The Social Economics of Indie Rock III: The Search For Schlock
Ok, no long treatise this time, but now that I’ve had some time to digest it a bit, what is up with Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew’s disdainful comments about the Canadian Idol kids at the 2006 Junos?
I think everyone with two bits of sense realizes that the global franchise that is Pop Idol is not going to generate the next Radiohead - or even turn up the next J.D. Fortune.*
The Pop Idol kids are vocal athletes, champion melismatists, who are made to sing goopy prepackaged Diane Warren-esque pop songs and ballads for their shot at the top. They’re not allowed to play their own songs, sing in their own style, or play an instrument (much less rap, while we’re at it).
And they know it. This is what they sign up for - a disposable, one-hit-wonder, moment in the sun.** It’s not a million miles away, conceptually, from the Eurovision song contest.
And whoever watches the show, spends money to vote via 1-900 number, or buys the CDs knows it, too.
Broken Social Scene’s audience probably doesn’t overlap the Canadian Idol demographic. No one is forced to watch the show, listen to the songs or buy the Pop Idol CDs, either. So it’s not like someone is stealing sales from indie labels; I don’t think there’s any conspiracy by major labels to keep indies down, not that I’m aware of, anyway, and after all, the music business is not a zero-sum game. Music lovers will buy whatever they want.
At its root Drew’s comment isn’t really aimed at the major labels, but at the Canadian audience that gives Idol its cultural currency. In truth, he’s accusing them of having bad taste. It’s the old rebel sell all over again.
And given the current ascendance, both critical and commercial, of the Canadian indie scene, it seems a bit disingenuous for Drew to cry “corporate oppression” when his band’s records*** are mandatory listening for cultural cognoscenti.
If they’re not making enough money, maybe cutting the band back to a 4-piece and writing some songs that girls can dance to is in order?
* Who, I must admit, slots pretty perfectly into INXS, but notwithstanding that fact, INXS still have a looong way to go to regaining the hit machine potential they had in the 80s and 90s.
**If some Idol alumni manage to take that attention and refocus it onto a more artistically credible project, more power to them, although it seems very few do. For every Kylie and Alanis who manages to reinvent herself, there will be several Tiffanies who don’t. And that’s just the biz: No one is entitled to a long and successful career just for showing up, although I have a longstanding suspicion that’s how the Canadian arts award scene really works. ;)
*** For the record, I like the new BSS album better than You Forgot It In People - but I spent my music dollars on Kaiser Chiefs’ Employment this year.
April 15, 2006 9:18 PM
Comments
I think that’s definitely allowed after they win, though - whatever they do on the Idol album doesn’t relate to the contest. The Idol competition is really about pure singing, if I’m not mistaken, because I can’t see them allowing some triple-threat star to trump someone who’s “just” a singer, it seems unfair.
wrote AJ Kandy on April 18, 2006 3:30 PM
I don’t know that it’s entirely true that the Pop Idol kids aren’t allowed to write their own songs or play an instrument, at least for the Canadian version. Theresa Sokyrka (sp?) is often photographed with her guitar and her fansite says she’s writing her new album. Kalan Porter (the one who looks like Frodo) plays violin on a lot of his songs, as well. Maybe the rules are a little looser in Canada.
wrote John on April 18, 2006 12:23 PM