As the entertainment behemoth that is ITV1’s The X Factor rolls into its sixth week, the show continues to attract massive 12-13 million plus ratings. It is to modern day music television what Top Of The Pops was in its 70s heyday. In an age of multiple media, the show has perfected the art of presenting a compelling narrative, harnessing the tabloids, social media and the “old” broadcast outlets in a highly addictive format. But why has the show produced so few actual music stars?
For every multimillion selling, respected artist like Leona Lewis, there are countless casualties like Leon Jackson, Jamie Archer, and, famously, Steve Brookstein. On screen success doesn’t guarantee real life success, perhaps because the X Factor is first and foremost an entertainment show. In much the same way that the Tea Party’s vociferous advocates in the US have been “astroturfed” into existence, the show’s fan base is a thin, large veneer, including many whose interest in music is shallow, and cursory.
But while it’s true that many tune in for the sideshow of contestants like Wagner and Jedward, there are true many music fans, such as myself, who find the show promises the prospect of music, but leaves such hunger largely unsated. What is offered is instead incredibly bland and pedestrian, a far cry from realities of contemporary music at its most exciting. This country has produced some of the world’s most compelling music, from the Beatles to Blur, and what unites much of it is innovation. I believe the show could thrive on more original source material, if it had any courage, while at the same time remaining accessible to a mass audience.
It was as a protest against the show’s blandness and it’s media manipulation that last year disgruntled viewer, Jon Morter began an internet campaign, to get Rage Against The Machine’s classic anti-establishment anthem ‘Killing In The Name Of’ to number one. The Facebook group garnered an amazing half a million followers, with the same number going out to buy the record during the festive season. They succeeded in keeping X Factor winner Joe McElderry off the top spot for the prestigious Christmas number one, with the 18 year old’s manufactured pop hit ’The Climb’ missing out.
RATM’s song ends in a repeated refrain. “Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me”. The message to Cowell and his condescending corporate pop cohorts was clear, or so I thought. The British public, to whom the show truly belongs, didn’t want the smelly stuff that was being shovelled at them by a large money-making machine. It was a gesture designed to reclaim the charts, and tell the powers that be that people want something of more substance than bland numbers written by cabals of middle aged professional songwriters. Have the shows producers listened?
As a music fan, and a TV fan, I looked to this series avidly, for a reaction. By some freakish accident, Cher Lloyd’s debut on the show mooted such a possibility, with her audition, which she performed Keri Hilson’s version of the Soulja Boy hit ‘Turn My Swag On’, much to the surprise and delight of the judges. Meanwhile, Matt Cardle’s arresting performance at boot camp of ‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ was an all too rare, shocking moment of genius in an otherwise anodyne series.
It’s notable that both moments in the early stages. As time has gone on through though, the producers have squeezed any sense of individuality, genuine musicality and self-expression out of the contestants to produce much the same results as previous, stage managed years. As we speak, a campaign is gathering on the internet to see John Cage’s 4’33” go to number one. The protest, entitled ‘Cage Against The Machine’, picks up where last year’s grass roots movement left off, to see the entirely silent piece go to number one in the place of any Simon Cowell-endorsed crony. In the nations’ most popular music show, there’s still yet to be any significant sign that the makers understand how much the public really do love music, and until they get it, the Rage will continue.
