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| texile |
TELEVISION REVIEW
INXS search rocks out a familiar format
By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff | July 11, 2005
''Rock Star: INXS" is ''American Idol" with leather pants and a hot tub. It's yet another TV talent contest where we sit in judgment of nervous young performers. And it's also a roommate reality show set in a mansion that puts the ''Real World" spreads to shame. In the course of the CBS series, which premieres tonight at 9 on Channel 4, our 15 reelin' and rockin' wannabes will probably do a lot of sweating, both onstage and in bubbling hot water.
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Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Now that ABC's ''Dancing With the Stars" is over, CBS is hoping this series will become the new reality addiction. The idea is that 15 players are competing to become the lead singer for the band INXS, which lost frontman Michael Hutchence to suicide in 1997. On Tuesday nights the singers will perform live, and on Wednesday nights one of them will be eliminated based on viewers' online and text-messaged votes and on the tastes of the members of INXS.
On Mondays, ''Rock Star: INXS," which is from ''Survivor" producer Mark Burnett, will air an edition that chronicles life in the ''Rock Star" house. How will the mellow rockers deal with the fact that they're in fierce competition with one another and yet living together? Will Jordis, a sort of Angelina Jolie with dreadlocks, try to psych-out pretty boy Wil or cocksure J.D.? Will Brandon nice-guy everyone into submission? When Daphna cries about her late father during a house jam, is she working an angle?
It's hard to say, based on tonight's episode, whether ''Rock Star: INXS" will be catchy. The cast is promising enough onstage, as they writhe and scream their hearts out to win their big chance. Rock singing is so much more expressive and dramatic than pop singing, and watching Deanna pour her heart into Janis Joplin's ''Piece of My Heart" is a lot more stimulating than watching a stiff Carrie Underwood project her voice on ''Idol." The performances will probably be dynamic and sometimes comical in their excesses. When J.D. appears to be acting in a porno during his stage performance of ''American Woman" tonight, it's a hoot. And Dana's ''Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a marvel of off-key keening.
The judging portions of ''Rock Star: INXS" may also work out. Guitarist Dave Navarro is on hand to coach the contestants and criticize them for their bad song choices (he's particularly down on Mig's decision to do ''Smells Like Teen Spirit"). And the members of INXS seem to know what they want; they're positive toward the competitors but also firmly practical, since they will be making an album with the winner. They're not Paula Abduls. When guitarist Tim Farriss bids one of the singers goodbye tonight, saying ''I'm so sorry" with his sunglasses on, there's no guilt in his voice.
But the mansion segments on ''Rock Star: INXS" have the potential to spoil the show. The video pieces on ''American Idol" are its weakest link, especially since Fox uses them as filler to stretch out the episodes in order to cram in more advertising. Learning too much about talent show competitors sometimes muddies the waters. Rather than judging ability and thinking about what constitutes a good classic rock singer, viewers are tempted to judge personality. And while being a good person may help you get into heaven, it's not going to help you sing ''Sympathy for the Devil."
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at [email protected].
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
is this entertaining? or just sad?
is this geldof's way of giving inxs fans back some lost hope.... |
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| stonedinaustralia |
quote:
texile wrote:
is this entertaining? or just sad?
sad...and pathetic
and definitely NOT rock and roll
the fariss brothers should just give it up. without hutchence they would have been as (un)succesful as (as they have as little talent as- if not less than) any number of unfunky australian bar bands (please excuse tortured grammar)
they are a joke and i am ashamed to have to acknowledge them as fellow australians
[Edited by stonedinaustralia] |
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| Mottrush |
quote:
stonedinaustralia wrote:
sad...and pathetic
and definitely NOT rock and roll
the fariss brothers should just give it up. without hutchence they would have been as (un)succesful as (as they have as little talent as- if not less than) any number of unfunky australian bar bands (please excuse tortured grammar)
they are a joke and i am ashamed to have to acknowledge them as fellow australians
Absolutely SIA. They are indeed a joke! So many great bands Australia has produced over the years. INXS is not one of them!!!
Cheers,
Mottrush
[Edited by stonedinaustralia]
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| exile |
INXS have been gone too long and without Hutchence its really flogging a dead horse.
My first record I ever bought was INXS "the swing" when I was 12.
I think they should realise that there days in the sun are over.
And can someone get Jimmy Barnes to retire already? That guy has been torturing Australians with his screaming for 30 years there is someone who should really hang up his boots. |
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| stonedinaustralia |
cheers to you too mottrush 
exile - i still have that copy of "dancing so free" for you - PM me your land address again would you - thanks - also - keep the mentions of Barnesy down on this board - after all most of the people here have never heard of him and they are so much better off because of that |
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| texile |
jimmy barnes - that guy on a float in the 2000 olympic parade......i didn't know who he was then - but he did screamed alot..
don't feel too bad about inxs.......you aussies have acdc -
and THAT is supreme rock and roll.
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| exile |
I actually watched it last night as it happened to be on TV when i got home from the pub
Every Realitity TV cliche was thrown in....the dread music etc and Brook Burke. Dave Narvarvo looks weird these days like a guy who has had too many colonic irrigations or something.
It was actually better than i thought..still VERY BAD...but not as bad as I expected...then again I was drunk so....
Anyway the interesting fact is one of the contestants did the whole Mick Jagger thing singing "Brown Sugar"
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| exile |
SIA - thanks for CD I have tracked down CCM but would still love to hear what else is on DSF. Im in Sydney away from my own computer at the moment will email you my address when i get back to Darwin. |
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| stonedinaustralia |
quote:
exile wrote:
Dave Narvarvo looks weird these days like a guy who has had too many colonic irrigations or something.
LOL - i take it you know what to look for!! |
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| PeerQueer |
MH was a very respectable performer.
At his peak, adorable - quite hot, with decent vocal range/ability.
The rest of the lads in his group were highly forgetable. I had no idea they were still together! |
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| Jumping Jack |
Why isn't INXS playing instead of studio musicians? Doesn't say much about their current skill level. |
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| jb |
Brook Burke is the only high point of the show..what a babe. |
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| telecaster |
quote:
jb wrote:
Brook Burke is the only high point of the show..what a babe.
jb where did they get that studio audience?
Probably went down to all the soroities at USC and asked them if they want to be on TV
Brook is in fact a babe |
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| White House Lawn |
>>Why isn't INXS playing instead of studio musicians? Doesn't say much about their current skill level.<<
They were playing for a bit in the first ep and the guitars sounded a lot better than Keith and Ronnie's recent efforts! : P |
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| jb |
quote:
telecaster wrote:
jb where did they get that studio audience?
Probably went down to all the soroities at USC and asked them if they want to be on TV
Brook is in fact a babe
Like when Mick perfornmed his single ion LA a few yrs ago.... |
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| jb |
quote:
White House Lawn wrote:
>>Why isn't INXS playing instead of studio musicians? Doesn't say much about their current skill level.<<
They were playing for a bit in the first ep and the guitars sounded a lot better than Keith and Ronnie's recent efforts! : P
INXS sucked and was another band that scarred music for generations to come..... |
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| White House Lawn |
I dunno--back in the 80s I certainly preferred INXS to the other "letter" bands (REM and U2). |
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| corgi37 |
I have never, ever liked INXS. I saw them twice, and they were so-so, but not a patch on Kings of the Sun.
This show is just a bad karaoke travesty. I watched it last night again. Just to see Brookey. Man, it was worse than the 1st episode. Truncated classic songs, over-sung by wanna-be's, who dress, or need to appear, out of the "rock and roll appearance high school". Case in point? Last nights skinny ass white boy, doing his best Jagger cum Iggy Pop impersonation, sans top, with bandanna on. And all the tattooed chicks, all acting like Linda Perry! WTF? They should be on "Battle for Ozzfest". Its bad and sad, but not as woeful as the old has-beens sitting on their thrones, watching it all. The shots of their (over)reactions is embarrassing. They bop away, play air guitar, and fuck me, Dave Navarro has drum sticks!!!!!! Argh! They are all just trying way, way too hard to be "rock". Well, middle aged America's version of being "rock", and "cool" and "with it". I hate seeing middle aged, middle class Australians trying to be "with it". I mean, fuck, Tim Farris was told to lose a shit load of weight, cause all he's done for 10 years is go fishing and drink beer. And Kirk Pengilly! Whats up with him? Mr. Mephisto or something? How does he get the chicks? Oh, he does, but how?
The remaining INXS-ers, are just the worst sluts. They had Jon Stevens in the band for a couple of years, but he left, fully ashamed, and with his career in tatters. He then hosted a reality show last year called "The Resort" which lasted all of 3-4 weeks. Pity, as he was a good singer/performer too. The last straw for him was a gig in U.K. in 2003, supporting Blondie, in which INXS got roundly booed.
They are SO 80's. When they 1st got popular overseas, i was really happy for them. But, the longer it went on, they just got more and more irrelevant. Once Grunge came in, it was all over.
Brooke Burke is the sexiest woman alive - or dead. She is almost 100% perfect. The only thing about her is her toes. They are long frigging things. Like the tentacles on those War of the Worlds aliens.
But, old Corgi would kill his wife just to spend an hour with her. Hell, old Corgi would just kill his wife.
He would. He really would.
If she wasnt so strong. |
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| Honky Tonk Man |
Whether you consider INXS a good band or not, surely everyone here agrees that Michael Hutchence is irreplaceable. He wasn’t just their front man, he was INXS.
This programme is an absolute joke. The members of the band 'ought to be ashamed of themselves. It's so blatently just about the money.
If the band had any credibility, well, they've just tossed it away. It's very sad.
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