The BBC have two programs that more children want to be on than any other: Match of the Day and Top of the Pops. Bands and groups throughout the decades know they have arrived once they’ve played TOTP. We settle down in front of the TV and watch the latest products of the music industry strut their stuff. As we watch them on stage, I’m sure every view at one time wishes it was them up there. This is the essence of pop music, we watch it and imagine that we could be there if only we had the right breaks. This is the border line, that they had the breaks, now they are special and out of reach. We want to ignore the fact that at one time they were just like us. At this point I want to say that I’m not talking about groups that play instruments, DJs or rappers, people who actually write their own material, or use a skill other than just singing. I want to talk about the singing groups, these are the groups that everybody can relate to since nearly everybody has tried at one time or another to sing.
What makes Britney Spears so attractive? I’ve lived with girls more physical attractive, probably with nicer personalities but they aren’t fantasy figures. It is because Britney is famous, therefore in a different world and unapproachable, this is why she helps many a lad to sleep. I suppose its like the royal family, no offence to Prince William but if I was a goofy-teethed inbred who went to night clubs with my mother, I wouldn’t pull.
When ITV came up with the program Popstars, they knew they were onto a winner, the ultimate docu-soap. Record companies jumped on board, the media joined in and it caught the public imagination.
Of course tie-ins between docu-soaps and the record industries are not uncommon (like with real soaps). Jane McDonald has a ever expanding career from being a mediocre warbler who should have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Maureen from Driving School charted with a demolition of Driving In My Car and I’m still hearing rumours about Jeremy Spake reworking Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy.
The first stage of Popstars was perhaps the most entertaining as we laughed our way through hopeless candidates, while they upon seeing themselves were no doubt aware of the years of torment they’ll receive.
Gradually the shallowness of the pop machine was reviled to the nation. "Great voice but you are the wrong shape so goodbye," and so on. Anything that the public couldn’t accept was removed, Darius had a obvious talent but we do not like people who are too good (and tell people about it) and so he had to go. A nation watched in awe as five people were chosen to be the pawns of various media companies. When Kym was told she looked too fat you could tell the effect this would have on hundreds of teenage girls around the country.
The first big difference between Hear'say and any other pop band is that they consist of separate and equal personalities. Most groups you see on television have at most 3, normally 2 voices and personalities and just another couple of faces. Take That was almost the Gary Barlow show, Brian Harvey likewise for E-17, and looking at Boyzone, Westlife and co. there have people there just to make up the numbers. In the past five years only 1 group has made a big thing about establishing strong identifiable personalities; The Spice Girls.
Popstars introduces a band of singers, not dancers. I challenge you to find a current teen-pop act which has more talented vocalists. It is nice to see that the dance routines that they have to do are simple and do nothing to distract from the song. When artists like F5ve and A1 jump around for three minutes while looking like they are trying to sing, I personally ask myself what the point is. After the recent rash of uninspiring cover versions I have formed the opinion that sometimes more effort is put into the dance routines than to the music.
What I hope the lasting impression of Hear’say will be is the final death of soul-less pop music. When the public get to terms with a group of nobodies doing what they do better than most artists out there they may come to terms will how shallow the pop business is. When we see a mother of two from Wigan rise in less than from singing in the local to being on Top Of The Pops, it should tell us that there is nothing special about the people up there. Why do we buy their records when we could do the same, and hopefully teen-pop will come crashing to the ground and finally Pete Waterman will not darken our televisions again.