-21). "Bringing the Sass". Philadelphia Weekly. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  12. ^ Beck, Tom (2018-10-24). "Tom Petty's legacy lives on at Johnny Brenda's". Star News Philly. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  13. ^ Colavita, Michael (2015-12-03). "Breakup the Monotony of the Norm w/Pat Finnerty and the Full Band at Ortlieb's Dec. 3". The Deli. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  14. ^ Fennell, Sean (2021-09-18). "Strand of Oaks makes an emotional return to the XPNFest River Stage". WXPN. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  15. ^ "We All Get Together: As Strand Of Oaks Hits The Road, We Look Back At One Of Our Favorite Shows From Last Year". Magnet Magazine. 2022-05-05. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
  16. ^ Vettese, John (2021-08-06). "Pat Finnerty and the Full Band bring the rock of the 80s to XPN Studio for Free at Noon". WXPN. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  17. ^ "Pat Finnerty". First Avenue. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  18. ^ "Pat Finnerty - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
  19. ^ Lello, Michael (2014-07-02). "Exclusive: "Raggae Dogg II: Reflection"". Highway 81 Revisited. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  20. ^ Faulk, Steven M. (2020-06-10). "Rooftop concert supports Black Lives Matter". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  21. ^ Titlow, John Paul (2020-08-13). "How Live Music Is Coping, And What The Near Future Will Bring". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  22. ^ Reilly, Nick (2020-08-18). "Watch Dave Grohl surprise fan as he joins 'Grohlathon' and plays drums". NME. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  23. ^ Tan, Emily (2020-08-18). "Dave Grohl Plays Drums On Superfan's 'Grohlathon'". SPIN.com. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  24. ^ Schaffner, Lauryn (2020-08-17). "Watch Dave Grohl Join Fan's 'Grohlathon' Live Stream, Play Drums". Loudwire. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  25. ^ Mamo, Heran (2020-08-18). "Dave Grohl Made a Superfan's Dream Come True by Crashing His 'Grohlathon' Livestream Jam Session". Billboard. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  26. ^ Lello, Michael (2020-08-17). "Pat Finnerty Got Grohl: 'I knew he'd be into it'". Highway 81 Revisited. Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  27. ^ Thrower, Sean (2021-06-03). "What Makes Pat Finnerty's "What Makes This Song Stink" Series Great". Guitar Ramble. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  28. ^ Janci, Janelle (2022-08-28). "Meet Pat Finnerty, the YouTuber who explains why some songs just stink". Lancaster Online. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  29. ^ "What Makes This Song Stink Ep. 8 - Jason Aldean "Try That in a Small Town"", retrieved 2023-12-19
  30. ^ "Podcast News Bites: NPR, Starburns Audio, New York Public Radio". Inside Radio. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  31. ^ Douglas, Stephen (2022-12-28). "Things We Loved in 2022: Pat Finnerty". The Big Lead. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  32. ^ Ufberg, Max (2022-11-22). "Meet the YouTuber who struck it big by breaking down the songs he hates". Fast Company. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  33. ^ Brow, Jason (2021-10-06). "Weezer's New Albums: What To Know About The Four New Records From The Rock Band". Hollywood Life. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  34. ^ Watkis, Jr (2022-04-10). "Here Comes The Hotstepper Featured In Sonic The Hedgehog 2". World Music Views. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  35. ^ Belghast (2022-08-05). "Pat Finnerty Rocks". Tales of the Aggronaut. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  36. ^ "What Makes This Song Stink "Emo Girl" BIG UPDATE". YouTube. 2022-08-30. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  37. ^ "August is Falling". Genius.com. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  38. ^ "August is Falling - The Simple Plan EP" (in fr-FR). EXITMUSIK. 2022-09-04. Retrieved 2022-09-12.
  39. ^ "Mysterious Pop-Punk Band August Is Falling Releases Self-titled Single, Announces Debut EP". Ultimate Guitar. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  40. ^ Grassick, Mark (2022-09-05). "August Is Falling: Meet the internet's hottest new emo band". Ticketmaster UK. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  41. ^ Raible, Allan (2022-12-28). "Review: 50 best albums of 2022". Good Morning America. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  42. ^ "Hunk, by Okay Paddy". BandCamp. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  43. ^ Lello, Michael (2013-11-25). "'Snow Tracks' Preview: Okay Paddy". Highway 81 Revisited. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  44. ^ "Pat Finnerty Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  45. ^ "With new EP on the way, And The Moneynotes are raising their profile". Times Leader. 2009-04-28. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  46. ^ "Pat Finnerty and the Full Band". BandCamp. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  47. ^ "Tortured Agony - Dead Man Trail (Chords)", Ultimate Guitar, retrieved 2022-09-19
  48. ^ Vettese, John (2022-10-24). "Toby Leaman's solo debut finds the Dr. Dog bassist in top form". WXPN. Retrieved 2022-10-26.