Idol Musings...
This journal is for my musings about popular music in America that I enjoy, including that ubiquitous phenomenon known as American Idol, which will be the subject of this blog today.
Music listeners today have more choices than ever about the music they choose to listen. Although commercial radio is increasingly dominated by programs, technology has enabled the people to subscribe to more diverse satellite programming, or even internet music subscriptions tailored exclusively to one's own tastes (my personal choice). Yet a reality television show has managed to capture America like none of its contemporaries, and I have a couple of thoughts about why that could be.
Firstly, live music has an unpredictable factor about it that is completely missing in the contemporary landscape. It used to be that radio programs from way back when (think Big Band era) featured live performances of popular bands and singers, and that is an energy that simply cannot be replicated by recordings, especially those which are played every hour on the hour. I would personally find commercial radio much more interesting if they would devote an hour every week and ask some artists in studio to perform and give listeners a chance to connect to the artist beyond the slickly produced studio recording.
Secondly, the people in this day and age are very cynical (and rightly so) about the current crop of popular music stars in pop, r&b, and hip-hop. Technology is a double-edged sword because it can make medicore singers into slickly packaged stars. Anyone famous with a hefty budget to get hot producers and fancy sound equipment can record and album and market it to even the top of the charts, regardless of singing ability if they have the correct image. Because the audience is primarily exposed to the studio recordings through commercial sources, it's basically impossible to distinguished the truly talented from the hacks. As much as the Idol show is manipulated to the favor the producers' favorites, there's no disguising a questionable voice on live television week after week. While it's far from "what you see is what you get" since the show is basically cast for characters, for the most part, what you hear is what you get.
Music listeners today have more choices than ever about the music they choose to listen. Although commercial radio is increasingly dominated by programs, technology has enabled the people to subscribe to more diverse satellite programming, or even internet music subscriptions tailored exclusively to one's own tastes (my personal choice). Yet a reality television show has managed to capture America like none of its contemporaries, and I have a couple of thoughts about why that could be.
Firstly, live music has an unpredictable factor about it that is completely missing in the contemporary landscape. It used to be that radio programs from way back when (think Big Band era) featured live performances of popular bands and singers, and that is an energy that simply cannot be replicated by recordings, especially those which are played every hour on the hour. I would personally find commercial radio much more interesting if they would devote an hour every week and ask some artists in studio to perform and give listeners a chance to connect to the artist beyond the slickly produced studio recording.
Secondly, the people in this day and age are very cynical (and rightly so) about the current crop of popular music stars in pop, r&b, and hip-hop. Technology is a double-edged sword because it can make medicore singers into slickly packaged stars. Anyone famous with a hefty budget to get hot producers and fancy sound equipment can record and album and market it to even the top of the charts, regardless of singing ability if they have the correct image. Because the audience is primarily exposed to the studio recordings through commercial sources, it's basically impossible to distinguished the truly talented from the hacks. As much as the Idol show is manipulated to the favor the producers' favorites, there's no disguising a questionable voice on live television week after week. While it's far from "what you see is what you get" since the show is basically cast for characters, for the most part, what you hear is what you get.
posted by sw | 7:19 PM
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