I think some people are a bit too bleeding heart about this idea that a group or artist "sells out" or sells their soul to the devil if they achieve success in terms of sales. For instance, I don't think that Beautiful South "sold out", as whatever else, the fact is that they produced (as in wrote, sang, played and produced) a whole array of near-perfect pop, which has stood the test of time very well, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a popular song just because it's popular. Even God (i.e Neil Young, for the insouciants) did one (Heart of Gold) and while MOR it is, it's an all-time classic nonetheless and the history of music would be that bit poorer without it.

Also, while I admire singers who can write good material themselves, even more those that can compose the music too, I am very happy to include pure vocalists, even those who never wrote a notable lyric or melody, among my musical heroes. Some people's talent is in their voice, and occasional genius in how some can perform with that voice.

Sinatra for instance.

Ben Elton got it spot on in Chart Throb where he says the contestants are categorised into 4 categories :-

Mingers - those who are utterly desperate, there to be laughed at, will do whatever is asked of them on stage
Clingers - the 'needy' ones who 'want this so much', often with a sad back story
Blingers - those convinced of their own greatness despite having achieved nothing
Singers - those who can actually sing but who also need to fall into one of the other categories too

The ideal X Factor contestant is someone who exhibits overlapping traits of all 4 categories.

I agree I was not suggesting they exploited for money or anything like that, my point was their talent led them to earn money ....I loved the Housemartins and followed the Beautiful South I have seen them play many times. I met Heaton and Cook when they first formed loads of times, they went to Hull Uni, and used to drink regularly in Grafton Pub (my hubby knew them a lot better than I did) not sure about Cook but I know Paul has not particularly changed who he is, he still writes music for some very famous artists, the only difference now from then is he is loaded!

The other day while chatting to the barmaid about the Fix Factor, I got asked to go and sup in the other bar.

It was dire on Saturday.

Come on Frankie!!!!
Son of Wagner.
Win it for all the talentless people out there.

Something must have got broken on Saturday.
It must have been serious, because on Sunday Dermot was asking the panel who they think had smashed it.

Didn't Richard Keys get sacked for something like that?

Indeed he did.
A slightly different connotation of course.

Briefly taking X Factor seriously for a second...

Who in the name of holy hell is voting for Frankie and/or Janet? They are both horrendous. It's bad enough they got to the live finals. Wagner was ten times better than either of them. Even CHICO was better.

To be fair to Janet she can sing certain songs very well with her cute Irish twang.

Frankie is just being voted for by the 7-17 year old girls who fancy him. It's safe to write the whole series off, there is no real talent on it.

Janet is and will be an excellent singer of the limited range of songs which suit her quirky vocal style. As well as that individual style, she also has the sort of Irish ingenue image which they will use to flog folksy compilations. Frankie OTOH genuinely doesn't have any redeeming feature that I can see, he can't sing a note and already looks like a 40-year-old accountant being attacked about the head by a Maine Coon.

The essential answer is that in pop, the packaging is probably at least twice as important as the product, and before they grow out of it and say "what was I thinking", Frankie has the support of enough inbetweenies, and presumably the Cats Defence League, to stay in the comp in the short term.

Still, nobody will beat the inimitable Johnny

NO SHE CAN'T. She can't sing in tune. If she was 6 years old, yes, maybe it would be "cute", but still you'd only tell her she's "good" because she'd be "6", and telling a six year old, "Actually, you know what, you're absolute crud, give it up" is, for some reason, considered socially unacceptable.

I wonder if these girls would still fancy Frankie after he'd infected them with some kind of unpleasant STD? If a woman had taken Amelia Lily into an underground car-park, followed by another unknown blonde less than 2 hours later for "hanky-panky", she'd be branded a slut/slag/slapper/something else beginning with "sl".

This series is a bit of a write-off though. As an avid fan year on year, I'm finding myself increasingly thinking "meh".

Mark this moment... we actually agree on something. Blimey.



Maybe. They're called "Nursery Rhymes".



ROFLMAO. No, really, that's what I'm doing. I'll prove it later.

Disappointed HaBABEis went on Sunday, but to be honest she's been poor for the live shows.

I thought Kitteh was the best surprisingly. Although she does have a tendency to shout rather than sing - can't deny there's never a dull moment when she's on stage and I'm actually warming to her in some of the pre-performance video diary things.

What is it with her and her bum cheeks?
''Look half my ass is hanging out folks ... I have the sagging ass of a seventy year old.''

For anyone who cares, it seems that little scrote Frankie Coconuts has been kicked off the show.

From what I saw of him he'll struggle to get anywhere with such a poor voice, and will probably survive for a little while on this lame rock n' roll character he's been desperately creating, before slipping back into obscurity.