THE AMERICAN IDOL SYNDROME

THE AMERICAN IDOL SYNDROME(Charles E.J. Moulton) THE AMERICAN IDOL SYNDROME

Opinion by Charles E.J. Moulton


Glamour.
Champagne.
Applause.
Autographs.
Big smiles.
Constant popularity.
Four star dinners.
Fan clubs.
Wardrobes with red carpets and photographers that wait at your door in the morning.
Oh, yes. Money.
Lots of money.
Loads of cash and little to do for it.
Believe me, there are plenty of people that believe in the myth of the happy superstar.
The myth that stars don't have normal problems.
The myth that stars are a different breed than normal people.

Are they?

Instant fame is a virus that has captured many young people's hearts.
The quick fix of fast fame misleads many to trying to eat the cake before baking it, so to speak. Quality should be our criteria. Success will be a natural result if hard work follows. After all, fame is not all it's cracked up to be.
Work on your skills and work hard.
Success will follow if you don't give up.
But quality always comes first.
I am here to set the record straight.

Well, if you're at the top of your profession you most probably have years of hard work BEHIND you. There are the exceptions to the rule, of course. People who are discovered and shoot to the top. They are few and far between. Exceptions. The question is how long that fame lasts. As Kate Mulgrew once said as Captain Janeway in the Star Trek Voyager episode "Virtuoso": "Fame is often temporary."
That's what we often forget.
That's what we should remember.

But all of that is just icing on the cake.
When you're on a high, you're all fine and well. Fame is an addiction and when successful people are suddenly not wanted anymore they turn to drugs and alcohol. Or they go change their face.
Ergo: when a so called famous person closes the door behind him in his house, he still has to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom and make phonecalls. Maybe he fights with his wife or has a cold and if his managers think his style is out-of-date he is in trouble.

Per Gessle from the Swedish rockband Roxette once said that you work all your life to become famous, but when you are a celebrity it is totally different than you expected it to be. You don't change. Everybody else does. Or they think you have changed. So, they act like you have and you feel obliged to behave like you have changed.

I remember meeting people like Alan Rickman and David Warner when I was a younger man and actually not knowing what to say to them.
But they were normal guys in unique positions.
Most famous people were not born famous.
I kept forgetting that.

Actors, especially, know how hard it can be to reach the top.
You're not another person because you're famous.
People like F. Murray Abraham, Alan Rickman and Mae West were way over 40 when they hit the big time.
I have two colleagues who spent almost 20 years singing in the opera chorus before they became respected soloists.

The idea is that fame somehow solves all your problems, so you become like that donkey chasing the carrot on a stick. You might be richer and a whole lot more fulfilled when you are a celebrity, but you are still the same person.

Realizing your dream is a great goal.
Have high hopes.
Dream big.
But be smart about it.
Be LONG-TERM.
So my advice is this:
Keep trying. Keep working. Don't let age differences or rejection get you down either.
Grandma Moses had been a housewife all her life when she launched a spectacular painting career. She was 78 years old. Now THAT'S cool.

What matters is the quality of your work, your creativity. Not fame.
Create something that future generations can be inspired by and look at, something that makes this a better world. Something that puts you on the map. Something that you believe in. If fame wants you it will come, but only if you truly believe in what you do. If you don't, it won't last.
A shaking butt or a large cleavage will not bring you anywhere.
If you want to leave an impression on the people of this planet you have to create something that matters to people. How? It's got to mean something to you. Being good at something also means being good to people. Inspire them.
Let your success mean something.
Have a message.
Mean it.
Learn it.
Be it.

Socrates, Mozart, Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Gandhi, Homer, we all remember them not for how they looked and they certainly did not become famous for shaking their butts on MTV. We remember them for what they accomplished and what they told us.

Now, the American Idol Syndrome has spoiled many young people into wanting instant fame, just like they want instant coffee or a burger.

But what you're getting there, though, is extremely low quality entertainment.
Every teenager comes out and calls himself a singer instead of learning the craft of singing, which means learning about support, breathing, vowels, consonants, repertoire, range, stamina, pacing, vocal multitasking, stage preparation, tongue training and constant rejection. That's the craft.

You don't create TV-shows like American Brain Surgeon or The World's Best Plumber. Art is a craft. If you do create a show like that, why do the professionals who have learned the craft stay away from these shows? Because it is being said on the shows that anyone can sing. What do you call singing, though? Anyone? Really?
Taking Joe Average and turning him into Wet Dream No. 5 is a slap in the face for all the thousands of professional singers, rockers or classics, doesn't matter, who have spent literally thousands of dollars and decades perfecting their craft.
Fact of the matter is, though, that the public is being fooled.
These shows are not telling you the truth.
In a German TV-show airing not too long ago it was being said that the two major roles for a major musical would be chosen from the average viewing public. Public auditions were held and finally two winners were chosen who played the roles on stage. But the winners were actually chosen beforehand, they were educated professionals with their own singing teachers. The rest were just there to make the winners look good.

What we have today is a living celebrity show where stars are created. Real stars with real talents are rare. Today, celebrities are created and chosen by people who want to make money. Your money. That's not always true. Sometimes it is.
All I can say is that you should learn your craft before you fall into the flytrap of Instant Fame.

The following is not craft: having the producer shine one billion lights on you, putting on a glitzy suit, giving you a nice hairdo, shaking some butt, turning on the loudspeakers real loud, signing about yearning love, slapping your face on a thousand posters and calling MTV. That would all be your producer's job. So, in actual fact YOU as a person don't matter. You are just a product.
Believe me, I am a rocker myself. I have sung every possible genre including heavy metal. But I have seen successful bands, colleagues of mine from the musical theater business, being dropped like used McDonald's cartons when their popularity dwindled down. I have also seen colleagues being created into huge stars and never seeing one penny. Not one cent.

That's the American Idol Syndrome.
The sad thing is that quality not always matters.
A producer recently told me that I was a great singer and a great artist, but that no one wanted to hear that. I don't believe that, of course.
The fact remains the same.
Fame has become a goal in itself. Maybe it always has been a goal.
Today, though, chasing fame has become an artform.
There is a huge and very serious problem in today's world.
It goes through most of everything we are.
Separatism.
Jews are awful, the Nazi tells us. Muslims are parasites, we hear the Hindu claim. Beware of the Chinaman. He will take over the world. He's not good looking, someone says. He can't be worth while. Stars have no problems. c
Clichés.

All I am asking you, dear reader, is to be aware of the traps and manipulations of modern media.
Form your own opinion.
Be unique.
That is, after all, what we all are and should be, if we are celebrities or not.
After all, we are a fascinating species.
We should be honest about who we are.

The American Idol Syndrome is a sign of the times.
Quality is a sign of eternal wisdom.