This lot’s got talent, supposedly
They were holding auditions for Britain’s Got Talent at the Hippodrome in Birmingham earlier today. I know this, because I rode past it on my bike.
I utterly despise Britain’s Got Talent. And X-Factor. And Pop Idol. I think shows like that are not only exploitative, cruel and patronising, but also largely to blame for the insane and poisonous idea that the reason to make music is to become famous.
It also perpetuates the ridiculous notion that the way to make money from music is to run the risk of ritual humiliation in front of an audience of millions in the hopes of being ‘discovered’ by a powerful man who’ll sign you to an even more exploitative record contract and thrust you into the full glare of the media spotlight so you can pose alongside other vacuous celebutards on the pages of Heat magazine.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of how cross this crap makes me. As spectacle, this is our modern day equivalent of the public execution (only in this case, the contestants are willingly lining up to be hanged) – and no better in my view than paying homeless people to beat each other up on camera. It’s utterly hateful, and probably the best thing about it is how ‘clever and witty’ my friends on Twitter are when they’re being nasty and spiteful in their personal attacks on the contestants. It just brings out the worst in everybody.
On the plus side, there didn’t seem to be that many people queuing in the hopes of touching Simon Cowell’s robe. Perhaps it’s all wearing off – or maybe I was just early.
Right now:
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I’m still trying to figure out where our customs people were when they let Piers Morgan into America.
Now, don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel!
Bang on, I particularly like the bit about “the insane and poisonous idea that the reason to make music is to become famous” – I think this idea is a bit older than the reality/contest shows, but I agree that they have pushed it to a new level of general destructiveness. I don’t pay much attention to them (none, actually) but I kind of get the idea, and it’s an ugly one all around.