resuscitate

I've been hooked - this time around it's Rock Star: INXS. Now, I'll be the first to admit, I kind of enjoy hearing a little INXS every now and again, in that random channel surfing in the car nostalgic kind of way. In fact, Kick was one of the first cd's I ever owned (Anthrax & Metallica were amognst the others). It had a big chunk busted out of the side of it, but still played all the tracks (neat-o). I pretty much lost track of them after that, completely forgetting of the bands' existence in fact, save for when I heard the news of Michael Hutchins' suicide, which was merely that - news.

So, needless to say, I was a bit befuddled by a Mark Burnett reality show based on finding a new lead singer for the band which this many years later was essentially a novelty act of a band if that (cue to 'Never Tear Us Apart' musak being piped through the ceiling of a corporate environment near you). But as my other summer shows (Six Feet & Entouarge) have come to a close, I have found myself caught in the vortex of yet another, in a particularly long line of, ridiculously premissed reality shows.

Never mind that there have only ever been two successful lead singer replacements that come to mind: Brian Johnson replacing Bon Scott in AC/DC, and Bruce Dickinson replacing Paul Di Anno in Iron Maiden (let's leave the Sammy v. Dave conversation for another time). This group of talented in their own right singers have come to the table trying to prove otherwise...

Which brings us to the contestants. First off let me reiterate the talented in their own right bit when talking about the female players. None of them are going to fit the gap left by a male heart throb in a band that is playing major catch up in the "new album & ensuing tour" arena. Even if the public votes for any this blaringly obvious show of "fair play / PC nonsense" put on by the network, the remaining members of INXS still have ultimate veto power on who stays & who gets the boot. And they are surely aware of the tightrope of success on which they now balance. That being cleared up, we'll just ignore this group entirely, because you don't want me to go on...

I forget what song JD covered tonight, but his original sounded exactly like 'Devil Inside'. No two ways about it. Pretty unimaginative, if you ask me. Plus he's got a pretty shabby attitude about the whole contest. But, the ladies seem to dig his vibe (we are replacing a male heart throb as I mentioned just moments ago), so unfortunately he will be a contender.

Next up, the guy who just can't get around not pretending he's the inventor of the Mick Jagger swagger. Brother a word of advice - not even Mick himself can pull it off these days, who are you to front? His laborious attempt of an original ballad about "losing someone and moving on" reeked a shameless stench in trying to tug at the emotions of the remaining members of the band. Even Dave Navarro (we'll get into his business another day) was like, "Yeah dude, we get it. Next."

Now for the singer that has me not only rooting for him, but texting in votes as well - Marty. His last minute decision to play a solo acoustic version of 'Mr. Brightside', longside his rendition of 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' definitely got my attention in episodes past. But it was last week's hit-the-nail-on-the-head performance of 'Wish You Were Here' (it was up there with the actually Pink's Live8 performance) that first got me to actually cast a vote. Tonight, he held true to form, toning down his version of 'Everlong', and performing a catchy new tune of his own, called 'Trees' (Still not 100% down with this tune - Rush pretty much claims this theme as their own, even though Marty sung of love and not maples v. oaks). With his performances, however, he does accomplish what no other singer has seemed to yet, and that is channel the essence of Michael Hutchins into his performances {almost in the same way that mandolin player was able to channel Jerry ;) }

Marty's the man man for the job if you ask me, and once again received my humble vote. And so ends another episode of my new guilty pleasure of a reality show. After all, it's as much fun as you can have on a tuesday night after numbing your mind with the trivialities of The Real World - Austin.

-pontificate, cheese to grate, we sell live bait-