American Idol: Yay or nay?
There are plenty of famous artists out there who flat out despise American Idol. Paul Mccartney, Elton John and for the more modern era, the Gorillaz. They feel that by using a voting system to get a record deal, it is distracting the artist from their art, their practice and therefore, producing "counterfeit" music. I can see their point. How many great artists like Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, and Buddy Holly had to perform dive after dive after dive until they honed their talents enough to make it big?
I can see how the older generations dislike this TV show. American Idol is a shortcut around all of the hard work it takes to be discovered. You get past a few judges, survive the "drama" of being on stage, dish out your talent so phone companies can make some quick cash, and then at the end of the show, get fame and a record deal. But nowadays, faster is better right? Can't you hone your skills after you get the prize? Is it best to get your foot in the door by any means necessary and then iron out the details? With MP3's, Itunes, and the internet, the days of submitting a tape or CD to a radio station and hoping some big wig record executive is listening is over.
So, what do you guys think? Is whoring out some unrevised musical talent on shows like American Idol a justifiable means to an end? Or do TV shows that try to capitalize on desperate musicians and target a young audience that doesn't know any better truly pollute the airwaves and lower the quality of music?
