Neko Case is apparently gonna be here with the New Pornographers in a few weeks along with Okervil River. Shame I won't be able to make it.

Glad to see someone touting the excellence of Neko Case. Check out Kathleen Edwards first two albums. She Rocks! and is a pretty good songwriter too.

thanks Laura and VFTW for adding a forum for discussion of "good" music. I write these words knowing that at the end of the day it's all subjective, beauty being in the ear of the beholder and all that...

The crux is that AI's producers are entirely business oriented, and are not necessarily music aficionados. Their intent with the competition is to showcase "entertainers" with potential mass appeal, give them wide exposure and promotion through the show, then cash in on the musical "products" that are manufactured following the competition.

To the observant AI watcher it's clear that the shows' figure-heads are not as musically aware as they are pretended to be. I've noted that Simon has claimed a number of times not to recognize a classic song; and there's Randy's recent gaff when he attributed the multi-million selling Simple Minds' number to INXS.

I feel the need to go a step further and address the viewer/listener at large, as there are many posts on this site that in the same vein ignorantly attribute <i>Hallelujah</i> to Jeff Buckley... it's John Cale's <i>Hallelujah</i> after all ;)

So for me, knowing well that AI is about business people selling product through the show, as opposed to a forum for new musical art, it becomes apples and oranges; there's no correlation. It's like comparing "country" to "hip hop" and saying one is "good" and the other is, um, not. Comparing "AI drivel" with "indie pop" is like comparing McDonald's to Chez Panisse - there is no real basis for comparison, and as such the discussion quickly becomes kinda pointless, don't you think?

Good to know about this; thank you for the quotation and link !

BW

Awesome outlet for musical discussions! Thank you so much for starting this. I dug into my personal stash of fine music and came up with a theme song for each of the current contestants.

Carly Plantzilla Smithson: Bigmouth Strikes Again / The Smiths

Dancin' Dave Hernandez: Strip / Adam Ant

David Aww Archuleta: Where is My Mind? / Pixies

Brook Willowy-White: Skinny Love / Bon Iver

Ramiele Malibu Barbie: Personality Crisis / New York Dolls

Jason Rasta-Castro: You Know I Couldn't Last / Morrissey

David Hairball Cook: Boredom / Buzzcocks

Chick Easy: The Day The World Turned Day-Glo / X-Ray Specs

Syesha Mercado-Ford: Commercial Rain / Inspiral Carpets

Michael "Bringing it Home" Johns: Anaesthesia / The Church

Kristy Lee Crock: That's How You Sing Amazing Grace / Low

Amanda "Oh My" Overmyer: Eat My Dust You Insensitive Fuck / Catherine Wheel

OK - I'll fess up I don't actually own the Adam Ant song, but it fit so well, I couldn't resist. You can look it up on youtube... HEHE.

Seriously, though, there are lots of great artists/tunes waiting to be explored, AI. How about switching out the catalog, maybe bring in a "relevant" band or two? How much WTF Houston and Crapping Dionne do you think we can take? (I wouldn't be caught dead listening to Journey, dog. Not Sorry!) Bring some variety and actual talent to the show and the ratings will soar.

Hey Laura,

I LOVE The angle of your blog above. Great stuff..and great musicians you have referred to there.

Actually, anyone can log onto MySpace Music and find HUNDREDS of indie an unsigned artists who truly blow EVERY one of this joke "top 12" of AI away....seriously with one click you could find artists that have so much more talent vocally and are even more pleasant on the eye.