Dónal Donohoe

Probably nothing else has taken up so much space in the entertainment section of both the printed and electronic media in recent times as the hype surrounding the music talent shows on TV both in Europe and in the US. The person behind the biggest of these shows is also behind much of what gets into the charts, especially coming up to Christmas. Most of the songs sung on these shows up to and including the finals are old hits that have been covered many times before, so nothing new there. The show would seem to be as much about the so called celebrity judges who sit on the panel assessing the performers as it is about the performers, how many of these judges are qualified to judge music is debatable and they are more likely there to further their own careers as much as they are supposedly trying to help and develop new upcoming musical talent. This was very obvious recently when for two weeks in a row a certain act, where singing and dancing abilities were virtually non-existent, were kept in the contest by the judges ahead of acts that were for all to see far more musical simply because their antics brought more viewers to the show.

It has been stated by many and this was confirmed by the person who is top judge on both of these shows that if Bob Dylan were to participate in the contest he would be voted off immiediatly by these judges, presumably for his lack of star quality. So we are led to believe by these people who control much of the music we hear on mainstream radio and TV that what the world needs to hear is not an artist who writes original and often thought provoking songs but manufactured pop stars, whose image and musical output they control, singing cover numbers that are rarely anything near as good as the originals. But then I would say all that wouldn’t I, being as I am naturally suspicious of musical talent shows where a musical insturment is never to be seen.