Despite being good friends with Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne, and the contestants often singing his songs, mentioning Britain’s biggest music show is a sure way to make the pop legend fume.
“I read somewhere I was supposed to be taking part in that… rubbish!” he says. “The X Factor is a cruise ship show. I’ve got nothing against the people who go on - good luck to them. But I hate how they’re treated.
“They’re given an awful sense of stardom and pressure straight away but they’re only successful until the next series. The record companies sell a lot of records and those people are gone. It’s f***ing cruel.”
Shaking his head, Elton adds: “Look at Michelle McManus. My heart bleeds for her. She won Pop Idol, she’s a really good singer and now she’s forgotten.
“Will Young is the best thing that’s ever come out of those shows. He has proved himself. But it’s no way to find talent. I want to hear new songwriters, people who are creating their own stuff, not just singing my songs every week.”
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I can sort of see where Elton is coming from, but talent shows have been a staple of TV entertainment for a long time now, even before the reality thing took off.
The difference now is the scale of the thing - you get a million pound record deal and national exposure, so in a way he’s right. But that’s not going to stop people from watching the show.
I agree with both Brad and Elton. we always have had talent shows, but the talent shows of yesteryear didnt drop its stars as quickly, in fact they didnt drop them at all.
Today we like to see people suffer on reality programmes, but we dont leave it there, we like to see them suffer after they have become stars.God we are twisted !
Once you won the old time programmes like opportunity knocks and new faces(1960- 1980’s) you were guarenteed instant stardom as it was a slog winning,so the general public were happy for you and supported you, once you won you really made it. Even appearing on these programme guarenteed sucess.
Victoria wood, Pam Ayers, Les Dennis, Marti Caine, Lennie Henry, Patti Boulaye, Little and Large, Lena Zavoroni, Bobby Crush, Peters and Lee, loads of comedians and loads of singers etc. Appeared on these programmes and did really well.
The ones that are still alive are still performing now.
Alex parkes, michelle mcmanus, steve from X factor, the fame academy winners, heresay , one true voice etc, are not as successful. Simply cos we dont want them to be.
So its not the programmes alone. It is a mixture of the society and the programmes combined.
There was a guy on fame academy some years ago ( I’ve forgotten his name, he was on when alex parkes won)he was heralded as a super rock star and nothing ever came of him and he wasnt all that bad.
However we want to see tears and tantrums (like Elton Johns reality documentary, but this was made 30 years after he was an established megastar) and the competition or talent in modern shoe is now almost secondary.
We are tuning in to see more than a good entertainer or singer we like the emotion of reality tv, we want to play psychologists, agent, manager, producer and critic.
But what we are not playing as the general public is a realistic audience who actually enjoys the artist and will be loyal to them, once the show is over. We want the psychology part, but not the performer.
The same criticsm was aimed at ” how do you solve a problem like maria”, its just not a realistic casting process. So it is unlikley we will support the artiste who wins, not just in years to come, but in months.
I am not sure an old fashion talent show could ever come back and we would watch it, as our tastes in viewing have changed, we would want to see theatrics.
However it is only by taking out all the background theatrics, that we may get winners that will have the longevity of former talent show winners.
Michelle Mcnanus has a great voice, but I think a lot of people possible voted for her as she was the “fat” girl, they brought her record made it go to number one and thought we helped her, our duty is over , lets look for the next reality star.
Elton is wrong though, as Lemarr who didnt win, Girls Aloud and Darius who came third have done ok in the charts. But the success of modern reality tv talent show contestants is far far poorer than the old fashioned talent shows.
I think part of winning a modern reality TV show is having the general public cut you down to size, by not supporting you after they have put you on a pedestal.
I really hope Shane Ward does well, but I fear his fans may be looking to replace him , before his career has even got going. Look how the fans loved Gareth Gates. We all loved Heresay (Pure and simple is a great record though). But then people became bored and said Sod OFF.
I like Kym Marsh as an actress, but I think she is a better singer, but we wont accept her as one, so she acts instead.
I auditioned for strictly dancing the first year it was on and I was quite crap, very inept, too tall and heavy, so didnt get through.The auditions werent part of the programme then. So they made the right decision.
However there were two identical twins, who danced just the same, they allowed one to go through to the next stage and rejected one. Not because she was better , it was because they wanted a emotional reaction. When it was screened they showed 10 seconds of distraught twins bawling. They knocked her sister out in the next stage , so the whole purpose was solely for the tears.
Some people who were put though in strictly dancin this year , would not have got through last year, as the standards were lowered to allow them in, as they are crowd pleasers ( emotional with a story to tell),simply because the auditions have now become part of the programme. I doubt people who voted to keep them in would actually pay to see them dance over the next few years either.
We have become very very cruel disposable people, very cruel indeed.
If you vote for someone in X-factor this year, you should vote for someone whose album, singles etc you will buy. Not because they are an underdog like alex parkes or Michelle Mcmanus. Or you think they are sexy like Garteth Gates, Shane ward, all the blokes from Fame Acadmey that I cant remember etc. Only then will the nubbies give the old timers like Elton a run for his money.
If you dont Sir Elton will still be crooning in his eighties, when we are on x-factor 40, that has produced no stars.
NB. This year on X factor they have put a very nervous, almost pee-ing himself with fright sixteen year old boy through to the next stage ( louis and sharon), but last year, louis rejected two brilliant non nervous sixteen year olds at the last stage because he
said they were not mature enough to handle the “live” performances every week. But they were both brill sinegrs and super confident.
This lad has been put through cos he is nervous, shakes,
wrings his hands, cries and this makes good telly, but he would never get through an audition in real life. so where’s the reality. We’ve got real talent in Britain so lets see.
Sob stories, temper tantrums,nervous dispositions, mental health problems,wacky personalities make reality TV talent shows, but do not sell records or build careers for people in the music industry.
Dawn says, but I could be wrong.
I have an idea for a new reality TV show “New faces versus old faces”
Old time talent show winners (new faces, opportunity knocks etc) versus new reality tv talent show winners(pop idol, fame academy,x-factor, stars in their eyes).
The winner will get a £1 million pound recording contract (for the nubbies it would be yet another £1 million recording contract again). The oldies can re-release their old stuff.
The audience gets to have a little bit of power, see people richer than themselves go through every single emotion possible and a good time is had by all.
If this takes off I would like someone to resurrect Marti Caine and Lena Zavoroni( old timers)to compete, as they will knock spots of Alex Parkes and Michelle Mcmanus.
I’d like to Steve from Xfactor singing against Joe Longthorne. MAGIC !
Says Dawn but I could be wrong
A thought for you to ponder on.
New reality TV talent show contestants singing Elton’s ditties constantly is equivalent of Elton John never writing any songs of his own, and singing songs from world war 2, constantly !.
Imagine Elton sings ” Roll out the Barrel” instead of “Candle in the wind” and “Knees up mother Brown” instead of “Dont go breaking my heart”, now wouldnt that be interesting and BOOOOOOORRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG !.
I’m not a teenager I’ve lived through the seventies, eighties and nineties I dont want to hear the same old stuff again, sung by sob story performers,people off their medication, care in the community residents, super dooper personalities or “sexy to teenage girls for exactly two minutes” guys. It gives me nothing to look forward to in my old age.
Vote wisely in X-factor for someone who has a future in the industry, who can also write something new or vote for the person you will still want to listen to in the next five-ten years. Not the next five to ten weeks.
Dawn Blake says but I could be wrong
A thought for you to ponder on.
New reality TV talent show contestants singing Elton’s ditties constantly is equivalent of Elton John never writing any songs of his own, and singing songs from world war 2, constantly !.
Imagine Elton sings � Roll out the Barrel� instead of “Candle in the wind� and “Knees up mother Brown� instead of “Dont go breaking my heart�, now wouldnt that be interesting and BOOOOOOORRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGG !.
I’m not a teenager I’ve lived through the seventies, eighties and nineties I dont want to hear the same old stuff again It gives me nothing to look forward to in my old age.
Vote wisely in X-factor for someone who has a future in the industry, who can also write something new or vote for the person you will still want to listen to in the next five-ten years. Not the next five to ten weeks.
Dawn Blake says but I could be wrong
couldnt agree more - none of these singers can hold a candle though to joe longthorne can they lets face it!
regards
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