A Rumination on why American Idol is UnAmerican
Tue Feb 06, 2007 at 09:23:33 PM PDT
I hate reality shows. I think they are Hollywood's own device for busting unions (writers and actors, they still need camera and other techs). Hollywood is big business, after all, and these shows require not one lick of creativity. Game shows have filled the same role for a long time, cheap to make and broadcast between the news and prime time. The reality shows are different, running in prime time. They make scads of dough, and compared to a show like Seinfeld or Law & Order, are probably extremely cheap.
I think it is no coincidence that Survivor popped up during the same year when there was a threatened writer's strike. Before that, there was only Real World (the reality in which a bunch of young, hip, photogenic, unemployed college kids are put up in a plush SoHo apartment by a cable network. That kind of reality).
I know a lot of folks here watch reality shows. This isn't meant to curse you out, and it isn't really politics, but hear me on this. It is a different take on why reality shows, particularly Idol, really suck.
I am a musician. A horn player since youth, a trained vocalist in college, and a drummer today. I've written, performed, and received standing ovations, in ensembles and in solos, as recently as two weeks ago. I know music, and what it is about. It is beyond art for me, and beyond communication. It is not something I do. It is what I am.
Musicians populating this blog, probably a fair majority, know what I am talking about.
Hollywood today churns and burns through songwriters and singers, and other musicians. The bulk of the money flows to the major stockholders, and a pittance goes to the performers and creative people. The industry is a massive portion of our economy, and a lot of Beverly Hills mansions were built on a wealth of unrealized and uncompensated talent. So what? A lot of industries operate that way. Big deal.
Except music was never meant to be an industry. It should never have become one. Music should always have been kept free and democratic. It was a form of communication for human civilations, and still is for many. In a lot of cultures, it was and is a regular part of the daily fabric. That's why we used to teach it in schools. That's why schools used to have choruses and orchestras, and jazz bands.
A lot of schools still have music programs, of course, but they are always under the gun, every year, during every budget crunch. They aren't considered important anymore by citizens and parents, and they are losing ground. A lot of people think of music as purely an industry now. They feel it should be left to the professionals, the talented, the skilled and the lucky.
And along comes this insipid show to reinforce that wrongheaded notion.
This is not simply another critique of the way Simon Cowell, the show's creator, is mean to people without talent, although his behavior is part and parcel with this complaint. This is about how talent should never have become a prerequisite for performing music. As the self-appointed (and they truly are) judges berate contestant after contestant, the message viewers receive is that if you can't carry a tune, you should never try.
Go home. Don't quit your day job. Maybe that Ave Maria you were thinking of singing at your sister's wedding is a bad idea. Maybe the karaoke bar you were hoping to check out doesn't need your patronage after all. Maybe the school band can do without your kid, who probably is too weak to hoist a trombone anyway.
Yes, the industry is mean. Learning how it actually works, during prime time TV, probably serves some public purpose. But ultimately, music dies when people judge. Somehow it's okay to shoot hoops in your driveway, despite not being Michael Jordan. But if you aren't Madonna, don't even think of vogueing here.
Music was never to be left only to the pros. American Idol has probably done more damage to music's place in civilization than it could ever have helped. The three judges have been destructive to their own craft.
My message is this: Music is for you. You don't need talent. Perform. Write. Suck if you must. Bother people. Never let anyone tell you you can't sing. Those who never try are missing part of their soul.
If music is America, American Idol is the Bush Administration.
Impeach American Idol now.
Permalink | 19 comments