Rockstar: INXS (1 Viewer)

[Michael_EC]

I find it hard to imagine Brandon winning the competition. In the two episodes I've seen he has done two Southern Rock tunes (and sounded like Chris Robinson on both to me). Not exactly reflective of INXS' catalog.

 

[Richard Travale]

I thought Brandon off the top because of his age (why are all of these contestants in their mid 20's?) being a little closer to the band's. But yeah, he seems too southern fried rock to front INXS.

My money now is on JD, Mig and my long shot because I feel it will be a very tough choice to pick a girl...Jordis.

With Jordis, whether she wins or not she will have a future in the business without a doubt. Just like Kirk said.

 

[Richard Travale]

They should change their name back to 'The Farriss Brothers' like they were before they called themselves INXS.
But we know that won't happen because 'the farriss brothers' is not a franchise and although it is older, 'INXS' is still a pretty marketable name.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Hey, for this week, the callers agreed with me on the bottom 3. Neal was sent home, and not a moment too soon. I think the INXS guys wanted some eye candy, so they kept Tara and Jessica, though Tara vocals are just weak (or whoever is at the mixing boards isn't doing her vocals justice).

 

[Richard Travale]

I think if Neal had listened to instruction (like Tara did) and picked REM's 'The One I Love', he would be still around.

 

[Michael_EC]

I actually liked Tara's "Mystify" best of all her performances so far, so I am glad she made it through this week.

I was very surprised that Deanna wasn't in the bottom three. I thought her performance was terrible. Was she trying to scat at the end?

 

[Scott-S]

I feel it is a little unfair for the Band to complain about the songs the contestants sing. After all, they had to pick the songs from a list that was given to them and they had to use all the song choices. If they didn't want Paranoid to be sung, why give to to them as a choice? Someone had to sing it.

Makes no sence. They should put is a couple more choices than there are contestants.

 

[Jay_B!]

well, you never truly know. Creed were a pretty big band a few years ago, even if they were critically reviled. But when the lead singer left, they did the right thing and changed the name. Even though Alter Bridge didn't sell 11 million copies of an album like Creed did, it was a success, and changing the name benefitted all parties, because the new lead singer never had to deal with fan pressure over "not being Scott Stapp".

INXS should publically change their name, and maybe on the album, have a sticker on the outside plastic of the album plastering "the new band by former members of INXS". Michael Hutchense was too linked to INXS for a post-Hutchense incarnation of the band to really succeed with the same name. It'll be like The Doors after they carried on without Morrison

 

[Michael_EC]

I'm anxious to see how JD's version of "We are the Champions" turns out. It wasn't looking good last night.

I enjoyed his comment about getting to know Jordis better after the competition was over. What a doofus.

 

[Scott-S]

JD = Annoying Drunk

I hope he doesn't get his way with the band and turn the song into a rap / hiphop song. Well, at least that would get him booted so maybe I do hope he does it like a gangsta

 

[Elizabeth S]

Wow, JD is making a complete fool of himself. To cajole and sweettalk Jordis into giving up the song, only to realize he CANNOT SING the frickin' song! And then to try to rework and rearrange it into something which his range and voice can handle. . .!

I don't think "Lola" is a good choice for my favorite MiG. . .

 

[Patrick Sun]

JD unconsciously brings the funny to this show each and every week. If I were Jordis, on the second go-around, I'd flip JD the bird and tell him to sit and spin.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Bottom 3:

JD - as bad as I expected, but thankfully he didn't go hip-hop on the song.

Daphna - "murdered the song" was being nice, she turned into a wedding singer tonight.

Heather - vocally, she was just either mumbling or straining all over the place.

Not all that good:

Brandon - he still has no idea about the melody of that song.

Tara - felt too karaoke to me, definitely missed on the underlying tone for the song.

Okay:

Jessica - she doesn't have a lilt to her voice to carry, which contributed to the pitchiness of her performance, but still a nice change of pace.

Deanna - sang just a little too low of a key for her song, which keeps the audience from participating with her.

Good:

MiG - I had no idea where he was headed by his opening, but he was able to rally the troops and do justice to his song.

Susie - she's got a good mix of slight huskiness and bluesy to her voice which showed up tonight, and served her well.

Very good:

Jordis - a natural on stage, with enthusiasm and the vocals to back it up.

Marty - that was a good channelling of Kurt Cobain on "Lithium". His performance integrates him and the houseband really well, it just seems pretty natural, the timing and fluidness of the entire performance.

Ty - trusting his voice to do the heavy lifting, he pulled it off tonight.

 

[ScottH]

I thought they were all horrible with the exception of Mig and maybe Ty (borderline). I don't know all the names, but whoever sang the Sheryl Crowe song was absolutely brutal. I can't imagine a performance being worse than that. I have to admit, I'm not sure how these people were initially picked (I assume by the band?), but aside from 2 or 3 of them, they don't seem much different than a vocalist for a local weekend garage band.

Perhaps it's just the music they're being asked to play?

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

I think that several of these singers are from cover bands, which definitely shows.

The other weeks I've thought that, in general, the majority have done a good job. Not tonight. My guess for the bottom three:

-Brandon: off pitch most of the time
-Heather: off pitch a lot and couldn't hit the opening low notes at all.
-J.D.: not even close. (Nice cover having the audience "sing" for you.)

Heather goes but J.D. gets a strong message.

I'm not particularly crazy about Tara or Deanna, but I think they'll both get through unscathed. Keep in mind, though, that Tara obviously hasn't proven herself very popular, seeing as she's the only one to make the bottom three both weeks the TV audience has voted. I think she's safe by virtue of so many others being so bad this week.

As for the others:

-Daphna: not good at all; definitely vulnerable. It doesn't help when a band member says you murdered the song.

-Jessica: limited vocally but a lot better than last week and a lot better than the competition tonight.

-MiG: one of the better performances of the night, maybe the best.

-Susie: strikes me as totally wrong for INXS, but I don't have strong feelings one way or the other regarding her ability.

-Jordis: I'm not a fan, but she's safely consistent. Lose the Carrie Underwood dance move, with the added bob, though.

-Marty: seems like a poser to me, but he performed the song well. Please quit that big gesture of thrusting your arms out at the end of every song.

-Ty: definitely in the upper tier this week.

What I find interesting about the show is how it is showing the difficulty--be it range, speed, etc.--of these songs and how the singers don't always know what they can and can't do. Some of the problems might have been fixed with key changes.

 

[AnthonyC]

Great
Ty
Mig
Marty

Good
Jordis (it was an excellent performance in terms of audience response...but her vocals weren't as good as usual)
Deanna

Ok
Brandon
Suzie

Bad
Daphna
Tara

Horrible
JD
Jessica
Heather

 

[Elizabeth S]

Thank goodness Mig pulled it off OK.

I have NEVER, EVER had a performance I liked by Heather, and she was especially AWFUL tonight. Daphna was simply horrible and I spent the entire song wondering why she was wearing a dress that totally "clashed" with the mood of the song. JD must have thanked his stars after her performance. (That was a hokey -- and unfair -- emotional moment to have his sister suddenly there in the audience.)

Jessica FINALLY had a fairly nice performance (I thought Daphna would go for that song when I saw it up on the board.) Ty and Marty were both really good. Deanna's song choice didn't really raise the bar and felt a bit stifled because we know she has pipes. Jordis -- not impressed, have never liked her. Suzie and Tara ware OK (I find the judges overly harsh to Tara). Brandon was shaky, but not as bad as I feared from the rehearsal footage Monday.

On a side note. . .I'm voting on the website right now as I type. I would prefer to dial-in vote like "AI". This is the most painstaking internet voting process I've ever seen! You click on the person you want, then scrambled letters and numbers appear, which you have to re-enter into a box. It has all kind of extra squiggly lines so it's sometimes hard to pick out if that's a squiggly or a 1 or an L. THEN, it registers your vote, you have to click back out to the main voting page and repeat the process for every vote!

 

[MikeH1]

Michael Hutchence is rolling in his grave, even though its been almost 8 years since his death this was not the way for INXS to continue.

I'm disgusted they resorted to a Mark Burnett production to find a new lead singer. But after they hired Terrence Trent Darby in 1999, (the same guy that wouldn't do a Rolling Stone interview in June 1988 unless he was on the cover - the same cover that INXS should have been on but was the "second" story) nothing that this band does surprises me anymore.

I'm gald someone else mentioned the Farriss Brothers, I really feel they should have changed back to that name instead of using the INXS name and killing the legacy.

Like that sitcom that never ended, this reeks of desperation.

 

[Michael_EC]

My favourites last night were Jordis and Suzie. I think it'll be Heather who goes tonight. Her performance reminded me of the bad performances in the American Idol audition shows.

 

[Rob Willey]

I was going to post my rankings from last night, but they are exactly the same as Patrick's so, see above...

Apparently, Marty brought down the house with Lithium. The ovation went on for several minutes at the taping.

I find it interesting that they haven't done any Beatles, Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. I wonder if it is a rights issue or whether they are saving them to have all the contestants do a song from the same artist in a future episode.

Rob