There are many things that don't make sense in this world -- people voting for Bush, for instance. Another is that American Idol is the Number One television show in the United States, yet almost no one I speak to watches it (so they say). Apparently it is my viewership alone that puts it at the top of the entertainment heap because I am an unashamed, in fact proud, American Idol watcher. I think those that are "too cool" for it have dismissed it after only scratching the surface of what the show is about.
The most frequent critics are the rock n' roll fans. "How can you watch that Partridge Family cheese?," they say. People who say this aren't looking deep enough. Of course it's Partridge Family cheese, it's on at 8 p.m. and is supposed to appeal to a family-wide demographic. Slayer isn't going to be invited to coach the kids on the right way to salute Satan. The music is supposed to be a milquetoast, unintrusive canvas against which the bright color of the contestants' voices can be judged.
This competitive aspect gives naysayers a problem, also. "Neil Young sure wouldn't make it past Simon Cowell, and he's a great artist!" Neil Young is one bright spot in an industry that far more often than not has depended on lawyers, agents, backslapping and payoffs to find its stars. Isn't it more honest to have an aspiring star win their contract like this, having to bring the magic in front of a audience of millions and a panel of harsh critics (Randy Jackson and Simon, at least), then let the public vote on who they think deserves their continued attention?
"But these kids aren't honing their craft and paying their dues." How is the American Idol method of showing up in a football stadium to sing for an assistant TV producer any less legitimate than standing around in a nearly-empty bar hoping a guy from a record company walks in? Seems Jordin Sparks' way is just as legitimate as Eddie Van Halen's, if you ask me.
This makes me think of something else: rockers were stunned Joe Perry of Aerosmith was at the finale playing with Sanjaya Malakar, of all people. The disgrace! Well, Clive Davis, formerly of Columbia Records, Arista and now BMG was there, also, and no one says anything. Clive Davis discovered Aerosmith! So what's so illegit about Joe Perry participating and not the guy who gave him his break? Or Jeff Beck, who played with Kelly Clarkson a couple of weeks ago? Beck and Perry know this show is a part of the same machine they themselves were churned through and is therefore as legitimate as anything.
Only 2% of American Idol is about music anyhow, in my mind. It's really about watching how the image/lifestyle marketing machine works, the same machine that has been behind everyone from Rudy Valentino to Led Zeppelin to Brittney Spears. You find someone with some ability and a personality that's not repugnant, someone who can handle some light banter with Jay Leno, then put them in the market and see what actually happens.
The unpredictability of the market that kicks in after this seemingly foolproof product testing occurs is where the real amusement happens. Kelly Clarkson, the first AI winner, is one of the biggest-selling artists of the 2000's. Reuben Studdard, the winner of AI's second season, had mild success with his first CD but may as well have burned the copies of his next two albums on his home computer, for all they sold. Justin Guarini, #2 in Season 1, only sold 75,000 copies of his debut CD and was promptly dropped by his label. Chris Daughtry got kicked off something like 6th or 7th in Season Five and has, according to Clive Davis, the best-selling CD so far of 2007, outselling even Beyonce and the Red Hot Chili Peppers by millions. He previously was a clerk at an auto parts store!
What's the significance of this to those who aren't 12-year-old girls? There is a lesson here for every dreamer who is in their basement soldering together the newest innovation in the electric toothbrush, or the aspiring Xavier Roberts who's sewing up the teddy bear they just know will take the toy industry by storm one Christmas. All of them think, "If only I could get national TV exposure for my product..." However this show demonstrates that even after twelve weeks of twice-weekly exposure to a national television audience and your face on the cover of People, you may still not be able break even on a CD, an electric toothbrush, a teddy bear, or your packaged apple cobbler. American Idol is a Master Class in the truth of the pleasures and pitfalls of mass market exposure: one slip of the tongue, one misperceived facial expression, one off note, and you're back where you came from.
See? I told you it was fascinating.
I agree with you 100%!