I've been writing this rant in my mind for a few years now.

American Idol. Just the name inspires me to get a high powered rifle and find a nearby tower. American Idol. Yes, it should be titled American Idle... or American Idiot or America should be ashamed that it made this the biggest show on TV for the past several years! I know that American TV is never going to be giving PBS or any decent cable channel any fight in the class game. We all know that except for The Simpsons there are precious few shows on that have any semblance of intelligence. Yeah, I know... 24 is cool. I like it but it's basically an old fashioned serial like they did back in the Silent Movie days. Except that the main creative guy behind the show is a staunch sefl-admitted "right wing nut". But I digress...

What really gets me absolutely apoplectic is how this program has gone beyond being a simple talent show and is now setting itself up as a "tastemaker". Years ago there was a show called Ted Mack's Amateur Hour. It was on radio and then went to TV and ran for years. On it would be any number of people from all over the country who would whistle, sing, dance or play an instrument. People voted and there would be a winner. The winners usually went back to whatever little town they were from and never heard from again. A few actually became professionals. Pat Boone, for example. Wow, even then really shitty "talents" were becoming stars.

Back in the 70s was a show called the Gong Show. Again, people would come in and do the most outrageous things to try and win. The "judges" (usually hack celebs) would "gong" them off the show. You would watch to see the really bad acts.

American Idol is a mix of both of them. So, it's not an original idea but this is way worse. See, the winners are then signed to Simon Cowell's management deal and sing songs that Simon Cowell will put out on his own label. What gets me really pissed off is that people actually BUY THE RECORDS!!

I've been in the music business for years. I've been with bands who can't get a break and who are diligent, talented hard workers just trying to get someone to listen to their music and maybe buy their records so they can make a living. But nope. The moronic masses that constitute this country want to buy a Kelly Clarkson record. Maybe they somehow think that she had something to do with the making of it. Maybe they don't know that it was written and recorded already by studio writers and players. She comes in, sings the melody that they have written for her. They then chop her vocals to bits in the computer and stick some airbrushed photo on the cover. And these sheep spend their money on it. They don't spend it on the little band trying to make it. It's hard enough with Clear Channel and Live Nation locking the live music and radio industries up and keeping small indie bands out. Now we have to deal with this parade of losers.

Randy Jackson was a session bass player, Paula Abdul was a dancer and Simon Cowell has convinced everyone that he is an obnoxious, money grubbing, pig of a man who stole his ideas. Yep, in the UK there was Pop Idol which did the same thing and even had "Nasty Nigel" as the insulting judge years before.

Please don't watch this bullshit program. There is music being made by real bands who write and play their own music... I swear. Just look for it.