Ack. Sneaking in something David Cook related. 5 Questions for David Cook from VH1. Heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s cute.

Alas, it’s a sad day indeed when David Cook’s porn name is not headline news. Cookie Sunnyside, meet Tally Ho Broadway. :grin1_ee: “It’s a good thing I don’t have an extra pinky, because this would be awkward.”

Another tail end of Gen X-er here, and my music taste is so eclectic….there were so many musical influences.. NIN/alt stuff, there was hip hop, grunge, Green Day just came out with Dookie my senior year of high school…good times. Maybe that’s why I’m so loathe to put a label on music. I dunno.

Never, is when. AI, the press, and the world in general donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t even seem to consider those things achievements. The only people who are impressed are people who were fan of the particular Idol involved from the beginning.

If youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re an x-idol, youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re held to one standard and one standard only, I suppose because you come off a mainstream-popular tv show, so ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s just assumed that the only way you can really be a success is by selling big at mainstream-pop.

Of course not! AI’s stated reason-for-being is to produce star recording artists. It’s a great side-effect that so many who don’t make it in mainstream music find other career opportunities as a result of their Idol exposure, but I refuse to put the in the same category of success as those who are actually making it big in the music business.

So, I don’t care if Constantine would have won that Tony. He still wouldn’t belong in the same sentence with Daughtry or David Cook. And I don’t care if Kimberly Caldwell wins an Emmy for a TV show hosting category. Her hypothetical award would not compare to one of Carrie’s actual “music awards.” And I don’t care if Kat becomes the biggest movie star in the
world. She still shouldn’t be put in the same category as Kelly. You get the idea, I think….

A lot of people I know donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see anything wrong with illegally downloading music either.

Yeah, I guess they’re unable to put themselves in the shoes of someone whose calling and talent is music and would like to be able to make a living creating it.

Music is kind of going the way of the newspaper. The internet makes us think that everything that isn’t made out of brick, steel, mortar, or hard plastic should and must be free of charge.

Won’t be easy times for fledgling musicians in the years coming up, I’d guess.

Somebody upthread was wondering what the tour sets will be like. Who knows? But I’ve gone to the show two years and one time the sets appeared to be decorated with aluminum foil (… that’s not even a tiny exaggeration, by the way) and the other year they looked to be draped with a bit of cheesecloth.

Hey, they’re trying to earn money here, people!

One example of many. But I think weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re defining à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“successà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  in terms of Top 40 radio play, which to me is pretty bizarre.

It’s bizarre in an absolute sense, but it’s not in the least bizarre in the “this is what everyone expects from top Idol finalists” sense.

That’s unfortunate, I’ll definitely give you that! But if you look at the press and much of the fan commentary, plus AI’s reaction to show alums who haven’t gotten a lot of pop radio play (or at least a lot of country-radio play), then this *is* the criterion. This, and being a multi-platinum seller — which you really only get these days from having big pop and/or country radio hits.

When’s the last time you heard anyone say, Wow, it’s great that Fantasia took New York by storm and got the Tony broadcast to break the rules to let her sing! Wow, it’s great that Kelly C’s My December album has this really cool artistic song. Wow, it’s great that so-and-so is getting a lot of AC play or Urban radio play. Wow, it’s great that Elliott got a gold album and a bunch of radio play in Japan. …. Never, is when. AI, the press, and the world in general don’t even seem to consider those things achievements. The only people who are impressed are people who were fan of the particular Idol involved from the beginning.

If you’re an x-idol, you’re held to one standard and one standard only, I suppose because you come off a mainstream-popular tv show, so it’s just assumed that the only way you can really be a success is by selling big at mainstream-pop.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b129209_adam_lambert_goes_gaga_debut_album.html?sid=twitterfeed_topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=twitterfeed&utm_campaign=twitterfeed_topstories

The book Kris recommended is called “A Long Way Gone”, which is non-fiction. It is about a child soldier in Sierra Leone.

Is Cook a rocker? He says he is, but I see him as an AC artist.

That’s a bit of an overstatement. He’s pop-rock, not rock, but he’s not Air Supply or Barry Manilow either.

Letà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s be realà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦who goes to rock concerts? Screaming girls (and guys who may or may not like the music, but are there for the girls).

What decade do you think we are living in? Rock, other than the slick, commercialized version, is HEAVILY-dominated by a male fanbase. Why do you think Daughtry and Cook can’t get away with anything except pop rock? (With Cook, I think that’s where he wants to be, anyway; with Chris, I’m not so sure– I think he might prefer to be screaming).

But, anyway, the only “rock music” in which females are well-represented among the fanbase is the “flyover” kind– the space occupied by Nickelback, Hinder etc. Sometimes it’s derogatorily referred to as “Mom Rock”– “for moms who want to rock, but not too hard”, as it has been described….

But, anyway, I think most would agree Adam is not going to produce an album that sounds like Daughtry or David Cook. I could see him fitting into the Killers niche, but the problem is this isn’t 2004 anymore, and the Killers really only chart on ALT, Active, and AAA anymore. And those formats don’t sell a lot of records.

Rufus Wainwright is certainly pop while Linda Perry is probably pop-rock (rock-pop?). If both came out at the start of their careers, then youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re right that Adam isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t the first. Though Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not sure either could be consider mainstream Top 40 radio pop, which I understand is Adamà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s goal.

I think you would need to put in so many qualifiers into your statement about this first publicly self-identified gay singers/bands that it would cease to become meaningful. You would need to say that they must be -

1) Full-blooded Americans – As indicated before, plenty of British rock and pop singers/bands are/were known to be gay (or assumed to be gay, they might actually be bi) when they first started out. Singers/groups/bands like Erasure, Jimmy Sommerville, Kajagoogoo, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Will Young, Boy George, Marilyn, Dead Or Alive, Marc Almond, it’s a long list and those were just off the top of my head. Special mention here must go to Tom Robinson because although he isn’t known internationally, his “out-and-proud” stance certainly made it easier for later generations of gay British singers to be out, and arguably he is far more important than his more famous comtemporary singers in that respect.

2) Must be purely pop, that should eliminate Linda Perry’s hit “What’s Up”. I suppose we must ignore that Adam wants to do a bit of rock here for this argument to stick. And Rufus Wainwright cult-ish pop doesn’t count by this argument because his pop isn’t hugely popular (besides, he is half-Canadian, you know what those Canadians are like, he’s so tainted).

3) And this is where your argument might get a bit strange – they must also be successful, and the success must only be in the US chart. Scissors Sisters have never hidden who they are, but I would assume you think they don’t count because they are not successful in the States. If Adam turns out to be unsuccessful then he doesn’t count? (Actually the reason Scissor Sisters are more successful in the UK has probably a lot to do with they way they adopted much of the UK rock and pop tradition, they are more of a British band in that sense).

4) They must appeal to “middle America” – this is kinda weird argument because we have no idea if that is who Adam plans to appeal to, but one thing we can know for sure is that Adam certainly isn’t planning to appeal to the homophobes given the pictures that are out already. So who are these “middle America” people you are talking about?

5) They must out themselves before they released an album (officially of course, the AI special album issue doesn’t count) – this is even weirder because no one is interested in the sexuality of singers before they become famous with hit single or album (are you interested to know that Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day is bi before they had the hit album Dookie?). They must therefore have achieved already fame before starting out on a pop career, which must limit the choice of people down to what, low hundreds at a stretch?

6) They must be expected to succeed – Jim Verraros of AI Season 1 was out before he started his pop career, but he probably won’t count to you because he wasn’t expected to achieve great things. That means you probably only count those who reached Top 3 or 4 in AI, so now there are only at best a few dozens of people who may be candidate as the one who dares to be the first out-and-proud gay AI star before he became a recording star.

Put in enough of these qualifiers I will then agree with you the Adam did something very special and brave (while the eyes rolled to the back of my head).

As for Anderson Cooper, if there are pictures of him kissing another guy à   la Adam floating around and he doesn’t say anything about them, I’d giggling all the way through all his broadcasts.

I think there is often a misconception among many people who arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t musicians that somehow playing instruments (other than vocals) is more impressive than just being able to sing.

Yes, it is, and no revisionist fan apologetics are going to change that fact. Singing is one skill, whether or not the voice is viewed as an “instrument”. Being able to sing while playing an instrument is being able to perform two skills at once.

In other words, being able to sing and play an instrument puts you twice as far down the road to what Kara refers to ad nauseam as a “package artist”. Or if you want to go back to your classification as the voice as an instrument, it’s like being able to play two instruments at once instead of just one.

DA:

Oh my heck, there are cats outside fighting and they’re really loud! Hush cats! People are trying to sleep! You shouldn’t fight anyway.

But ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s really difficult for an american who doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have success in America to go and be hugely successful around the rest of the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

Actually, I think it happens more than we might think. Scissor Sisters are superstars in the UK and Europe, yet don’t get much play in the U.S. other than the dance charts. Kings of Leon have been way more popular in the UK as well. The Killers do well in the U.S. but they do even better in the the rest of the world. Even the Backstreet Boys had to go to Europe and Canada first to gain success before coming back home.

Yesterday Kelly performed at B96 SummerBash (radio concert)

Heres an interview backstage, Kelly gets asked about Adam but she gets a little confused

LOL Looks like she wasn’t in the US during the finale, and when she arrived she probably saw all the talk about Adam, Adam in the covers and thought he was the winner. Ups!

If it turns out Adam is hurt by publically coming out, he will still be hugely successful around the rest of the world.

You seem sure about it. But it’s really difficult for an american who doesn’t have success in America to go and be hugely successful around the rest of the world…

Hmmm, thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s interesting because I personally loved Krisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s vocal on both à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Falling Slowlyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“To Make Me Feel Your Loveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  which iirc, were done w/o instruments. Granted using the instruments make Kris a standout, but his voice to me is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢standoutà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ whether he used the instruments or not.

Actually, I do love the vocals on those too. Top 11 week (Grand Ole Opry) was when I really started to appreicate Kris’ voice on that Bob Dylan song, though it wasn’t till Top 9 week (“Ain’t No Sunshine”) that I felt he was a real dark horse contender. “Falling Slowly” had to grow on me a bit but now I find the studio version quite exquisite.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that for Kris, I feel that when he uses his acoustic guitar or the keyboard, the instrument acts like an extension of his vocal repertoire. Depending on the arrangement, he doesn’t necessarily need to use an instrument himself, as long the the background accompaniment isn’t so overbearing (like bandzilla can be at times) that it drowns out the nuances in his voice.