No matter what anyone says I’m sure American Idol has had it’s day, they won’t be producing a Carrie Underwood or a Kelly Clarkson for that matter and when you look at all the winners few are ’stars.’ To be idolized there should be some immortality and where is that in any of them? They’re pop stars, ships in the night. Tonight pop, tomorrow not. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s exactly what Simon wants for his own immortality, if they come and go then so what, he’s always the star because his name is attached to each new ‘idol.’ If they become successful it’s because of him and if they don’t then ‘America voted.’ They chose a donkey, not him. Once again Simon Cowell is in a no lose situation, pure genius.
He has never believed in careers and yet he claims that hearing Elvis was the first time he heard rock and roll? So if he heard it then it must have made an impact, surely? And does it not impress him that Elvis, the first artist he really heard as a kid is still an icon today, a true idol? Also ‘She loves you’ by The Beatles was the firsr record he asked his mother to buy for him, that must have had an affect to, right? You sent your mum out damn it! And the same scenario, longevity and careers. It didn’t though and maybe not even wanting to go with his mother to the store to buy the record and sense the excitement said it all, even way back then. He never cared about the music, just the functionality of it. The like, the must want and the must have.
He also says Bob Dylan wouldn’t have been chosen for American Idol, we’d have left him crying in a car park in Idaho and Simon Cowell wouldn’t have cared. But what about the rest of us? Who cares, no Mr Tamborine Man, no All Along the Watchtower and no career if that had been the make of of And R people back then. But fortunately we had people like John Hammond who cared enough to bring through the real artists, they cared about talent and not about themselves. They knew the pedigree of an artist and had the faith to allow them to develop. They helped one another, there were no puppets signed and told to do as they (the A and R people) said and if they didn’t they wouldn’t work with them. It was a collaboration, it was a democracy and a republic. There were no dictators.
So he doesn’t believe in careers, he was influenced by people who had them and still have them and somehow would have passed on Dylan? No comprehendo, Dylan was Dylan because of Dylan and going back to what I said in the previous blog about Elton John, great artists know better than anyone what they have and understand how to cultivate that. Sure they need help but they don’t need anyone doing everything, they’re not that insecure to feel it’s necessary. They are happy to develop and grow at arate that is comfortable for everyone. When you do that people notice, the artist notices and the record company notices. And grow they do, and sustain they do. Careers are born and the spoils follow, and yet we went and destroyed all that so that a few people could own an industry.
If Bob Dylan had been allowed to come through today then Simon wouldn’t have been noticed as much. Weird because Dylan and Elvis left a legacy and Taylor Hicks didn’t………….or Fantasia or Reuben etc etc. The legacy that remains from all of this is that of Simon Cowell and the power he yields controls his destiny whether with Idol or X Factor. Power destroys everything and everyone in it’s way and for Simon it will have to be his way to work. Music changed our lives and for the better, certainly from where I’m standing and now its changed again. But this time not through a musical revolution be it rock and roll or punk. I’m not alone in thinking it’s not in all our best interests.
An idol is Elvis, Lennon or James Dean and we’re a long way off that. Idols’ retain their thrones , they don’t come and go. Idols aren’t popular for a while they live forever. Idol means something you worship, are we now ‘worshiping’ talent show winners?Whatever you think of any of them an idol is ‘an image of a deity other than God. ‘ A God or goddess, why in the hell are we creating false Gods from American Idol? Daughtry is a rocker, he’s not a God and neither is Fantasia a Goddess. And as for Taylor Hicks, curiously not quite a God.
