If you can't make it, fake it

By Paul Flower on Nov 24, 11 04:47 PM

Frankie Cocozza, remember him? Me neither. I understand that he was the 'rock 'n' roll' one on this year's X Factor, the one that was supposed to inject some rock energy into the increasingly dull proceedings. Apparently he got sacked for doing something a bit too rock n' roll, perhaps a case of prematurely believing his own hype or just life imitating television.

Likelihood is that he'd have survived if he'd been any good in the first place but they needed the revelations and front-page stories more than they needed his dubious talent. He was one of this year's 'colour-characters', the contestants they keep in the mix to make it a little bit interesting, to stimulate the 'water-cooler' moments, to keep us chatting about the unfairness of it all - as if anyone believed it is a fair and just contest.

All competition-based TV shows do this to a degree (Russell Grant appeared in the same role on the BBC's Strictly this year, albeit more successfully) but the X Factor has had more than its fair share this time around. This may largely be to do with the fact that the show is clearly starting to drain the shallow-end of its 'talent pool' and become more like the freak show we know it to be.

The marginally decreasing ratings can be blamed on any number of things, not least of which being that the judges are now as bland as the contestants. Also people are wise to the format, they can spot the 'colour-characters', anticipate the sob-stories, the pre-engineered rivalry and arguments between judges. They are also probably starting to realise that there's a reason these individuals can't 'make it' without this massive level of TV exposure and manipulation; they just aren't good enough.

Yeah, they may have great voices but it's not enough - ironically they really don't have the 'X Factor'. The ones that can sing have usually already been around the block and seen by countless talent-reps and managers. Generally they are rejected because they aren't sufficiently different from what's already out there, their own material isn't good enough and they're not good looking enough for it to be worth someone else writing it for them. It sounds harsh and possibly chauvinistic (though I'm including the boys as well) but that's the way it is.

The people that are in the X Factor are of the type that couldn't have made it without the assistance of the hype provided by a massive TV audience and accompanying press, even then their careers post-TV can be frighteningly short. It is the end-of-the-road opportunity and sufficient to make them sell their souls to the Devil, or Syco as it is in this case. There's a better breakdown of the individual X Factor types in this article.

A few days after the Cocozza non-event I went to see Glenn Hughes at the Glee Club. It's not a name that too many are familiar with, but it should be - he's been in the music industry for over 40 years, and you don't survive that long without real talent. As he recalled (this being an acoustic show with reading from his autobiography) he barely survived at all, seeing the 80s through a blizzard of cocaine.

Not many rock legends come from Cannock but the Midlands was a real breeding ground back then - think Robert Plant/John Bonham, Sabbath, ELO/The Move, Slade, Steve Winwood, it's actually a bloody long list. At that time you had to go out and earn your living - playing in crap clubs around the country, travelling wedged in a transit with your gear. It enabled the talent of the time to become proficient, there were no short cuts.

Hughes has an unbelievably soulful voice which has led him into collaboration (Deep Purple, Hughes/Thrall, The KLF and his current Black Country Communion project) with equally talented musicians. At this gig he played acoustic guitar like a demon (considering he's better known as a bassist) and sang like a god, the only failing being that his 'life-story' was all too much 'therapy-speak', not that you can knock it as it clearly saved him.

These are the real stars, not some TV creation. It is clear we need more of them but they seem in short supply. To a degree you can blame the media but the groundswell needs to start somewhere and it won't be on a talent show.