The Reality of Music

If you’ve followed the blog here for any length of time, you know that I like reality music shows American Idol and Rockstar (INXS and Supernova so far.) Despite the hit to my musical credibility this might induce, I can’t get enough of these shows. There’s something about watching these extended auditions that scream to the wannabee musician in me.

Anyway, the most recent of both franchises have had contestants come out with albums. Thanks to Yahoo Music Unlimited, I was able to download a couple of them and listen. I grabbed the Rockstar Supernova and Daughtry albums, and I like both of them quite a bit.

First off, lets start with Supernova. This will not be a chart topping album. It’s good, but it’s just not mainstream enough to appeal to the masses. And let’s face it, the people that drive the music industry right now are the high school and college age kids. Having members from Metallica, Guns N Roses, Motley Crue and an unknown from Canada doesn’t exactly exude youth cool. I dig them, but let’s face it, I’m not exactly a spring chicken.

Anyway, if you watched Rockstar, you’ve heard probably five of these songs already. Some of them are okay and others are really good. I think Leave the Lights On reminds me quite a bit of Love and Rockets actually (which is a great thing) and I Lukas’ Headspin is really good as well. I do think that the original version of Headspin that was recorded with Rise Electric sounded better, but that’s just me.

The best song on the album by far however was a song we hadn’t heard, Can’t Bring Myself to Light This Fuse. It’s one of the best power ballads I’ve heard in a long time. I’m pretty sure TLee is handling the piano, and Lukas is doing a great falsetto. This will be the biggest, and maybe only, radio hit off the album.

All the songs are pretty good, but the one that I just can’t get into is one that I think the guys know we won’t like. It’s called Make no mistake, that was the take. That has to be what they said to the engineer recording it as he was probably wondering what the hell that just was. I applaud them for trying to be different I guess, but it just didn’t work for me.

That said, I really do like the album overall, but if I were you, I would sample it before buying. Make sure you’re going to dig it before you drop the cash. I do hope it goes well though, as I’d like this group to keep going for awhile with Lukas at the helm.

The other recent reality rock release (say that five times fast) is Daughtry, the band name of Chris Daughtry from American Idol. When Chris was booted from the competition, many people (including myself) were shocked as we assumed he would be in the final two. Well, I think losing has treated him VERY well. The Daughtry album completely rocks.

Whenever someone has made an album post-Idol, it’s always kinda sucked in my opinion. Normally they don’t focus on the strength of the singer, or else there’s only a couple of good songs. Not so with Daughtry. This album is solid without a crappy song in the bunch. I would have to say that this is the best album an Idol-alum has ever put out, including Kelly Clarkson.

The album reminds me of a combination of Fuel, Lifehouse, Nickleback and Tantric with a slightly more rocking edge. Chris’ voice can really belt through the guitars and the emotion is really there. He also co-wrote most of the album, and wrote the ballad Home himself. Because of this, he seems way more connected to the songs, and you can believe him when he sings in earnest.

I know that this album sold something like half a million copies the first two weeks it was out, so people like it already, but trust me when I say this is one of the better rock albums of the year. Seriously. If you liked Chris at all, do NOT hesitate to buy the album. It’s really that good.