Techtite's TV Reviews!

"After a season of INXS telling us who was or wasn't 'roit' for their band, it wound up being INXS who wasn't roit for this show! That said; season two could be even better. Roit!"

---from the review

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Rock Star: INXS

A Techtite Review

Better than American Idol, or a complete waste of time? That's the polarized opinion of many a message board this summer, as they followed Rock Star INXS from its enjoyable starting run, up to its not-so-fruitful conclusion. On the one hand, a singing competition to be the lead singer in an already well known band, is a lot more intriguing than American Idol ever was. It's not that this was a bad show. But its destination was not as fun as the ride.

Here's the back story: INXS' lead singer tragically passed away some time ago. Since that time, it's been hard to find a replacement that is both a good "fit" for the band, and popular with INXS' fans at the same time. Enter Survivor producer Mark Burnett, who with hosts Brooke Burke and Dave Navarro, try to help INXS get both the publicity and the new lead vocalist they need, via the biggest reality TV music competition in history. This isn't just karaoke; this is a competition to be lead singer in an actual band, singing all of their already smash hit singles. Cool.

Here's where things got interesting: everyone was a worthy opponent. Yes; everybody. No time was wasted here with off key vocalists who were only put on the show for court jester comedy relief.  It was actually very shocking how talented all of these Rock Star candidates were. From the "mad conductor" performances of diehard heavy metal fan, Marty, to the stage presence of Mig (who already was a hit stage performer before this series), and the powerful vocal ranges of female singers like Suzie and Jordis. Each week they'd be asked to sing the most renowned hits in rock history, and each week they'd sing them very well, indeed! Every week was a rock fan's dream.

Indeed, there are elements of American Idol here and there, especially in the viewer poll department. Yes; fans of INXS (or at least fans of this show) could vote for who their favorite singer was. The singers with the highest votes were "immune" from elimination each week. Singers with the three lowest scores were asked to redeem themselves with one final song. What song...? Why, an INXS song, of course! These elimination nights were often quite brutal because, seriously, nobody likes to be told they were the singer who received the least fan praise. Yet as I said; everybody was talented, so even the eliminations were in good company. 

Cynics may wonder what the "catch" is. No show is perfect, right? Well, as INXS' band members may put it..."roit"...! The problem is: although viewers did help in choosing who would be nominated for elimination each week, INXS always had the final say, and with so many talented candidates, they should've been perfectly clear why they booted each singer. Such explanations were rarely given. One week they booted two vocalists at once, for no apparent reason than a ratings ploy. Another week they boot Suzie, who by their own admission had the broadest range in her vocals, yet they booted her anyway. Why? That's just it...why?!? Not explaining the "how" and "why" to their eliminations each week made the final choice even more perplexing.

Jumping ahead: they chose JD. Has this choice received flak? Absolutely. Do I agree with said flak? Well...to a point. Yes. It's not that I don't think JD is talented; he was simply not the most talented singer in the lot. Not only do I fail to remember JD singing a song outside of his chosen, "safe" vocal range, but he irrefutably botched singing Queen's "We Are The Champions," very early on in the season. Yet they choose him anyway, among four finalists who included: the singer with the broadest vocal range (Suzie), the singer with the broadest stage experience (Mig), and Marty, the singer with the broadest popularity (...and I'm not kidding! in the second last episode, viewers could only give immunity to one remaining singer, and they voted to give it to Marty. Hint, hint, INXS!). JD's fans say this is immaterial, because being the best singer --or even the most popular singer-- is not the same as being most "roit" for INXS. While this may be true, how unflattering is it to imply INXS needn't have the best singer?

This leads to the question --and this critic's personal answer-- as to why JD won. For one thing there's the final competition. The three finalists were asked to choose what song to sing among all the songs already sung. All the flags were waving in front of Marty (shown here) and Mig, but did they see the signs? No. One of them should have gone for the cup: specifically, Queen's "We Are The Champions," aka, the song JD totally botched. Had they sang that song I cannot see any feasible way that INXS could call JD most "roit" for their band. He fouled up the song, an opponent didn't; end of story. Yet Marty and Mig chose easy songs, and even though JD did too, he was the one kissing the most posterior, so he won the lead singer gig. That's not unfair. It's just typical.

What isn't typical is how a band that has so much on the line, would risk it all for a little flattery. As INXS put it to one singer before ripping them to pieces, let me shoot it strait. I've never seen such an insecure band in my life. Frequently INXS would ask singers to "interact" with the band while singing, so they would be noticed more. That's just dumb. Show me one lead singer who turns away from the audience every 15 seconds so he can look like he's spooning the lead guitarist. Indeed, this is another reason why JD won, because when singing that last song with INXS, he was barely singing to the audience at all, but directly to the band members behind him. How silly is it to be singing away from the audience? If this is how future INXS concerts will be performed, don't expect a rush for tickets unless seats are behind the drummer.

In the end, it was ironic that after weeks of telling us who was or wasn't most "roit" for their band, it would be INXS who was least "roit" for this show. Not that I'm telling them who to choose in their own band. They made their choice, and if they're happy with their choice, we must be happy for them. Yet now that they've made their choice, it is technically infeasible for them to return for a second season...and if you ask me, that's good for us all. Bring on the bands that have the confidence in themselves to choose the best singer. Bring on the bands that have enough confidence in their decisions to give clear, concise answers for why each singer is eliminated. It's anyone's guess if JD was truly the roit choice for INXS. It's now Mark Burnett's job to find a band that's most roit for Rock Star.

                                                                    ---Techtite

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