American Idol 2006--Live Thread (Part III)

Fox ^ | 5-8-06

[silent_jonny]

always for Tammy

[retrokitten]

ROTFL!!

During some hearing last year (John Roberts maybe?), Lindsay Graham referred to the Civil War being 100 years ago. Oh yes, the Great Civil War of 1905. Sometimes the things that come out of their mouths make you wonder how on Earth they got chosen for anything let alone to represent the nation!

[conservativebabe]

Last week's episode was hysterical. Especially, when Michael had Dwight and Jim at the meeting and hearing all the things Jim did to Dwight.

Like, putting quarters in his phone, then Dwight hit himself in the head with it. Or moving Dwight's desk an inch every time he went to the bathroom! LOL!

[SirLinksalot]

I just read this post in another site that talks about why Taylor Hicks, inspite of the fact that Simon Cowell, and a lot of youngsters don't get him, is always on top of others when the voting comes ( He's been Number 1 for 9 of the past 10 weeks ).

I think this poster who dubs himself, Marketing Man agrees with me ( I e-mailed him and he graciously allowed me to cut and paste his post ). So here it is for all its worth :

---

My main interest ( aside from being a Taylor fan of course), is to garner insights as to : A) What makes American Idol tick; B) How a star gets marketed and sold to the public; and most of all C) How to give the public what it wants ( within moral reason of course ).

Just look at the music landscape of today!

Dude, all these producers in the music business are simply copying one another !

Just look at the hip hop artists, sounding alike, look at the alt rockers, same thing, look at the country charts - bad example, this has been happening there a very long time. Grunge ? Been there done that. Heck, even no talent basketball players like Ron Artest are taking one year leaves to hawk their rap CD’s. No wonder CD sales are down. It’s all SAME OLD, SAME OLD !

Why is that ? Well, as Jerry Mcguire would say — FOLLOW THE MONEY !

A certain producers discovers a popular sound, then 10 more wanna-be’s line up to do the same thing. You wind up with a manipulated scene where trying to max out the market for the same type of product rules. Think of the Cola craze when it started decades ago… suddenly, everyone who has money wants to produce the next Cola until the market gets saturated with the same thing packaged a different way.

AND that’s what’s happening today.

Since the late 80’s, the music scene the past few decades has become rife with artists copying one another, there are few unique performers on the charts.

Record companies have been bemoaning the business side of the industry and blaming it on many factors ( e.g the internet, pee to peer, the napster phenomenon, etc. ). I think they’re not talking to people enough. Especially those who have money and who in their youth, used to love pop music — The GEN Xers and Baby Boomers.

Why don’t they examine the type of talent they’re pushing?

Firstly, they’re pushing glamour gal and guy type of singers on us IN ANY GENRE.

Secondly, they’re so unoriginal that all they can do is COPY. If one sound sells, they go out and find 20 others that can make the same sound. They take them, wrap them up in identical “packaging”, and wonder why sales don’t achieve the desired heights.

Look, I’m not saying that there are no Mariahs or Alicia Keyes’ out there. Of course that is still happening.

But OVERALL, I sense a dearth of enthusiasm that I have witnessed when I was still a teen.

So, why does Taylor Hicks click ?

To see why he does, you have to understand why Simon originally did not feel like putting him through even when he liked his voice.

1) He said IT WAS NOT JUST ABOUT THE VOICE.

2) He and Randy ARGUED about Taylor being COMMERCIAL.

3) Look at the sort of singers Simon has been pushing on the public since the 1990’s and you can see how his marketing mind works.

What Simon failed to see ( and what Randy and bless her heart inspite of her incorrigibility, Paula, saw ) is that America and I suspect a lot of countries are retro loving societies BECAUSE of SHEER Demographics. A large segment of the potential music buying populace have simply become jaded, have lost enthusiasm about collecting music by any one artist like witnessed in decades past with the Beatles, with Elvis Presley, with Ray Charles and Sam Cooke to name just some of the great music legends out there.

In comes Taylor Hicks, who is providing that retro/throwback feel with the type of music he prefers to perform as well as his style of performing. The pre-mature gray hair fits him, he and as Paula said once in her comment, he is like an ‘old soul’ in a young man’s body.

So, what is Taylor Hicks really doing and why do we have sites like GRAY CHARLES dedicated to the man himself ?

What is happening is that Taylor is giving an enormous segment of fans interested in music a new reason to tune back into the music scene.

The producers of American Idol should count themselves VERY FORTUNATE this season.

In Taylor, they got an entire new feel and direction to this show.

I venture to say that based on INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE alone, he single-handedly provided the show with the credibility it might otherwise have slowly lost.

If I were an executive of 19E, my eyes should be OPENED right now. This is a win-win situation for both Taylor and them. An International money making opportunity is in the offing.

I believe that Taylor may have caught everyone in the A.I. circle surprised ( why did Simon say he was wrong about Taylor after the LEVON performance ? Simple, he was TAKEN ABACK by the overwhelmingly positive response from the fans ).

It is ironic that for all her wackiness, the one who has not been surprised at all was Paula Abdul.

Say what you want about her. Ridicule her oftentimes, strange remarks if you wish, but she has been his champion from the beginning and for that alone, her $3 Million a season salary would be worth it.

[grania]

I'd be interested in hearing more of your opinions explaining the success of this show.

It's the traditional American Dream to be recognized for your talent and if you work hard with it to succeed. On TV, we are seeing real people we care about.

You know what it's like? When I was a kid, the whole family sat around the TV, just rooting for Ricky to become a singing star!! It was a TV family, sure, but they were real people, with real lives, and a real connection to whom they were on TV.

[Lil'freeper]

It's really a key that Paula and Randy are inarticulate because the viewers feel like they are as good or a better judge of talent than these professionals."

.........~ouch!~

[Feiny]

What is with all the posts being removed already? How does that affect the number? I declare myself poster #30,000.

[retrokitten]

I don't think I've ever seen posts pulled from an AI thread before. I'm actually a little disappointed that I missed what they said. LOL

[Pure Country]

LOL!!!Remember the guy who directed music and we all sat around the tv and watched the bouncing ball go over the words as we sang along? I would love to see my grandkids watch that one! Was the guy Mitch Miller or something like that? I was pretty young when we were watching it, but I remember being fascinated.

Another memory is my mother getting mad at the TV for something "vulgar" and shoved the TV across the livingroom, the kitchen, and then a final push for it to bounce down the back (cement) steps. Wonder what she would think today? That was in the 50's. She got upset for Lucy smoking on TV--don't think that was why the TV went out the door, it had something to do with unseemly passionate kissing...

[Netizen]

I'm actually a little disappointed that I missed what they said. LOL

I can't even imagine what they would have been about! lol

[BamaDi]

When I saw the new thread I got excited and thought AI was on tonight - then I realized it's only Monday and I'll just have to make due with Antique Roadshow! I wonder if it's an omen that Taylor was in the front seat - get it? front runner???!!!

[retrokitten]

I think the only other time I saw a deleted post on an AI thread is when someone accidentally posted a graphic twice and asked it be removed. Usually if someone is a trouble maker we just ignore them.

[retrokitten]

I love Antiques Roadshow, too! Some of the people just crack me up. "I found this while cleaning my grandmother's attic. I don't know if it's worth anything. I was going to just keep the frame," and it turns out to be an original copy of the Declaration of Independence.

The other ones that get me are the "It's not for sale!" people. As soon as the appraiser says what it's worth they yell out, "Well, it's not for sale!" Damn, calm down, did anyone offer?

[Feiny]

You could watch 24.

[misterrob]

No, I feel cheated by that picture....

[misterrob]

Elliott is singing "Trouble" and "If I Could Dream"

[Netizen]

Would you rather he used a picture of Tumnus?

[SirLinksalot]

Elliott is singing "Trouble" and "If I Could Dream"

Interesting. Could you please tell us your source for this ?

[Netizen]

"If I Could Dream"

"If I Could Can Dream"

[misterrob]

It's a guy thing....

you wouldn't understand

And his name is Elliott Yamin.

[Netizen]

I asked if you would rather he used Tumnus as in like he used a pic of chicken little for Covais with NO real photo. *rolling eyes*