Idle America

American Idol illustrates the depths to which cultural production in America has fallen, while its been in the hands of corporatists

by Jennifer Matsui <jmatsui@republic-news.org>

For the non-white contestants of American Idol, survival in an increasingly outsourced job market means singing for your supper-literally. And singing what America wants to hear: rousingly soulless anthems which play on familiar themes of self-empowerment, the power of love to conquer everything, but mostly, just lung power. The soaring and soulless power ballad, the vocal equivalent of hardcore porn's slow motion, in-your-face ejaculations, have become the standard for American Idol, and American popular entertainment in general.

For all its dubiously uplifting messages of empowerment for women and minorities, the power ballad illustrates the violent, racist impulses underlying imperialism and reflects the steady militarization of popular culture. The now-famous photos of young MP prison guards staging gruesome passion plays with Iraqi prisoners play on similar themes of conquest and domination, making American Idol's hit parade a timely and fitting soundtrack to a torture.

Until American Idol came along to give it a fresh coat of whitewash, the power ballad's future appeared as doomed as Celine Dion's efforts to raise the Titanic in her Vegas floor show. Over the last decade, though, Americans have super-sized their appetites for wholesome divas in provocative prom attire, whose vocal style could be best described as what happens when you try to recite a Hallmark greeting card after gargling with "Draino." Salvaged from the ashes of the "hair metal" genre of the 1980s, the tortured balladering style of has-been rockers, unable to squeeze middle-aged spread into Spandex, eventually morphed into a billion-dollar industry of raised-fist warblers with starched hair and sequins.  

Given the recent political climate, it's hardly surprising how "the war on terror" (not to mention, music) has breathed new life into the genre, or that "The Star Spangled Banner" is to this generation what the Sex Pistols were to the previous one. On Clear Channel, where Britney and Beyonce's lap dances are limited to the ears and not the eyes, the power ballad fills in the cleavage void, while boosting the ratings of rightwing talk radio with yet more hot air.  Similarly, American Idol serves the interests of the state while celebrating the dominant culture's conformist, market-driven values.

The decline of CD sales worldwide has meant that music executives have had to adopt aggressive strategies to counter their own failures in addressing the demands of a new, tech-savvy consumer class who no longer require their services. Having wrested at least partial control of the distribution process through file-sharing and downloading, consumers have voiced their dissatisfaction with the corporate stranglehold on home entertainment. As a result, industry thugs have gone to monster truck extremes to ensure that not one cent of their profits leaves the pockets of their Armani suits while disingenuously pleading on behalf of the musicians they claim have been impoverished by new technologies.  Naturally, they fail to mention that recording artists have been cheated out of their fair share of the profits all along.  

Unable to generate the necessary public support for their campaign to imprison twelve-year-olds for illegally downloading 'N Synch singles, the bloated behemoth known as the music industry has set its beady sights on a previously under-targeted demographic of virginal pre-teens and their love starved grandmothers. American Idol is the answer in bubble wrap to all that ails an industry desperate to regain its lion's share of the profits, which in recent years have been threatened by consumers unwilling to fork over the hefty asking price of CD's.  

Having succeeded in purging dissent and diversity from popular music, the music mogul's job has been made all that much easier. After all, non-artists, especially the naive, star-struck teenagers of American Idol are easier to control and manipulate than their unpredictable creative counterparts. And since global markets by their very nature demand blandness and conformity, the never-controversial power ballad will continue to sell as well in Singapore as it does in Springfield, ensuring its long shelf-life in Wal-Marts spanning the globe.    

Politically, American Idol reflects the blond ambitions behind popular music's ethnic cleansing, making it an easier sell for FOX and News Corp's core audience of twelve-year-olds and their intellectual equivalents among voting age Republicans.

American Idol 's message boards give some insight into the mindset that endeared this year's Idol winner Fantasia Barrino to the program's core constituency of "compassionate conservatives."  In typical condescending fashion, they felt her "refusal" to be just another single mother "welfare queen" earned her their grudging respect and finally, their votes.  More than a few of them, however, chided her for being a "poor roll (sic) model", citing her single mother status.  While there's no evidence that Fantasia was ever on welfare and by all accounts, a model parent, it's doubtful whether the term, "welfare queen" would ever be mentioned in the same breathe as frontrunner rival, Diane Degarmo, or any of the other white contestants.  

Fantasia (a girl named after a Disney animated feature, no less), defied the odds of winning, which early-on had talented black contestants eliminated in a virtual white riot which left no chads hanging when the votes were counted in the first few rounds. Even celebrity commentator Elton John was left to wonder aloud if racism played a role in the voting process.  

Still, Fantasia's detractor's can take heart. Disgruntled, American Idol fans who voted for white runner-up, and "real" American Idol Clay Aiken over hefty African American Reuben Stoddard (last year's winner) still gloat over the former outselling the latter in CD sales and concert tickets. By the same token, they predict perky Stepford teen Diane Degarmo will trump Fantasia in the post Idol sweepstakes. If disgruntled American Idol fans have their way, "Wonderbread" will once again win the day, even if it loses the popular vote-a familiar message that will no doubt warm the hearts Republican strategists in elections to come.

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