O-Town Band Members: ?, ?, ?, ?, and ? Last night at 9PM PST on the dot, I flipped the channel to MTV and watched the season premiere of my absolute greatest, bestest, favoritest TV show in the whole wide world behind Lost: Makin the Band. Ever since Diddy grabbed the reigns and gave us the classy saga of “Da Band” (Ness, Babs, Chopper, Fredrick, Dylan, Sara), I’ve been hooked. Aside from giving a glimpse of music industry life, who doesn’t like to watch music artist hopefuls run through Diddy’s maniacal rat race? I’m no expert, so I’ll have to give Diddy the benefit of the doubt when he bases his selections on things like cardio fitness. Cuz shoot, it’s obvious that to be a hip-hop/r&b great, you gotsta be in great physical shape. Like Biggie.
There was one part of the episode that got me thinkin. After a show at the 02 Arena in London, Robert and Q were choppin it up, talkin about how reality show artists never make it. So, why is that? It’s because reality TV takes the “super” out of “superstar”.
To level-set, I gotta define a superstar as someone whose image appeal is significantly bigger than just them and their craft.
But first I gotta look at regular pure artists like Robin Thicke, say 5 years ago. Homeboy can play, write, and sing music so well, it almost makes you forget that he’s the son of Growing Pains’ Mr. Sever…almost. His image and appeal are closely linked to his actual artistic talent. The Mall Test: maybe 5% of the people at the mall recognize you as being some sort of celebrity, 5% of that 5% know your name and what you do, 5% of the 5% of the 5% will calmly approach you and talk to you.
And then on the other end you got the ultra mega primo mad-grips-of-hella-dopeness super duper star like Britney Spears, circa 2000 when her song “Slave” was bringin out the inner skank in every girl up in the club (side story: DJ’ing back then I used to hook my boys up by only playing this song when they were dancing with a girl they were after. Bam! Instant grindage every time. Honda only wishes they could make cars as reliable). Her technique: garbage. Her voice: first time in history deaf people felt pity for the hearing. Her performance: gotta hand it to her. Her music: I’ll give the nod for this, but to her producers, not her. Her image: the $ speaks for itself. She transcended goddess-like status. In people’s minds, she was the perfect woman and could even cure cancer by touch. The Mall Test: Your presence causes people to scream hysterically, a few cases of lost consciousness, and the occasional death by trampling.
So far, these music artist reality TV shows have all been out to create superstars rather than good solid artists, but the nature of reality TV takes away the God-like perception that’s necessary in superstardom. Not too long ago, my buddy who’s a professional sports writer told me about how he once interviewed an athlete he admired (who will remain nameless), and how afterwards he felt let down, because he got to see how this guy was not the magnanimous and pure deity that he once thought him to be. Unfortunately with these shows, you get to see the reality that they’re not perfect embodiments of divinity, but just normal people, flaws and all. Still not making sense to you? You’re alone….with your choice of either Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie…they want you to do whatever you want to do to them…and they just rip the loudest, stankest fart you’ve ever witnessed in your life…and your mouth was open. It’s like that.
People love reality TV, because it’s (*cough) all real which allows people to connect to the drama on a level beyond that of scripted TV. Basically people like seeing how F’d up other people are. But in this context, it’s ironically this very appeal of reality TV that cripples the artists from attaining their goal, and chances are the artists themselves will ultimately be tossed to the wayside by their respective labels for failures that are not their own. It’s a shame, not only because it sucks for people to put their dreams in something doomed from the beginning, but because some of them actually put out good stuff. I like Danity Kane. I really like Day 26. The whole thing just stinks. But there ARE some successes out there, right? Danity Kane went platinum, you say? Well, these days, that doesn’t mean jack. That means that out of all your facebook friends, the odds are that not even one of them owns the album. Kelly Clarkson? Yes, she’s attained somewhat superstar status, but American Idol doesn’t really delve into personal lives and reveal the flaws of its contestants like the other shows. American Idol is in its own category (and fails for other reasons).
So, for those of you that are hoping to jump on that sinking ship of making-the-next-uber-star reality TV, you might want to think twice about it. It might be better to go through the traditional hustle of grass-roots exposure, paving your way through the industry. If you do aim for the overnight stardom that is the promise of reality TV, chances are you’ll end up only adding to the stacks of Eden’s Crush, Da Band, O-Town, Danity Kane, and soon-to-be-gone Donnie Klang (trust me on this one) CD’s that are collecting dust in your local used record store.
But hey, people can always use a few more coasters around the house.
To level-set, I gotta define a superstar as someone whose image appeal is significantly bigger than just them and their craft.
But first I gotta look at regular pure artists like Robin Thicke, say 5 years ago. Homeboy can play, write, and sing music so well, it almost makes you forget that he’s the son of Growing Pains’ Mr. Sever…almost. His image and appeal are closely linked to his actual artistic talent. The Mall Test: maybe 5% of the people at the mall recognize you as being some sort of celebrity, 5% of that 5% know your name and what you do, 5% of the 5% of the 5% will calmly approach you and talk to you.
And then on the other end you got the ultra mega primo mad-grips-of-hella-dopeness super duper star like Britney Spears, circa 2000 when her song “Slave” was bringin out the inner skank in every girl up in the club (side story: DJ’ing back then I used to hook my boys up by only playing this song when they were dancing with a girl they were after. Bam! Instant grindage every time. Honda only wishes they could make cars as reliable). Her technique: garbage. Her voice: first time in history deaf people felt pity for the hearing. Her performance: gotta hand it to her. Her music: I’ll give the nod for this, but to her producers, not her. Her image: the $ speaks for itself. She transcended goddess-like status. In people’s minds, she was the perfect woman and could even cure cancer by touch. The Mall Test: Your presence causes people to scream hysterically, a few cases of lost consciousness, and the occasional death by trampling.
So far, these music artist reality TV shows have all been out to create superstars rather than good solid artists, but the nature of reality TV takes away the God-like perception that’s necessary in superstardom. Not too long ago, my buddy who’s a professional sports writer told me about how he once interviewed an athlete he admired (who will remain nameless), and how afterwards he felt let down, because he got to see how this guy was not the magnanimous and pure deity that he once thought him to be. Unfortunately with these shows, you get to see the reality that they’re not perfect embodiments of divinity, but just normal people, flaws and all. Still not making sense to you? You’re alone….with your choice of either Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie…they want you to do whatever you want to do to them…and they just rip the loudest, stankest fart you’ve ever witnessed in your life…and your mouth was open. It’s like that.
People love reality TV, because it’s (*cough) all real which allows people to connect to the drama on a level beyond that of scripted TV. Basically people like seeing how F’d up other people are. But in this context, it’s ironically this very appeal of reality TV that cripples the artists from attaining their goal, and chances are the artists themselves will ultimately be tossed to the wayside by their respective labels for failures that are not their own. It’s a shame, not only because it sucks for people to put their dreams in something doomed from the beginning, but because some of them actually put out good stuff. I like Danity Kane. I really like Day 26. The whole thing just stinks. But there ARE some successes out there, right? Danity Kane went platinum, you say? Well, these days, that doesn’t mean jack. That means that out of all your facebook friends, the odds are that not even one of them owns the album. Kelly Clarkson? Yes, she’s attained somewhat superstar status, but American Idol doesn’t really delve into personal lives and reveal the flaws of its contestants like the other shows. American Idol is in its own category (and fails for other reasons).
So, for those of you that are hoping to jump on that sinking ship of making-the-next-uber-star reality TV, you might want to think twice about it. It might be better to go through the traditional hustle of grass-roots exposure, paving your way through the industry. If you do aim for the overnight stardom that is the promise of reality TV, chances are you’ll end up only adding to the stacks of Eden’s Crush, Da Band, O-Town, Danity Kane, and soon-to-be-gone Donnie Klang (trust me on this one) CD’s that are collecting dust in your local used record store.
But hey, people can always use a few more coasters around the house.
1 comments:
I own the Danity Kane album..I feel kind of ashamed after reading this. I'm the one person out of all my friends on facebook that owns it? Damn. In my defense, it was a gift :)
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