by Keith Parks

Created on: August 08, 2008

Without question, American Idol needs Simon. The show would be pointless without him. The other two judges are the fluff. Randy Jackson like the sound of his own voice and Paula Abdul wants everyone to love her.

Why, you might ask, when these poor kids work so hard, just trying to live their dream of becoming a pop star, this acerbic, pompous Britisher just comes along to cut them to ribbons? In a word, despite all the artificiality regarding the premise of the show, it's at its core, real.

I have been in the music business. It is a nasty, cutthroat enterprise that chews up thousands of unsuspecting artists every day, takes what it can and spits out the bones of all but the 1/100 of 1% that become "stars". Even those stars are regularly fleeced for the lion's share of the money they generate with their talent. I believe it may be the only business aside from the pharmaceutical companies that organized crime openly fears.

In a sense, Simon is doing them a service. Throughout the time they are actively pursuing a music career, artists will be paraded before a dizzying array of talent scouts and middle men. Some of these people are very good at what they do. They are hard working, diligent and very good spotters of marketable talent. Unfortunately, most are glorified three card monte dealers and street salesmen opening their coats to display the inventory of cheap, knock off watches. I have no doubt that some really were at one time. These "professionals" are the grease in the music industry machine that keeps the whole thing running.

Our intrepid, starry-eyed dreamers will be grilled, drawn, quartered, vivisected and kicked to the curb. They will then be expected to dust themselves off and try again. Like any artistic endeavor, whether you are a writer, painter, musician, composer, director, or the like, you are constantly walking up a mountain with giants rolling rocks down the slope to knock you off. It's a grueling, brutal process that rewards the lucky and discards the rest. And you won't have the safe sanctuary of American Idol to protect you.

These performers on American Idol are being given a chance that an untold number of other hopefuls would give a limb for. They are in the spotlight, getting their opportunity to audition for millions of people at the same time and of those a huge percentage of record business types looking for the Next Big Thing. It's an opportunity that should be appreciated. Win or lose, most of those kids will be given an occasion to record and test the entertainment waters in a way that cannot be obtained any other way. They are the pampered few amongst the throng of would be recording stars and if they receive a little brow beating from Simon, well, let's just say they are getting off pretty easy.

If it were easy and just about talent, we would have millions of pop stars. But it isn't. It's about perseverance, having some talent but having a lot more luck. Then there is the ability to grow a thick skin. I think Simon is helping with that. Not only for the contestants, but also for the ones in the audience who get to see, if only a tiny slice, what the record business is all about.

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