Entertainment For Lively Minds
The collective musical ignorance of the X Factor judges
Posted by Axekeith on 23 October 2010 - 8:43pm.
Saturday night and, as usual, bowing to presure from FPO and 8 year old daughter and watching X Factor. Have just seen somebody with an acoustic guitar playing an acoutic version of the Britney Spear's song Hit Me Baby One More Time. All the judges falling over themselves to praise this original version but methinks the fabulous Fountains of Wayne did this version originally and somewhat better (naturally), or am I just imagining it?
(Also suffering from man flu so mind and ears a bit fuggy).
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FoW
Just found their version in my iTunes library and it is great.
Their version of ELO's Can't Get You Out Of My Head is even better.
Let's petition for more ELO on the X Factor!
You have my vote
Which act would do 10538 Overture? (and make it their own)
maybe ...
Paul Weller? ;)
Travis
did it almost exactly the same about 10 years ago...even remember them doing it live on Mark and Lard's afternoon show from a pub in Robin Hood Bay
And here they are
doing it more recently, i.e. 5 years ago or so:
Who won?
I think they just beat FoW to it but it must have been a close run thing - I'm pretty sure I downloaded the FoW version from Napster (I only used it for things that I couldn't buy) so it must have been 1999/2000.
And now
some woman is doing a version of the CSS hit Whole Lotta Love!
I've started watching X Factor this year...
...for a reason I simply cannot explain, but can't seem to stop. We were just saying that this week's 'guilty pleasures' are by far better than usual choice of songs.
Only Cowell et all would think that Peggy Lee, Led Zeppelin and Chaka Khan were 'guilty pleasures' (don't think the phrase anyway, but you get the point).
Tonight's the first time I've watched it
live, after seeing the repeat last Sunday morning. It reminds me of Top Of The Pops circa 1975 without the glam rock. In fact, it's almost 100% Peters & Lee with a bit of Pans People. Two Shirley Bassey songs so far and Cheryl comparing five young lads to the HJHs!
Has anyone ever timed how much of the show is show and how much of it is adverts?
Not to mention...
...the show-long advert for Top Shop. Which, happily, is owned by Philip Green. Who, happily, is Simon Cowell's business partner.
No need to time it -
just do some quick math. Each performance is a tad over 2 minutes. If there are 14 contestants, that's 28 - 30 minutes of singing per 2 hour show. It's really a pantomime, isn't it? Act sings, judges bicker, audience boos and cheers, host smooths things over, commercial break, repeat. After a few iterations of this formaula, Mr. Cowel goes to the bank with a very large suitcase and the whole process repeats itself next week.
The trick is to record it...
and start to watch it approx 45 minutes after the live start and fast forward through the padding/adverts. You'll have caught up with the transmission by the end.
Wagner
looks like the Mad Uncle who hits the disco floor at a wedding...very entertaining but nothing to do with music.
more like Tina Turners version
oops double post!
ignore
I fumed a couple of years back
when Will Young performed "Light My Fire" on Pop Idol (fore-runner to X Factor). The judges fell over themselves to claim that he'd made the song his own. But he was simply performing Jose Feliciano's version of it.
Serious answer...
... is that although I'm pretty sure Cheryl & Dannii are genuinely clueless, I can't help thinking that Louie & Simon dumb themselves down to be more in tune with the viewers.
With the best will in the world, the vast majority of XF viewers won't have heard of Fountains Of Wayne, or seen Arctic Monkeys do "Diamonds Are Forever" at Glasto a few years ago, or heard the Jay-Z version of "Hard Knock Life" from last week's show, so why make it into an issue?
The average record collection in the UK is less than 30 albums per household, and however rarified the air The Massive breathes, these are viewers for whom Heart FM is cutting-edge listening, and the chosen tracks & comments reflect that demographic accordingly...
Cowell
is permanently stuck, standing at the bar in some early 80's club (probably called Samantha's or Cinderella's)going by his dress,hair and music sense..........meeeeeeeoooow.
Oh, that sounds quite appealing...
...I think I'd quite fancy a boogie to Shalamar and Loose Ends at Cinderella's.
I'll have an Archers and lemonade, please.