Why American Idol Sucks.

[brianspencer66]

Yes I will admit it Im not a big fan of this contrived reality show. In fact I hate most so called reality shows. First of all it's a cheap way to the wanna be infamous to be forced in one place with the producers hope of some sort of mindless conflict. But lets get back to American Idol for a second. Granted there are some on the show that really do have true talent as singers, I will admit that.
But lets think about this for a second ok? How many times can someone sing "Respect" or some other song thats been done to death and one not get sick of hearing it?

American musical taste by and large are lazy and lots of this simply has to do with the recording industry telling us what we would like to hear rather than people bothering to make their own decisions. It all boils down to the bottom line of keeping the shareholders happy rather than informing the record buying public of anything that is innovative, fresh and orignal.

If we had to depend only on shows like American Idol there would be no Jimi Hendrix or Bruce Springstein nor a Bob Dylan. Think about that for a second, We are the richest country in the world yet in a city like New York we dont even have a Jazz or country music station. Yet some of our greatest artist struggle on while people like Paris Hilton get attention everytime she sleeps with someone. Same with Britney, in the news for everything but her music. How about some diversity for a change and less garbage? How about record companies run by those that really like music? Feel free to comment and if not well thats ok to.

 

[dskodj]

Brian, unfortunatly music is dead and has been for over a decade now. Everything you said I couldn't agree with more and have been saying myself long before American Idol and reality TV took over everything. Notta we can do but sit back and weep in disgust.

 

[RobAce]

I agree. Music has been dead since the mid to late 1990's.

But there is so much history, so much I still have not heard.

So I know there is plenty of music to listen to.

Rob

 

[Marquis De Sade]

Clear Channel, I feel is to blame. I don't know much about the radio world so I can only make an uneducated guess here but what I do know is Clear Channel owns a LOT of radio stations across the country and only plays hits from the past few years based off of record sales and Billboard charts. The masses love generic crap (or so it seems) so all the generic crap from only the past few years (they aim at the younger audience) is played again and again and hardly anything else. So much so that it seems like every radio station, whether it be rock, pop or country or whatever, only has about ten CD's that they rotate. That also includes the "oldie" rock stations. You're better just getting an iPod or something. I haven't really listened to the radio in years and when I do I always laugh because 8 out of 10 times it's ALWAYS the same Red Hot Chili Peppers song.

I'm also with Robace on this. There's so much out there...

 

[Artoo]

I don't know what the music scene is like in the US but I'd imagine it is similar to the UK. Yes, there is a load of really, really contrived crap out there, but if you scratch the surface you'll find gold.

Music is continuously evolving, and will continue to evolve so long as creative expression is not restrained. The internet has been a revolution in what music we can listen to, and also helps new artists get out there and show off their stuff.

Just scratch the surface...

 

[BlackestLily]

What bothers me about American Idol is the preference for young people. I know that there are energetic, stellar singers that pass the 28, 30, or whatever age cap they placed on the show.

I watched the first season it came out and haven't watched it since. I think everytime someone has tried something out of the ordinary, it's been shot down. Mostly people sing well with a certain style. I think people have tried singing blues or jazz, but you really have to have that voice, swag, and style to manage to pull it off. And it seems as though those who actually CAN do it have it as their only style. Since that style is deemed unacceptable because not everyone likes it, the show seems to be missing a certain something. I'd love to listen some hard rock, metal (such as Rob Zombie), jazzy blues (nina simone, Billie Holiday), etc being performed in a new way, but since you won't see it happen, I won't bother tuning in.

 

[dskodj]

But there is so much history, so much I still have not heard.

So I know there is plenty of music to listen to.

Rob

Thats how I see it too as in theres tons of music of yesturyear to still be discovered...and thats what my personal "new releases" are. Knowing alot of different folks and also with this thing we have now called internet, you can discover any type of overlooked or obscure music you wish from when music lived.

sometimes tracking it down can be a bitch though! i dont settle for crappy mp3s most of the time, unless they're the top best quality. most of the time i gotta own the record if I discover something from the past that was good and overlooked that I like.

 

[brianspencer66]

You know there were some wonderful composers of yester year like Cole Porter or Billy Strayhorn and people like Linda Ronstandt and Natalie Wood did perform some of these songs. Rod Steward even did an album of classic material and Im suprised he was not that bad. But most young singers today dont seem to have what it takes to performs these gems. They all tend to sound the same and replace vocal gymnasics from true artistry and style. Unlike people like Sinatra or Tony Bennett or Nat King Cole who know how to swing and phrase a lyric. These guys paid their dues, maybe they drank or smoked to much, maybe their hearts were broken one to many times, who knows but they had what it took to make a good song great.

 

[Saeria]

There are still those rare musical gems that come out from time to time but for the most part, the true aesthetic music is gone. Remember Mike Oldfield? He did Tubular Bells (tho most know it as the exorcist theme). The actually song Tubular Bells is approx 52 minutes long and is an artistic journey through the heart and soul of the composer. There are no more Mike Oldfields, or Wendy Carlos's or Rick Wakefields... the closest we have is Jordan Rudess or that guy that plays the mario theme on Youtube. I still continue my own piano compositions. I've grown used to sharing them with people and getting the "it sounds like a tv theme?" or "Is that the new Hinder song?". With the flagrant "cheapening" of music that has occurred, there are fewer people that can truly respect the work and dedication it took to create it.
When i hear a song i want to have my heart ripped out of my chest, my mind thrown into a dream, dissociate for just a brief moment from the world around me. It's kinda hard to do when you've got some pilled out jackass whining about he lost his girlfriend. Let's take my very favorite song "Icarus Dream Fanfare Op. 8" more specifically the one Malmsteen did with the New Japan Philharmonic. It's an instrumental, as it might be obvious from the title, that forces the mood of the listener to evolve with it. The last time i heard a song on the radio that made me "evolve" i evolved all over my floorboard and had to spread cat litter on it later.
To tie this in with American Idol, I look at the content, not the people reall, and it's all empty. Why would I idolize this music, especially when it's being cheapened by marketing corporate America. My GOD, they have American Idol figurines at McDonalds in the happy meals now. I seriously doubt i'm going to open up MY happy meal and find Keith Emerson in there. The general public doesn't see any merit from being MOVED by a particular song... it just has to RELATE to them. Take this, American Idol, your face is now related through physical contact with my SPADE SHOVEL OF DOOOOOM!
This isn't to say i only like music that is completely artistically appealing. I'm also a fan of strange things like Gwar and DETHKLOK DETHKLOK DETHKLOK DETHKLOK ( 😀 ) , but it's not likely they will inspire me to propagate more art by inspiration as the composers who have put every bit of their being into it. The REAL American Idols are those unknown musicians that plod on creating and sharing the beauty of their music, no matter how popular or unpopular it is. They're not influenced by numbers when they play, and their soul has no price tag. Keep music beautiful, and thank you to all of you that apply to the aforementioned statement.

Oh no, i have no opinion about music at all.

 

[HisFlyinFingers]

I don't like American Idol predominantly because it seems the singers are incapable or uninterested in understanding the music and taking an educated approach to it. On any given show there is usually at least one obvious misinterpretation brought about by a singer who doesn't "get it".

But all this talk that music is dead is fairly nihilistic, isn't it? Radio has more or less been killed by satellite, the internet and Clear Channel itself, and MTV and Idol showcase music only tangentially, but they are far from the only sources.

I am a musician and many of my friends are as well, and while we all have to start with that classic old stuff you guys all love, and we love too, as we get better we begin to create music that no one has ever heard before. The fact that I'm not on MTV or selling ten million records doesn't mean that music is dead, it just means I need a better publicist. That, or you need to do a little more work to find me.

 

[alchemy]

Well said by everyone!

As a musician, I have many many beefs with ol' American Karaoke.

First of all, like ALL American pop culture at the moment, it's completely contrived and utterly disposable. There is little to no artistic creativity present in any of the cretins they lure into coming on and even less in the hosts.

Second, music is not a contest. It is art. It is pure expression. It is sonic emotion. It is the physical embodiment of creativity. It stands as a piece of the person or persons that created it. Shows like American Karaoke strip all of this away and pervert music into nothing more than a drab, over-hyped singing contest.

Third, REAL music exists as a product of life. It comes from hard work and strong emotion. It comes from experience and encounter. It comes from struggle and destitution. It comes from playing smoke-filled bars for beer money. It comes from xeroxed fliers and second-hand amplifiers. You CANNOT simply win a contest and proclaim yourself to be a musician.

Fourth, it panders to the masses by feeding them a steady diet of bland, trite, pop and top 40 music. Lets face it, to most people, music is for two things, background noise and dancing. They have no desire to "scratch the surface" and find anything new and are perfectly willing to accept anything that is pushed in front of their faces. Most people are musically ignorant by choice and "Big music" uses this fact in consort with the state of pop culture to culturally rape the creative landscape for their own benefit.

 

[Cave In]

I've never liked this show, I cant say much for the US version of the show but the Uk version is now in a slightly different format called the "X-Factor" and the whole talent show thing must be in its 5 or 6th year i dunno, but from the brief bits i saw last year its pretty obvious there scraping the barrel now its all just wannabes who want there 15mins of fame.
Shows like this are viable maybe once or twice but after that, most of the good talent will have already been on the show and the quality will decline.

These shows are everything thats wrong with music at the moment, its not about the music anymore it seems to be more about the person and the notion of celebrity

 

[Deleted member 66627]

I only watch American Idol when they are doing the tryouts... Watching people's faces as they are basically being told they are a waste of singing time and space kills me.


The 'characters' are fun as well.

 

[WayTooD]

The only joy I have ever gotten from American Idol was voting for Sanjaya. The show just sucks really, I can never make it past the audition episodes.