Damn, Sheryl Crow doesn’t care for American Idol. “Let’s face it, it undermines art in every way and promotes commercialism,” she’s quoted as telling Ladies Home Journal. Well, I only followed Idol regularly during its second season, and that was because of the girl I was dating at the time, so I’m not defending the show here. But c’mon, Sheryl, are you trying to write my material for me?

Let’s face it: Sheryl Crow thinks way too highly of her music. She’s written a few pretty decent pop songs in her day, and like a lot of pop stars she’s been grossly over-rewarded for it, so now she thinks she’s like the female Dylan or something (a trait she shares with the similarly overpraised Lucinda Williams). To paraphrase Bob himself: It ain’t art, babe. No, no, no.

A copy of Crow’s 2002 album C’mon, C’mon slid across my desk back when it came out, and here’s part of what I had to say about it all the way back then, almost five full years ago:

Sheryl Crow has almost come across as a reliable middle-weight talent who struck it big and bought into her own hype, and C’mon, C’mon is the surest sign yet that she suffers from a puzzlingly warped view of her place in the pecking order. Most of C’mon, C’mon is bright and sunny California pop-rock, sturdily constructed and perfectly tailored for cruising down the highway with the top down on a breezy Summer afternoon. But Crow’s penchant for hummable, superficial radio fodder is at increasing odds with her ambition to be taken seriously, as guest appearances by the likes of Emmylou Harris and Don Henley make clear. Crow is never less effective here than when she goes for the serious moment.

 American Idol may in fact be all about commercialism. It may indeed undermine art “in every way.” It certainly has its faults. But refresh my memory, Sheryl: Who was it that recorded a duet with Kid Rock? Oh yeah, that’s right — it was you. Need I say more?

As I said, I don’t consider myself a fan of Idol (back during that second season, I did write some nice things about Clay Aiken, but I’m mostly over them now). But I don’t hate it, either, as so many do on sheer principle, and the reason I don’t hate it can be summed up in two words: Kelly Clarkson.

I didn’t hear Breakaway when it came out in 2004, and I certainly wasn’t going to buy it, but one Saturday morning I was flipping around the tube and came across her video for the title track, and I liked the song. Then “Since U Been Gone” came out, and it rocked. Her follow-up singles were all consistently good, solid pop songs, and the album (which I eventually went and bought) is full of more of the same. I like it.

Now, don’t get me wrong: It’s not art. But if I was stuck on a desert island with only one CD, I’d much rather it was Breakaway than anything by Sheryl Crow. You don’t get the sense that Kelly takes herself too seriously. She surrounds herself with good people, assembles some good songs, and records them well. She doesn’t go around sleeping with Eric Clapton (because a serious artist can really only be understood by another serious artist) and she doesn’t confuse pop for art. (Which it can be, sometimes, but that’s another debate for another day.)

I read about people like Sheryl Crow slagging American Idol, or Justin Timberlake (who I believe said he despises it, which just seems funny to me — who is he to “despise” anything?), and I see rich, pampered celebrities with incredibly inflated senses of the importance of what they do, who want to preserve the sanctity of their elite club and are a little nervous about this TV show that’s bigger than they are giving people record deals. “Hey, don’t let anyone else in here — how do we know they’ll be, you know, the right kind of people?”

Now, I’ll cut Justin a little slack — after all, the media have crowned him the second coming, and who am I to argue? He’s at least trying to do adventurous stuff, even if the results sound strained, mechanical and contrived to my ears. But Sheryl, when you carp about Idol undermining art and promoting commercialism, I see a pot, and I see a kettle, and they’re both black. You know what I’m saying?

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Television, Music Rants, Editorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.