Thursday, January 24, 2008

American Idol, Episode 4

I think Simon spoke for all of us tonight when he said to one particularly crazed contestant, "You are rude and deluded."

That pretty much sums up 3/4 of the Idol auditioners and at least 1/4 of the population under the age of 24.

For the last decade, I have been told repeatedly that today's youth has a self-esteem problem. I agree but for different reasons. Most kids have too damn much self-esteem, not too little.

American Idol fascinates me because you can always tell that the really bad singers have never before been told that they are really bad singers. They seem genuinely surprised by the news.

Where are their parents? Telling a child, "If you can dream it, you can be it" borders on abuse if your kid has no talent. You might as well put a giant "Kick Me" sign on his back. Honesty isn't always cruel and pain isn't always debilitating.

It's interesting that the song used at the end of the show was "No" by They Might Be Giants. I'm fairly certain it's from their children's album. I'm a big They Might Be Giants fan but, since I don't have kids, I refused to buy the CD made just for the tykes.

I'm not sure of the song's message but perhaps some of the Idol contestants should have heard the word "no" more often in their formative years. It would have saved Simon a lot of trouble.

1 comment:

Suzy said...

I hear you on the "Seem genuinely surprised to hear that they can't sing."

When I was a kid my parents forced me to play piano and I was so BAD at it. I begged them to stop making me play but they insisted. I never did learn and as an adult I kept reminding them how much money they lost not only on lessons but on the Baldwin piano they bought me.