Agree or disagree?

Only seen it a few times, but totally agree.
Put any *good* singer in this enviroment (professional coaching, rehersals, good sound engineering etc) and you'd get similar results.
I don't see the Karaoke tag as a bad thing, its just putting it into perspective.

I'd like to hear what Rob and the other Karaoke guys think

I sometimes go to Karaoke at my local, but can't sing (but sometimes get up anyway hehe ) - and normally have a great night. - far better than saying in to watch X Factor!

I disagree.

The Talent portrayed on the Xfactor is purely for the Ratings. There are a few talented singers in the competition and the rest are just there to keep up the viewing figures. I've seen quite a few good Karaoke Singers in my time as a karaoke Host and to call The X Facxtor TV Karaoke is an Insult to Karaoke

Televised Karaoke isn't necessarily right but I agree with most of his other comments.

It's certainly true that it all appears to be based on what's gone before and, consequently, can be stilted and stereotypical, just serving up more of the same

Although it certainly isn't the same thing, it reminds me a liittle of the early days of rock 'n' roll in this country and the attitude of the traditional "variety" agents towards the newcomers, with the former expecting the latter to eventually "conform" as did, for example, Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard.

From the commercial point of view it's usually safer to stick with the tried and tested rather than the new or experimental. A lot of potential customers, viewers or however they might be described are fairly conservative in their taste. Look at what happens when certain films are successful - sequels are made. If a formula is successful why not repeat it?

The 1960's decade was a time of great change and experimentation in music with myriad styles coming and going. It started with rock'n' roll, went through surfing, the Mersey Sound, Blues, Soul, Bluebeat, Reggae, Psychedelia, Progressive, Heavy Rock etc yet some of the biggest record sales were achieved by The Bachelors, Ken Dodd, Frank Ifield and Engelbert Humperdinck. Often people would buy records because they were in the charts.

Broadly speaking, whatever has mass market appeal will have a tendency towards blandness.

One other thing. There's no substitute for experience. That means performing in all sorts of places and gaining confidence and presence as well as honing talent. To expect to not need and skip that bit by winning a TV talent show is naive on the one hand and ridiculous on the other.

To be honest I agree the X Factor is just televised karaoke.
There is nothing original on there, even the winners of the previous shows are just clones of there heroes.

Jim

Wikipedia says:

Karaoke (カラオケ?, a portmanteau of Japanese kara 空 "empty," and ōkesutora オーケストラ "orchestra")[1](English pronunciation: /ˌkæriːˈoʊkiː/; Japanese: [kaɽaoꜜke] (Speaker Icon.svg listen)) is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music (and/or a music video) using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal.

Sounds to me like the X Factor singers fall within this definition.

I don't know why Sting even bothers commenting as in all these years the only two reasonably good singers that have won and lasted more than 12 months are Will Young (although not strictly X Factor) and Leona Lewis.

X Factor has seen some amazing singers fall at early hurdles but many of these would have made it somehow anyway. The good ones are still around doing shows in the West End, touring or working hard at their careers. My next door neighbour entered 'Stars in Their Eyes' as Mario Lanza. He didnt get anywhere but is making a mint singing on the cruise ships.

Fame has never been just about a good voice. It has required a good song, the right agent, the right look and most of all being at the right place at the right time.

X Factor is trash but I stll watch it because it's primary function is to provide light entertainment at the weekend and bring in advertising. The longer Jedward stay in , the more debate, the more viewers, the more money for Simon Cowell. Were I in his position I would do exactly the same.

I don't think entertainment has ever had anything to do with the right morals or who deserves to succeed or not. It's purely down to what sells on the day.

The real test for Cowell will be to see if he recognises when that X Factor has passed its sell-by-date. If he pulls the plug at the right time then he really is a showbusiness guru. If he lets it overrun (like Big Brother) then he too will be shown as someone who was just at the right place at the right time

I think Sting has been a bit disrespectful to karaoke. As a fan of karaoke, a regular participant at karaoke nights and someone who has run many karaoke nights, I would like to point out that:

- I have never heard any karaoke performer feeding the audience a pathetic sob story to get a favourable reaction

- Karaoke singers sing for enjoyment and try to entertain their audience

- Karaoke singers generally sing songs that they like, or that mean something to them

- Most karaoke singers do not delude themselves that they are superstars

- If there is a prize at the end of the karaoke night, the winner gets to keep it all without one of the judges taking a huge percentage.

All these points make karaoke down the local far better than the X Factor.

I love Sting as a kid i loved The Police they were unique his vocal style and the fusing of reggae style with pop and rock was so exciting and new.

In the body of text above apart from the Big headline and line below it doesnt have "televised karaoke" in the context of the conversation ..i do feel that the word karaoke is being used as a derogatory term yet again.

I personally think that Sting is right in terms of music and artist development and that the show is a entertainment soap..just as "Especially for you " was a number one that followed from a soap. The X factor singles are released strategically after promotion on the x factor soap.

Pluggers i mean Mentors appear on the show ..Its lucky they have a new single to promote , they are just like Cadburys in-between coronation street.

I personally like Jools Hollands show and old shows like the grey whistle test i have seen new acts that have gone on to be massive.

I have to admit to entering the x factor two years ago(got no where) and that i am pestered by people to go on it still, I do follow it and it is very much like a soap that you need to know who did what and when to keep up with social conversations it is entertainment but i agree with sting that it doesnt promote different and new acts x factor will never discover the new kurt Cobain or Marylin Manson or Johnny Cash etc

on another note ..no where does it say that X factor is a vocal contest " x factor " is by very nature about something you cant pin down ...that something that makes something appealing and popular.

I believe if they changed the voting system so you could voted BOTH for and Against a Act then the acts people didn't like would be voted off earlier.

I hope this doesn't happen.

Sacrilege

Jim