6 Cachinnations

1. Anonymous Said,

   I know, I know... it really doesn't matter. We're not discussing the musical or educational value of the program itself. It exists. It is a cultural phenomenon. This is merely a brief discussion about how it fits into our musical and popular culture.

   Posted on 5/25/2006

    
2. Sarah Said,

   I think that the truly talented musicians can't afford to and are too proud to give up their day jobs to put themselves through the pop culture torture known as American Idol. Frankly, I refuse to watch it.

   Posted on 5/25/2006

    
3. Chaotic Hammer Said,

   Well, please allow me approach the whole American Idol thing from a little different angle.
   
   I don't watch Desperate Housewives, 24, Survivor, Big Brother, or whatever the pop culture flavor-of-the-month is these days. In fact, I'm being honest when I say that I don't even know what the biggest trends are right now. I've literally lost interest completely, and have no desire to keep up.
   
   But American Idol is something that my family has been watching together pretty much since the very first show of the very first season. We didn't know it would become so "mainstream" and popular, and really don't care. But for us, it represents something that entertainment on TV almost never seems to be any more -- that is, a fun time for the whole family. It transcends age limits like almost nothing else. It somehow manages to have an interesing enough format that it can hold our attention. It allows everyone to feel like they can have an opinion about it, and nobody is really "right" or "wrong" about it. It's just all in good fun.
   
   Even though the people who make it to the finals might take it seriously, and even though there's a lot of money to be made in the business if you make it, the truth is that most people know how to keep it in perspective and have fun with it.
   
   It's grossly over-commercialized, and functionally speaking is basically just a great big free promo for the management company putting on the competition.
   
   But it could also be said to represent something that is becoming an increasingly rare event in American pop culture. With so many different competing forms of new media, multiple cable channels, and so many alternatives, it's not very often that the entire collective consciousness of the country is focused on a single event, all at the same time.
   
   The Super Bowl would be a notable exception. But other than that, things are so much more diversified than they were during the Golden Age of Television. It boggles the mind to think how many people (as a percentage of the entire population) simultaneously watched the funeral of JFK, or the Moon Landing, or the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. And it's interesting that because of new technology, single super-events like this will likely become increasingly rare.
   
   So, anyway. That's my mile-long meaningless blog comment of the day.

   Posted on 5/25/2006

    
4. Anonymous Said,

   Well said, sir. It is, without dispute, a cultural phenomenon. But it has aspirations to affect the music industry. Can it?

   Posted on 5/25/2006

    
5. Sarah Said,

   Why don't they do American Idol Band? That way instrumentalists can get in on the gig.

   Posted on 5/26/2006

    
6. Amy Said,

   I'm not sure how much it really affects the music industry. A few stars seem to come out of it, but mostly they would be the winner or runner-up. This year might be an exception with Chris. We'll have to see how much of an impact Carrie Underwood continues to have in country music.
   
   They should totally have a battle of the bands american idol style.

   Posted on 5/26/2006