I must confess that I am nowhere to be found on the American Idol bandwagon. I find this very sad because it is this HUGE cultural phenomenon and here I am with absolutely no opinion on it. Needless to say, the show has become an absolute powerhouse - bringing in twice as many viewers as the Grammy's and even stealing some Lost fans. Of course, one thing has become apparent to me in the extensive updates I receive from my co-workers - this is a bit more of a popularity contest than a talent competition. Needless to say, Idol winners and runners-up have not had the most success, with the exception of Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken. Yet, everyone else seems to have had rather disappointing sales when compared with the number of votes they received. At the center of attention for tonight's finale is grey-haired Taylor Hicks - a fellow who I'm told can't quite hit the high notes but has great energy. I guess I'll be rooting for him. Being rather out of the loop on this phenomenon, I am relying on you to clue me in. What is it about this show that grabs people -- it can't possibly be the music. Is it the personalities? Is it the inside look into the music business? Is it Simon, and his evil-but-true/no bullshit critiques?
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
The Beast That Is American Idol
I must confess that I am nowhere to be found on the American Idol bandwagon. I find this very sad because it is this HUGE cultural phenomenon and here I am with absolutely no opinion on it. Needless to say, the show has become an absolute powerhouse - bringing in twice as many viewers as the Grammy's and even stealing some Lost fans. Of course, one thing has become apparent to me in the extensive updates I receive from my co-workers - this is a bit more of a popularity contest than a talent competition. Needless to say, Idol winners and runners-up have not had the most success, with the exception of Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken. Yet, everyone else seems to have had rather disappointing sales when compared with the number of votes they received. At the center of attention for tonight's finale is grey-haired Taylor Hicks - a fellow who I'm told can't quite hit the high notes but has great energy. I guess I'll be rooting for him. Being rather out of the loop on this phenomenon, I am relying on you to clue me in. What is it about this show that grabs people -- it can't possibly be the music. Is it the personalities? Is it the inside look into the music business? Is it Simon, and his evil-but-true/no bullshit critiques?
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6 comments:
Sorry, I'd rather stick hot pokers in my eye than watch American (or Canadian) Idol.
I couldn't agree more Will, and just bleated from my soapbox on Jacquie's blog.
It's not music, it's Karaoke and I for one will never watch it.
Here's my take, for what it's worth. This is the only season I have (or ever will) watch from beginning to end. I trained for an opera career, so I'm very familiar with vocal pedagogy, as well as musicality and performance coaching, etc.
To a degree this is a popularity contest, but based on Simon's occasionally off-the-mark critiques, I've been wondering if this is some sort of social experiment with manipulating popular taste on a grand scale. In most cases, Simon's observations are the most technically astute and I was originally inclined to agree with his assessments early in the season. Later on, in one show, someone sang a wonky note in a song and was upbraided by all three judges, then Simon's darling, Kellie Pickler, sang egregiously out of tune throughout her performance and was soundly praised by all three judges with no mention of the off-key boners. The person they gave grief to was sent home the following night, which seems a bit more than a coincidence to me. The saving grace to me of this show has been that Simon was vehemently opposed to sending through the ultimate winner from the beginning. Then again, maybe he was pretending to dislike the singer. It all makes me question how the deck is stacked and even though I love the unassuming goofball guy who won and I wish him well, I've had my fill of this mess.
Oh, and I only watched it this time because I finally got a DVR and could watch later and whizz through the tedium of commercials and boring host flirting at Simon.
I think some of the popularity of the show (anecdotally from my neck of the woods) is that people can watch it with their kids/ kids like it. For me the only appeal has been the really horrible singers, i.e. episodes one or two of the cycle, and of course William Hung, the in-spite-of Idol.
When I do check in from time to time I have realized that I have to cut the 'kids' some slack, sometimes they sound like shit becuase the schedule is grueling and even Mariah (fill in blank of good singer) couldn't do it well all the time.
I hate that it's always on for hours a week (and we have Canadian Idol too)and it never goes away!
That jacket he's wearing makes him look like Willy Wonka.
I haven't watched it. I won't watch it. I would rather see a show about people who create and sing/play their own music.
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