'They're gonna make a big star out of me!'
Coming out of that dirty Depression in the late 1930s a skinny kid from Hoboken, NJ took a trip to the Big Apple to appear on a popular radio show known as Major Bowes Amateur Hour. “Hey, this kid is good,” was the opinion of the good Major and others. “Voice like crushed velvet, he has, he has.” Thus was born, after a few glitches along the way to stardom, Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra as a major legend in the music and acting biz. It might be added that Frankie, for all his flaws (and they were legendary) was also the possessor of a massive talent.
Some have suggested that a thing called American Idol is the natural successor to the old Major Bowes gig. Maybe it is. Likely it’s not. I am in no position to judge since I have never actually watched it. I have no intention of altering that impulse to avoid it with gritty determination. Even the name is offensive. These are not 'idols'. It's an insult to the word idol much in the same manner that the term icon is regular defiled and cheapened when applied to some bozo or bozette who is the farthest thing from either an idol or an icon.
I am wary of fads. I am especially wary of fads that exploit a bunch of either moderately talented, or not-talented-at all kids in the name of offering them vain hope that they will become another Sinatra or, (gag) Celine Dion. Actually, I think it’s more (double-gag) Michael Bolton than Sinatra, with the odd bit of rap fakery thrown in.
So, as I say, I have never seen AI in its entirely, but you can’t miss the %$#&* thing even if you wanted to. It clutters up TV scheduling; it runs promo trailers every 10 minutes, or it comes in at the tail end of the hour immediately before something I actually want to watch, so I catch a bit of it despite my resolve to commitedly stay away.
What I do see is a so-called panel of really, really obnoxious pseudo-celebrities who have no particular acumen to judge ability in a performer, making smarmy, nasty, or downright cruel (who is this Simon Cowell prick, anyway?) judgmental cracks to kids with stars in their eyes and hope in their hearts that they are gonna be ‘big stars.’ One might ask, considering the pathetic natures of Britney and Lindsay, do you really, really wanna be a star?
So, do I blame the kids who appear on AI? Not a bit of it. Some of them might be quite good. Who knows, there might even appear a genuine talent some day. By the way, if you want to see ‘real’ talent, just watch a tape of early James Brown in performance and you’ll feel the hairs rise up on the back of your neck. And maybe there will be another James Brown to come down the pike. Maybe there will be another Aretha or Streisand. Probably not.
But, what a process to get there. And what a crass and vulgar bit of exploitation is visited on us all in the name of hideous commercialism and maybe some scanty reward for a few, rare, circus performers in this mix.
Say – that felt good. I haven’t indulged in a blogging rant for a long time. Now I can face my day. Say, maybe I want to be a star, too. Maybe I want to be Lewis Black.
Labels: crappy pseudo-entertainment, exploitation, Idols and idolatry
posted by Ian Lidster at
8:29 AM
9 Comments:
i only watch the auditions for the Idol comps, it compulsive trainwreck viewing, but after that i lose interest quickly. Interestingly it seems to be the runners up who hang in longer on the whole as far as music careers go.
C'mon Ian, tell us what you *really* think! :) As someone who rejected my parents' tastes in everything, when I was all growed up I found myself re-discovering and loving Sinatra's music. Have you formed an opinion on Michael Buble yet?
You are so right, much more a popularity contest than a hunt for real talent. Being on TV and winning on a show does not talent make. At school many kids, especially girls, all figure that they have loads of talent and they are going to be discovered and become famous. They have about as much chance as the boys who think they'll all be pro sports stars. No work just instant fame... must be galling for the true artists who work hard at what they do.
Most of the stuff on TV is junk...not just American Idol...all these reality shows that are the big rage really show how twisted our society has become and how engrossed we are with our own stupid little egos.
it's entertainment, and should be watched as such. i love american idol. have watched it from the very beginning. jennifer hudson has done well with her singing and oscar for dream girls. tamyra grey has done well in the movies. rueben has done well with his albums. kelly clarkson has won more than one grammy, i believe, as well as some other awards, and so have some others. fantasia barino and latoya london are now performing in "the color purple." there have been some people with great gifts of singing, acting, etc., not to mention the exposure they receive for other work.
jordin sparks, the newest american idol, sang with michael w. smith on his live christmas tour in 2005 and 2006, and this is another stepping stone towards her great future.
some of those people who come on there know they have not an ounce of singing talent. some even actually audition as a bet that they can get thru, even though they know they can't sing.
the good thing about T.V. is if you don't like it or don't want to watch it, you can just turn it off, or never turn it on.
Nothing like a good rant to get the blood circulating, eh Ian?
I've never really watched American Idol, nor Canadian Idol for that matter, or Star Académie in Quebec.
In a way I think these shows are even more pernicious than than regular reality shows in that they fabricate instant "stars", who don't necessarily have that much talent, while real artists can't get a break - and will get even less breaks if the only way to get one is to end up on these star (and I use the word loosely) making machines.
Am I making any sense?
HI Ian,
I never liked Frank Sinatra when he was young but he got better and better as time went by and I grew to appreciate him.
I refuse to watch American Idol, never have even seen 5 minutes of it. On the whole I hate reality shows but I have to confess one guilty pleasure. And it's a Simon Cowell show! So you think you can dance! I never learned to dance and but I love to watch it and so envy people who can dance. I got hooked last season and am waiting for the auditions to be out of the way so I can tune in again.
If American Idol produces a new superstar like Streisand (or?) we'll hear about it soon enough, I don't have to watch the show or want to watch it in the meantime.
... and it was a good, well-deserved rant. Some of the folks I work with (really smart people) are totally hooked on it. I admit I sometimes indulge in the auditions for a laugh, but don't watch the contest.
I find AI less offensive than the other long-running atrocity: The Bachelor. I fail to understand why anyone would subject themselves to such a ridiculous and humilitating situation. What does it say about our society ... and that people think this is 'reality'?
Presumably they think this is there only shot at their 15 mins of fame. Euch! See... got me ranting. ;-)
Hi Ian!
We're back from our Hawaii trip and I'll soon have pictures posted.
About AI - I feel the same way! In fact, the more I see major marketing corporations insisting on what I should watch, the less inclined I am to watch anything at all!
Most of the channels in our local market are either telemarketing (something like 7 channels out of 58!) some version of MTV/VH1, or some form of pseudo-science (like The History Channel with their "reports" on "Famous Haunted Houses of the Civil War"
Blah!
I'd rather read!
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