I hate the show for a fundamental reason. I think it hurts music cuz it's only out to make money. There are bands and singers out there who are paying their dues working shit jobs, playing crappy clubs and busting their asses to be heard and they've got more talent than anything that wins AI. They're the ones that deserve to be heard, not stupid pop tarts like Kelly Clarkson. She didn't pay any dues. She basically won a beauty contest where you sing and now she's on the fast track. There are musicians out there who should be heard, but won't cuz they don't fit in with what AI is looking for. The whole show is just wrong...in the same way MTV was wrong.
Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20 said something about AI back when it started that really stuck with me....he said something to the effect that the whole concept was wrong. You go on there and they pick you apart and tell you what you should be doing and what you should wear and how you sing. You're not being you then if you do what other people tell you to do. What gets you somewhere in music is your own individuality.
I'm paraphrasing from memory, of course....but Rob hit it right on the head. Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd never did what others told them to do. They did it their way and their legends for it. All that comes out of AI is disposable pop that makes a few people rich and that music will be hardly remembered at all in 20 years.
My respect for Jewel went down a notch or two though. She's someone who paid her dues and actually has talent and writes good songs with some meaning. What the fuck is she doing on that fucking Star Search ripoff???
Sorry to go off like this people....music is something I take very seriously. I don't mind pop fluff, but when it comes at the price of good and deserving artists, then I have to say stop. If I ever met Simon Cowell, I'd punch his fucking lights out. I'd do it just giving us the Spice Girls....
