Music – Ruined by TV?

How many people have heard someone say any of the following? :

That programme is full of amateur karaoke singers!

That show ruined that song!

Normally, it was around once a year when ‘X Factor’ is on, but with the introduction of  talent shows such as ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, ‘Eurovision: Your Country Needs You’ and any of the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows that have been on the BBC it has started to become an everyday comment I have heard.

However, with the overnight hit show Glee, it seems that even non-talent shows are coming under fire for ruining ‘classics’ tunes.

So what do you think of these programmes? Do you think they are ruining the music industry?

In my opinion, no it isn’t! In fact I would go as close to saying that it is probably helping the industry.

The problem is that everyone has their own taste in music, so if they don’t like the music that is being aired then they are not going to like the show. I mean, I can’t exactly see something that prefers rock music is going to sit down and watch X Factor when the majority of the music is popular music.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some people who go on these shows that should have stayed at home as they can not sing, but they have been put on the show to entertain/cringe the viewer. The audition parts of these shows are my least favourite because I know that the bad auditions have been specifically picked to be humiliated on national television.

The majority of the finalists for these types of reality shows can sing, and can not understand why some people feel like labelling them as karaoke singers. Trust me I have seen enough karaoke nights to realise they have a lot more talented than that.
Granted, there is the occasional show which, personally, I see as pure crash TV. A prime example is ‘Eurovision: Your Country Needs You’. All the acts in this years show were not the best. In fact, I would be close to saying that they were pure awful. I don’t understand how the BBC can get the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows such as ‘Over the Rainbow’ so correct while producing something like YCNY, which is so bad!!!

Now Glee is our screens and is starting to have a Marmite effect on viewers. It has joined the other reality TV shows for “butchering” old classics.

The way that I see it, cover versions are old news. It has happened in the music industry for years. Steps and Westlife made a career out singing other people’s songs. So why is it seen as appalling that people on television are doing cover versions?

Cover versions have the ability to bring old tunes, and sometimes re-vamp them, for a newer audience. These songs don’t necessary make them better than the original, although it can happen, but they can be up there as good pieces of work.

What is also happening a lot recently is that after the cover versions are shown on TV, sales in the original increase. An example of this is Journey with their song ‘Don’t Stop Believing’. After appearing in the pilot episode of Glee it entered the UK charts at number 6, 27 years after being in the charts where it previously reached 62.

If the argument that a lot of people have, is that it isn’t as good as the original, it goes to show that some the viewers of the show are listening to the original and buying it if they like it. Surely this is a good thing, right?

If shows such as X Factor and Glee have the ability to promote music to a wider audience, then personally I don’t see what the big issue is.