ABC Receives 1,500 Complaints About Adam Lambert Kissing a Man — Page 4

^See, so many people keep mentioning this idea about "having to earn it", but... didn't all those people who have done risque things earn their credibility BY taking risks in the first place?? Sure, NOW when they do things it's expected and they've earned it. But the whole REASON they became respected to begin with is because they were daring enough to take risks!

Madonna WAS at the beginning of her career when she first did "Like a Virgin" on the VMAs, was she not? And that performance HELPED her become the legend she is now.


That said, I DO get that the problem with this performance is that it just plain wasn't good. And that's my problem with it. The song is actually a definite fun song, but the arrangement they used to do it live was weak, and his voice was really off for pretty much the first time I've ever heard haha. I don't know if that's because he was so focused on the performance factor that the vocals took a back seat, or if there was something wrong with the sound mixing or what, but it just pains me to think that ANYONE would have gotten that as a first impression of his voice. Plus the performance was just sloppy. It DID end up being all about the shock value and everything else went on the back burner.

It was just so uncharacteristic of Adam because generally that's his strength, is to form these fantastic coherent spectacles, and make it all a really strong experience. Ring of Fire may have turned a lot of people off, but it also GAINED him respect from a lot of people because it was well constructed, flawlessly sung, and took a huge risk. With the AMA performance, it had the shock value but nothing else fit, and that's why it wasn't effective.

That being said, it's still not something that people should be freaking out over to the extent that his GMA appearance is CANCELED. It may not have been an effective performance, but it was not that out of the ordinary compared to most things female pop artists tend to do these days. And I at least admire him for TAKING the risks he did. It just needed to be executed much more effectively, that's all

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He'll be just fine. As long as they're still talking...

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Yes, Madonna was at the beginning of her mega stardom, but she spent MANY years in the dance clubs in NYC honing her craft. She took those big risks to a smaller crowd and learned what worked and didn't work. She also did it on the MTV Music Awards. Back then, it didn't have near the viewership that the AMAs has. Who knows how it would be perceived now with the world being online. The same goes for Lady Gaga. While it seems she may have just burst on the scene, she has been in the clubs for years creating herself as an artist and worked her way up.

While I can't fault him for it, Adam was catapulted into fame. Yes, he was trying to make it on his own, but he didn't. It took AI to get him there. And truthfully, all of antics at the awards show were everything that the American Idol judges told him to watch out for. Believe it or not, they know some of what they are talking about. Baby steps would have been better. There is a growing period for everyone that AI produces. No one has just gone from the show to artistry. He tried and it didn't work. But that's not saying if he were established that Sunday night wouldn't have hurt him whether it was planned or not. Sinead O'Connor was still a very critically acclaimed artist when she ripped the picture of the pope up on SNL. Her career tanked. The same goes for a spur of the moment comment made by Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks. Despite the fact that their album following the ordeal is arguably their best, they are off the radar.

I don't think this will kill his career. I just don't think he will come out smelling like a rose.

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Updated On: 11/24/09 at 07:33 PM

^But Adam's been gaining performing experience for many years now as well :) He's been in bands, written songs, done demos, done club and cabaret performances, etc.

Now maybe his pre-Idol experience wasn't quite to the same level Madonna's pre-superstardom experience was, but the point is just that his performance ability and charisma did not come from nowhere. It's something he's worked on very hard for a long time. He's worked hard to become the performer and artist he is today.

Unfortunately the AMAs were just a terrible showcase of his talents all around. It was uncharacteristic of his norm in every way- sloppy vocals, sloppy performance, and all that. In GENERAL that's not how he is at all.

And in terms of the "making it" thing, I think it's worth baring in mind that the music industry is TOTALLY different these days than it was back in the 80s. Adam has said many times himself, and I agree, that it's pretty darn near impossible TO "get discovered" on your own anymore. I mean a feeeew artists here and there have managed it, but bi and large record companies just won't sign you these days unless you already have a fan base. So I think it's a little unfair to treat it like he didn't "earn it on his own", you know what I mean? Technically, it's true that he needed Idol to get there. But that's because most artists these days needs Idol or something like it to achieve mainstream success.

The thing is, AMA performance aside for a minute, I think Adam came into Idol READY to be a star. Unlike people like Cook and Kris and even Kelly who took a little bit to come into their own on the show, Adam came in knowing full well who he is as an artist and what he's all about. Idol was literally JUST a platform to gain exposure for him.

I agree that the AMA performance was a misstep, absolutely. But really just because it wasn't executed well enough to justify the raciness of it. It made him appear cheap and like he RELIES on sexual antics to draw attention to himself, and that couldn't be further from the truth. He's one of the few pop artists these days that actually DOES have tons of talent. The performance just didn't show case it.

So yeah, I've kind of vacillated back and forth on how I feel about it all over the last couple of days, and I think the conclusion I've ultimately come to, personally, is that I support what he was trying to do completely, and just don't think it was executed well enough to work. I don't think he needs to STOP pushing the limits- that's his thing and that's what makes him so interesting- he just needs to really focus on making sure he doesn't sacrifice showcasing his talent in order to create controversy. The talent always needs to be first priority, and THEN he can be as daring as he wants! But the talent has to be there to justify it all :)

And he even said in the Z100 interview himself that he's still new to this, and he DOES have a lot to learn! I think, as much as it was pained me to see the performance and the reactions it got, this has actually probably been a really good lesson for him in terms of how far really IS too far, how to go about it, and so forth. He's a smart cookie and I'm sure he's taking this all as learning experience so he doesn't repeat the same mistakes again! :)

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Updated On: 11/24/09 at 08:01 PM

^Oh no I totally didn't mean to imply that Ring of Fire was anywhere near the same scale as the AMAs haha. I just meant that, if you want to look at how he actually HAS effectively pushed the limits before, that would be a good performance to look at. Because it really DID get an almost entirely split reaction, at least from my perception of it. There were people who [i]hated[/i] it and thought it was just plain weird, but there were also people who may not have been huge Idol fans before that thought it was brilliant because it was SO deviant from the typical Idol performance. But more importantly, it was well executed. Doesn't mean everyone liked it, but it was well done enough that it got strong reactions on BOTH sides.

That's the only reason I bring Ring of Fire up, is to say that.. there's a way to be out of the box/controversial and still gain new fans in the process. But in order to do that the talent and skill has to come through. And it didn't in the AMA performance. Everything about it was sloppy, and so it didn't have that polarized-but-truly-50/50 effect Ring of Fire did. I don't think it gained him many new fans. It DID create tons and tons of buzz though, which is definitely good! I just wish the performance had been up to his usual polished standards all around, that's all.

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Wait a sec--are you seriously saying he didn't do anything before AI? And I'm not even referring to Rent.

Not at all. I know he's done a lot, but he didn't reach mainstream success the traditional blood, sweat and tears way. (A tradition which I understand is not the absolute anymore.) He had years of blood, sweat and tears, but in the end, a competition show gave him his platform. I just don't like AI, so it's probably a personal thing. By the time Madonna did the Like A Virgin performance, Borderline, Holiday, Lucky Star, etc., were all under her belt. Janet didn't really get that edgy until at least her third album. Maybe a performance like FYE would have been more appropriate after he's had a couple of singles on the charts.

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I think it was the "wait a goddamn minute" in "Could I Leave You?"

I think he needs to learn how to balance his vocal prowess with shouldering that kind of spectacle. He's absolutely a natural performer and a very talented showman; he'll get there.

I'm so obsessed with the music video, oh my God.

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I LOVE the single and the video.

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Does it ever occur to people that American IdoL, in spite of its faults, often gives some very talented people a platform that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise NOT because of their lack of talent, but because they don't fit the bill as far as formula-based, image-oriented record labels are concerned?

That has never occurred to me. And I simply don't believe it to be true.

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Sure, there are absolutely some very talented people that AI gives momentum to and I usually watch the finale. Kelly, Carrie and Daughtry are my favorites. (At least two of the three absolutely fit into the parameters of their genre.) But five of the eight winners have had mediocre careers at best. It just pulls these people from obscurity to FAME in weeks. It gives young artists a false sense of what it takes to make it. I did watch this season from start to finish and I usually loved Adam. I felt like he should have won. My friend's youth minister actually told his students to think long and hard before they voted because the American Idol had a huge platform and they needed to make sure they were promoting the right message. It's just too much of an obsession for some people.

All that said, I am sure I will watch this season for Ellen.

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Updated On: 11/25/09 at 12:40 AM

That has never occurred to me. And I simply don't believe it to be true.

I don't understand why someone would choose not to believe something that Kelly Clarkson's career makes demonstratively true. To simplify, American Idol gives chances to homely pop vocalists and record labels do not. (Not saying record labels never sign ugly people, but they're usually in rock genres or have illustrated some significant songwriting talent.)

I get having pretensions about the importance of music in general, but it seems a little pointless to be pretentious about the genre of popular music these American Idol contestants are entering. Most of the people who so vehemently hate on American Idol still wouldn't listen to the music whether the pop artist came from a talent show or not. Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood aren't stealing spots in popular culture from your favorite band, they're stealing it from some gorgeous unknowns that the record label found through whatever means they find gorgeous pop starlets.

Pop culture is going to have meaningless pop drivel regardless, American Idol didn't create that. The music is the same, the means are different. If Daughtry didn't have a hit with a gross and formulaic alt-rock jam then it would just be Hinder or something. I'm not going to turn the dial any faster on Daughtry just because he was on a talent show.