If Susan Boyle can get tens of millions of hits on YouTube, how come a new music act can’t?

Don’t think Ms. Boyle shocked Simon Cowell and the other judges with her appearance on "Britain’s Got Talent".  They knew exactly what they had.  And manipulated it and exposed it to greatest effect.  You’re gonna go on TV looking like you just came out of the shower?  You’re gonna get no media training?  The judges will have never seen you before?  They don’t take risks like that on TV, everything’s calculated, manipulated, for best effect.

Something that the music business is expert in.  Only the end result has not been about music, not for a very long time.  It’s about getting someone really pretty, who radiates sex, explicitly or implicitly, and matching them with a song so bland and meaningless, or so rhythm-heavy as to have no recognizable melody, and shoving it down the public’s throat.

Do you really think people are that stupid?

Obviously some are.  That’s why this crap is selling.  But it’s not selling much.  With only one platinum album so far this year, it seems most people don’t care.  Is music history?  NO, people just don’t want what’s being sold!  Believe me, if there was a new Beatles, it would be every bit as big as Susan Boyle.  Only one problem, a new Beatles doesn’t exist.

Most people don’t want that Top Forty crap.  It works if you’re twelve, or looking to get lucky in a club, but you can’t sing it.  Or, if you can sing it, it’s meaningless.

I heard "Take It Easy" on the radio yesterday.  Just the intro guitar sound alone put a smile on my face.  And you can just see that girl in the flatbed Ford.  "Take It Easy" doesn’t exist in some rarified universe, one in which plastic surgery is a requirement for admission, rather it sounds like it’s sung by the guy sitting next to you at the bar.  Do you really think we can have no anthems again?

Sure, they’ve got to be sold.  But we’ve got to be selling the right thing!

We need melody.  We need pure voices.  You may see this as a sellout, a step back from the punk and alternative ethos, but neither of those genres mean much anymore.  They’re like hula-hoops.  In a world where the bicycle has been banished.  We’ve got  ton of niches that special interests can love, but no Obama, who can get everybody’s attention.

What kind of fucked up world do we live in where the President is bigger than any rock star?  Not one I’ve lived in previously.  But Obama doesn’t pander, he assumes a bit of intelligence, he speaks the truth.  Meanwhile, the musical acts are so whored out you believe they’d change any position for a buck.  As for hating Obama…  WHO CARES!  You’re paying attention!  Rolling Stones fans hated the Beatles, not everybody loves  Susan Boyle, BUT THEY’RE PAYING ATTENTION!

Beatle records have verses, and choruses, even bridges.  Is it so hard to write in this format?  When John sings you feel an emotion that touches your heart. There’s a richness to Paul McCartney’s voice.  Hell, it’s these same elements that shot the boy bands to fame.  Great voices and great songs.

But those songs were meaningless.  Written by behind the scenes men for adolescents.  Whereas the Beatles and the Eagles were men, singing from an adult perspective.  Rather than another barely pubescent child singing about love with no knowledge, how about the words of someone who’s been there and done that!

Sure, modern media allows endless niches.

But the Super Bowl ratings are still gigantic.  And the original "Survivor" finale was too.  Word can be spread instantly on something new and different and good. Imagine if all the buzz were about something truly great.  Imagine if the public tuned in and said…SHIT, THAT’S GOOD!  A whole country could know about a new musical act OVERNIGHT!  And if the act had the goods, it could SUSTAIN!

This is what happened with Elton John.  One incredible hit song and two great albums released almost on top of each other.   There was MANIA!

We need authentic artists.  Who are making STATEMENTS!  Ones other than I NEED MONEY!  Artistry involves having something to say.  And you only have to listen to the Black Eyed Peas hit to know today’s acts have nothing to say.

Let’s utilize the new media to truly break stars.  Maybe have a TV show where we exhibit new acts every week, with the performances instantly available on YouTube, Hulu…EVERYWHERE!  Maybe make it a competition, who can knock off the reigning champion.  Maybe the public votes, maybe it doesn’t.  But the public is certainly involved.  There’s instant merch.  Made to order IMMEDIATELY!  You can order a t-shirt with the band’s name and yours online and get it within the week.  You can interact on the social network with the band.  There are homemade video competitions.

Maybe the original TV show does not get incredible ratings.  Maybe it premieres in the summer when expectations are lower and the landscape is less crowded. But never forget, we’re talking about LAUNCHING stars.  It’s about starting a CAREER!  Not making everybody aware of a singer, but introducing an ARTIST! Someone with warts, who’s not afraid of offending the powers-that-be, maybe speaks up about gay rights, yet is so great musically that everybody pays attention.

Mainstream doesn’t have to be crap.  We just need people interested in quality to take over the process.  Maybe it’s not about record companies at all.  Maybe the star is built by Live Nation, or Ticketmaster.  It’s not a Clive Davis overmanaged act, but an edgy, imperfect performer who has got so much charisma and so much talent that we can’t help but watch and get involved!