NESP Forum

I received the latest Entertainment Weekly in my mailbox today. It has The Simpsons Movie on the cover. Along the left hand side there is mention of an article inside, "The Real Winners of 'American Idol'". So, I flipped to page 40 and began reading - the top of the page headline reads:

AMERICAN DREAMS -
with Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, and Carrie Underwood all over the charts, 'American Idol' rules pop music. But not everything is going to plan.

I think you see where this entire article leads - and I don't see it up on http://www.ew.com yet so I won't sit and type up the whole thing. It's a very extensive article examining where American Idol has gone wrong - why the winner isn't always the big superstar that they appear to be when voted in as the winner by millions of viewers.

OK - question - what makes this Chris Booker an American Idol know-it-all and the person to educate us on why certain people's album sales have faltered? He's a morning disc jockey in Philadelphia.

Anyway, it's a very interesting article with most of the former contestants that have released albums graded. Here's what they say about Taylor:

Total Sales: 690,000 (one album)
Where's the "Soul Patrol"? Hicks' debut was a big disappointment when compared to other winners' first discs.
Grade: C

The rest are graded as follows:
Kelly Clarkson: A-
Carrie Underwood: A
Elliott Yamin: B
Chris Daughtry: A
Ruben Studdard: C+
Katharine McPhee: C-
Fantasia: B

ETA: I just re-read this paragraph about Constantine and thought I would stick in here at the bottom.

For your sake Connie - hope those words don't come back to bite you.

Keep checking http://www.ew.com. It will most likely surface in the next day or two.

So, just to summarize...

-- Don't try to buck the system

-- Don't try to change the world.

-- Don't try to make quality music.

-- The American public cannot be trusted to make their own decisions about music.

-- Clive bought EW and nobody told me.

-- Apparently they don't know that grades also can include D and F.

Yeah - they could have just used your version and saved a page or two.

Well I just LOVE the "dork" that the a**hole who wrote the piece gave a "C" grade to.

Doesn't seem things like this EW article should still be getting rewarded with more of our attention. 
 
News staff having a slow news week ? - -  well hell Mabel lets trot out yet another AI story - -
originality factor courtesy of the Monty Python Department of Redundancy Department

It is difficult to evaluate an article when the details addressing the point of the piece appear to be missing - -

but since we are an open forum where some of our guests may not have seen the issues that are posted addressed several dozen times already -  I'll take a stab at it - - -

I am not a regular reader of EW - or any of its friends - - but what I have seen in alerts and on the boards has usually shown a predilection for a negative spin with respect to Taylor - - at best a damning with faint praise attitude  - -
you ladies know what that is - - when the resident cat says "gee you look great"  - followed by "it's amazing how a little added weight can smooth out wrinkles "  

would be refreshing to see someone in a position to write an article for an entertainment magazine take a
stab at comparing things about the Idols beyond their album numbers - - like their musical styles, writing methodology, instrumental talents, musical philosophies, etc.  and do it from something other than the "pop culture" or American Idol  POV - - -  hmmm, speaking of redundancy ! - -

Oh wait - a couple of magazines did do pieces on Taylor that weren't all about numbers  - -  
that would be Relix - an honest to goodness "about the music " publication - who has recognized Taylor as a musician's musician and has supported him all along. - -
and Vibe another serious music magazine who did a great piece on Taylor Hicks the artist.

But for the most part,  in the general entertainment media - - Taylor is never going to be the darling of the writers whose publications cater to people who think Paris Hilton is a singer - -   who need to be in the top sheep camp for bragging rights - - and care more about what brand of jeans the singers are wearing than they do that a whole lot of their pop radio stars can't sing for sh** in live performance.  
If you think I'm kidding find a way to get a great TV show called Later . .with Jools Holland - - quite an education on what folks sound like outside of a studio !

BTW - no sense throwing rotten tomatoes at the DJ - granted his analogy sounds rather - mmm - silly - - and highly insulting to the intelligence of the American music buying public - - - but he's just spouting the corporate created pop music - big brother philosphy he has been raised on - -  and that the industry has gotten away with for years - - namely - - you will know what you like when we decide to tell you !   

OK having gotten that rant out of my system

hmmm - now what was the reason Fantasia missed the AI6 finale ?
oh yeah - she was busy on Broadway starring in The Color Purple - -

I want a big flashing neon sign that says current market top selling GENRES for the 458674645342 time - -

blue-eyed blond country and Nickleback-rock [ Top 40] are going to out sell blue eyed soul  
- - period - game over  - no contest ! ! !

especially when you also add in some glaring differences in promotional and personal treament - - a song only released for airplay to Adult Contemporary stations simply cannot compete with songs released to Country and Top 40 stations - -  not to mention pimped on the show that created the artists - -

I am not going to go down the rabbit hole of whether TH is a true refection of Taylor's music or Clive's attempt to "poppify" him much as he did Bo - - personally I like the album - - I have fairly eclectic tastes and enjoy the diversity of TH very much - -  and I don't buy into the idea that none of the songs could have been released to Top 40 stations - -

but when you remove the artificial yardstick of AI and factor in the minimal promotion the album received this is a sales figure most artists would be thrilled to claim - - -

with thanks to Evancol and WhompSwamp

this is not the place to start another discussion but If you go into the payola thread madaboutu started on boogie you'll find a lot of interesting information on the music business'
The selling of music seems poised to change drastically in the near future - the increasing importance of internet is one obvious component - -  and the CD giveaway Prince is doing may just be the music industry equivalent of the shot heard 'round the world.
It seems conceivable that at some point artists like Taylor who can deliver a killer live performance may be the ones these " go with the CW tide " types will be touting  because concerts will be the important yardstick - not airplay - not traditional CD sales.

If one is the type who reads between the lines - - something may have jumped out at you as it did for me - -  
half expect Gray to pop up and stick a tinfoil hat on my post about now - -  but this would seem to indicate that
the writer agrees with those of us who believe there are things about Taylor's handling by AI and Davis that are definitely " not about the music"

despite the efforts of some to write Taylor off, he continues to do things that will serve him well in what he has described as a marathon to establish his long term career as opposed to a sprint

he has been shown respect and acceptance by other serious musicians - being invited to sit in with people such as Robert Randolph, Widespread Panic, Allman Bros Band, and Willie Nelson to name a few - - and having a 3 time Grammy winning blues artist Keb'Mo' sit in with Taylor and the band at Taylor's Chicago HOB show
- - - the folks who manage Ray Charles estate have been very supportive and kind to him, offering Taylor the chance to be the first one to record in RC's personal studio since his death - - being included in a documentary about playing harmonica with other musicians who have well established reputations - - - the list could go on and on but I am tired and this is already way too long so will just end with this thought
- - - you could do a lot worse than have Dan Ackroyd and the Soul Patrol in your corner - - -

I knew I could depend on you AH to weigh in with some heavy discussion.  No, this article is not in it's complete format.  I couldn't sit here and type up the whole thing - - it's too long.  It wasn't up yet on the website but it did bring up some interesting comments that I thought we could discuss maturely and intelligently.  I guess that I was amazed that here in the middle of July they felt the need to put out this huge article regarding past Idols' careers and graded them.  Why bother, I guess...the current crop of Idols are touring...why not write about them?  Oh yeah, because no one cares.

I'm considering writing an intelligent "letter to the editor" in regards to this - but am also thinking - why bother.  What do you think?  I've been a long-time subscriber to the magazine and am a little tired of the Taylor bashing.  My luck I'd end up in their "Obsessive Fan of the Week" column.

I've repeated this comment a few times over the past year..
My wish for Taylor after winning American Idol 5 was that one of two things would happen..
either

1) he sold so many CDs that he could tell Clive and TPTB to take a flying leap. We now know from Kelly C's experience, that there really is no number that big.. Chris Daughtry will find out next. OR

2) Taylor was perceived as a "failure" so they'd wash their hands of him, and he could go his own way, playing in venues where you don't have to watch him on a jumbotron, making the kind of music he wants.

I think I got my wish. And I think Taylor got his as well. The magazines won't understand it. All they know is "units".

I just spent an interesting hour doing a Google search on Brian Gallagher, in response to an email.. this guy has a very interesting resume, he's been on some massively creative projects, in bands I wished I'd heard, in Minneapolis clubs I know well.

this is a good example, and you can play "where's brian" in the tiny cover photo
http://citypages.com/databank/18/844/article3226.asp

This guy signed up to do the better part of a year with Taylor Hicks. I know the music life is tough, and there aren't as many gigs for good musicians as there should be. But it says something to me that musicians of this caliber have signed on with Taylor. I'm sure if I did the same searches on the other band members, it would be a similar story.

For me, that's far more significant than a pop culture expose from a magazine that doesn't even pretend to be "about the music".

Lots of good discussion on this!  I think we can take this back to our conversation in one of the book discussion threads, about "pop" and such.  (I can't remember which one, the coffee hasn't really kicked in yet!)  We need to, in our own minds at least, make a distinction between the pop media, which is unfortunately so prevalent yet has nothing to do with real music, and the real music mags, sites, and people, real musicians and people who enjoy listening to them -- us.  It's two disparate worlds that, unfortunately, must collide at the major labels.  At least, at the moment they must.  If Prince's free CD is a harbinger of the future, AH is right, it WILL be about concert attendance (which it always has been for the artists, anyway, they do not make any money off of album royalties, in general -- so Constantine is going to get a wake-up call soon).  And we know that Taylor's strength is his live performance.  I have no doubt that as he learns his way around a studio a little better, he will do wonderful things there, because I could hear the seeds on UTR.  (Not on TH, because he did not produce it.  It sounded like Serletic to me.)  But the albums are only there to keep us warm in these month-long periods when he's not here playing for us.  And I think we -- the SP -- are proof that, while you can buy lots of CDs, you might not... but if every stop on the tour is different, you're gonna make an effort to pay the $40, $60, $80 or whatever it takes, to see him at as many different venues as you can.

Well, that was a long paragraph!

One last thing: Read a short interview with Donna Summer in the local paper this past Thursday.  Ms. Summer mentioned that Disco gets disparaged quite a bit as being pop fluff, but it has more complicated arrangements -- strings, difficult vocal passages, etc. -- than the punk, etc., that is considered "more authentic" among music snobs.  I think the point she really needed to be making is that some (not all, ahem) disco is actually quality songwriting, whereas some punk is just guys screaming over two or three loud, feedback-y guitar chords.  But I think it does show us quite a bit about the state of pop music today that its predecessor, Disco, was so much more complex than, say Brit or LiLo or Paris grunting over some beats.  And lest we forget, Donna Summer really could sing!

Okay, and now I'm off to IKEA on a NESP mission!

Lots of good points here. It was cool to see the actual numbers of
how many albums went platinum compared to total released. Taylor
is in an elite group. Margaux makes a great observation re the
musicians choosing to sign on with Taylor-that does speak highly
for him.

It also depends on how you view success and many of these writers
have a narrow definition. While Taylor released this album he also
did hundreds of live appearances and concerts, wrote a book, donated to and helped many charity efforts, (and managed to find a girlfriend
during the process). I don't think any of the past Idols can measure up
to or surpass Taylor in overall first year accomplishments

I like a lot of pop music. It's fun, lighthearted, and I love to dance to a good groove. It's great for radio...I either have a top 40 station or a classic rock station on in my car. Pop music typically lacks emotion and depth.
The number facts regarding albums in 2006 is quite impressive for Taylor!
There are very few celebrities I admire and I am sickened by the behaviors of Lohan, Richie, Spears, Hilton and others. I have a hard time feeling sorry for them because they have substance abuse problems....they are reckless and could kill someone while driving under the influence. Why do I mention these girls here?
When I think of EW magazine I think of pop and fluff and celebrity gossip. I have calmed down when it comes to journalists, reporters, reviewers, and bloggers bashing Taylor and/or his record sales as well as negative comments about the Soul Patrol. I used to get hot under the collar. I now realize that Taylor is happy with his career (as he should be) and I KNOW he will put out an AWESOME sophomore big label CD. If only the whole country would go to just one TH show....98.5% of them would be an instant fan. For now....we have him, we support him, promote him, and love him.