I agree, HH.. and I read an interesting story about how, in the past (before TV and mass media), we typically judged a singer by their voice, because we primarly heard them on the radio, or on an LP. When we saw them in person, however they looked was secondary, since we came to hear them sing. In other words, we were primarily focused on their talent and soul..
But, over the last few decades, people have started to judge a singer first on their appearance, hence, the skeptical view of the judges (and most of the audience), when this frumpy looking spinster in a worn-out dress, DARED to come out and sing, in the midst of other female anorexic young beauties... It's refershing to see someone burst on the scene that doesnt look like they belong on the cover of a fashion mag..but whose heart and soul come through to us from their voice! Go Susan!
EXACTLY!!! This is one of the things that pisses me off about the music industry today! That for female singers, they have to be physically "hot" in order to succeed (and of course for the most part, once they get past a certain age, they are considered "too old"!
) Not to say that some of the "hot" looking women don't have good voices (many of them do), but the fact that you HAVE to be "hot" to sell music now (if you're a woman) is what bugs me now. Someone like Mama Cass Eliot would not have a chance today.
And I actually hadn't heard Susan Boyle's voice until very recently. I was kind of surprised that a woman who is not what is considered "hot" had won (sorry, I'm American, I forget the exact name of the contest she won) a contest for singing. But when I heard her sing, I KNEW why she won!!! Wow!!!!!!
Now, if only the US media would get this memo... I still remember one instance from the one season of American Idol that I watched (the season that Carrie Underwood won), during the auditions, one woman came on to sing and I was almost hoping that she sang badly because I knew she wouldn't get past the judges, just based on her looks. (She was, well, obese... and rather plain looking). She sang
beautifully. She did not even make it past the audition, purely based on her looks.
(Now, I do think Carrie Underwood has a good voice too, but I just got really angry with the judges for what they did to that one woman during the auditions!)
Another thing that bugs me is that these rules only apply to women. Men don't HAVE to be "hot" to sell music. (Now, I actually heard Paolo Nutini and liked his music BEFORE I saw what he looked like and thought he was hot! :biggrin1