Reality Show Rock

A few years ago, the reality show "Rock Star" helped INXS find a lead singer to replace the numerous substitutes (including Terence Trent D'Arby and Jimmy Barnes) they had hired to replace original singer Michael Hutchence.  The show did fairly well in the ratings, and INXS ended up choosing unknown J.D. Fortune to front their band.

INXS then put out a mediocre album that debuted highly on the charts and quickly fell off.  They played a concert tour that sold some seats but, was nowhere near the level of their '80s high, and now they're pretty much back to where they were when they started the reality show: off the charts, out of mind and out of sight.

Several bands were approached to try their hand at the reality show game (Van Halen was one of those rumored to have been approached), but, wisely, none took the offer.  "Rock Star" returned for a second season, this time looking for a lead singer for a "supergroup" that featured members of Motley Crue and Guns 'n Roses, and the returns were even less inspiring.

Now comes word that Paul Stanley of KISS has suggested that, not only could KISS continue without any of its original members, but, that, just maybe, the band would hold a reality show contest to find it's newest members.  As much as I like KISS, I have to admit that they've always been about the marketing as much (or more) as they've been about the music.

Gene Simmons has done his own reality show on A&E for the last two years, and has done fairly well in the ratings, so I can see why they'd think that would work.  There's a lot of exposure to be had when you're followed around by a camera crew all day long for weeks on end.

But, KISS, while certainly one of the world's biggest bands, is now on the long down turn of their once huge success.  Their 1996 reunion with original members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley was well received, but, by 2000, they had worn out their welcome with their endless 'Farewell Tour,' and by 2003, they were back on the road, with replacements wearing Criss and Frehley's makeup.  Needless to say, that hasn't sat well with their hardcore fan base, and the band has not toured in America since 2004, and they haven't released any new material in ten years.

I certainly don't begrudge a band their right to milk their past for every drop they can get.  All of my favorite bands are long past their sales prime, and most are past their 'talent' prime, too.  The lure of exposure on TV must be hard to resist, especially since there is no longer an outlet for them to be seen or heard, like there was back in the days of MTV.  Plus, so many of these classic bands have more talent in a pinky finger than any of today's stars have in their whole group.

I'm just not sure there's a big audience for an officially sanctioned cover band going out as the real thing.  Orchestras play music from hundreds of years ago, but, they don't try to pass the conductor off as Mozart or Beethoven himself, in the flesh.

That said, rock and roll is here to stay, and the music of bands like KISS has already outlasted the popular music of the pre-rock era.  I imagine that it will be with us for quite a while longer.  Hopefully, we'll get to hear the originals performing it as long as possible.