"Of course, who could dispute the musical gravitas of the man behind such talents as Robson and Jerome, and Il Divo, versus that of one of the defining icons of the last century?"
But it seems to me that Cowell is right, in a way. Bob probably does bore him to tears, that's just a matter of taste I don't think Dylan will be losing any sleep over that.Cowell also says, though:
"I've got to tell you, if I had 10 Dylans in the final of American Idol, we would not be getting 30 million viewers a week. I don't believe the Bob Dylans of this world would make American Idol a better show."
The first point is almost undeniably true. If 10 Dylans are in the final, a Dylan is going to win, so why watch it? Perhaps if they let him do some original material instead of trying to make all those Dylans sound like the same, bland karaoke contestant that American Idol churns out (although it might be fun to watch Dylan trying to remove all the things that make him unique in order to belt out a soaring rendidtion of Wind Beneath My Wings so he can be told "he really owned that song") , then it might drag in a few viewers but even then probably not 30 million. Ratings for a show and the talent displayed on it being rarely connected.
The Bob Dylans of this world couldn't possibly make American Idol a better show, it s what it is and no amount of turd-polishing is going to help. The Bob Dylans of this world could make a better show, they could make something with integrity, talent, heart, artistry, all those things that are important to people who really like music, given the audience we have, unfortunatly, it would probably last about 5 episodes before the ratings killed it, with people turning over to watch the next great soap event instead.
3 comments:
I heard Cowell on Desert Island Discs recently. Some of his choices were - Mack the Knife, Believe (the Cher track), and Danke shane or however you spell it. The later was a favourite because he remembered seeing it in "Ferris Bueller's..." and he liked it. This guy not only has no artistic integrity - he has no taste. His opinions on Bob Dylan are of no interest to anyone other than himself. He is a judge on a talent show which is a jumped up version of Stars in their Eyes. They judge how well people 'sing' and 'perform.' He is good at jusdging this. The problem is that 'performance' is judged in the same way that a brass band contest would be judged. Did they hit all - or most - of the notes? Did they put on a good performance (however you quantify such a thing)? There is no room for artistry. A Bob Dylan impersonator would beat the real thing in the same way that a forger recreating a Picasso or a Van Gogh would beat the actual artist because in the judges' eyes the forger would be the more skilled craftsman. Which in a way they are... but they will never be an artist.
I think I was trying to say most of that, if in a slightly oblique way.
There's an story, I'm not entirely sure of the veracity of it, that Charlie Chaplin once came third in a Charlie Chaplin impersonation contest.
I'd guess that impersonation works best in broad strokes making things like nuance hard to accomplish, whereas audiences don't really want the messy imperfection of a real artist unless it's some kind of Pete Doherty side-show. For that sort of audience a cover version probably does improve on the original, this, then, will be great news for them. I particularly like how the picture accompanying that article seems to be a critical evaluation of it.
I heard that story about Elvis. Of course Elvis did really become a bad impersonation of his earlier self anyway.
Ten bob
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