ROCKIN' STAR!

INXS: Rock Star is moving up in the ratings. Why? Because rock'n'roll is alive and well everywhere but on the airwaves, man.

Tonight? Kick ass! Six competitors who ALL deserve a serious chance at the lead for INXS.

Early on, I was saying JD was the dude to beat. I was wrong. I don't think that anymore. I think it's down to Jordis, Mig, and Suzie, with Suzie being the heavy favourite. She's classy, she's hot, she's sunshiney, she's a friend of a friend of mine, and she's a Canadian girl through-and-through. You go, baby.

But tonight was a phenomenal show! Wish You Were Here, Imagine, Bohemian Rhapsody, Live & Let Die, Suspicious Minds, and You Can't Always Get What You Want.

American Idol? Bahaha. It doesn't even compare anymore. It's all hype and egos and undertrained singers who don't really understand how to work a crowd, who don't love it for all the right reasons. These guys have been battling it out on the world stage, fighting and scratching to just get by, for far too long. Each of the remaining six contestants will be fronting serious contender bands in the next year or so.

And unlike the so-called talent that makes it through the ranks over at Idol, they're gonna have serious things to say about the music they create. They all write, they all arrange, and they all play. Idol, they essentially know fuck all except how to carry a note. And sometimes that doesn't even pan out right.

I was reading today where the reason you keep hearing the same dated shit -- not classics, but dated shit and crappy new tracks (can they bring anything other than Mariah Carey and Boys II Men?) -- on Idol is because musicians and bands and songwriters don't trust the Idol kids to pull it off.

Rock Star, they have people calling and OFFERING their tracks. When they let a "competition" sing Imagine and Bohemian Rhapsody -- a couple of the hardest songs anywhere to pull off -- you know the people in the Biz are respecting the product.

And good fucking reason, too.

If you're not watching it, why not? It's only the best reality show going. It doesn't have egos and attitude and hype. It just is what it is, and every week, every show, the contestants bring it. And the thing I love is you can really tell they're rooting for their fellow singers. They're all in love with each other, in a "I'm with you" kind of way, and it shows.

THAT's reality. Not this cut-throat shit you see on every other show. This is about support and authenticity while fighting it out for a spot they all want. It's about rock singers who know their music's history, who know their roots. It's about rock'n'roll -- a form of music that's all about uniting for a cause, about getting in touch with the reality and the passion of what it means to be young in the world today. It's about having soul.

Idol's about selling a fucking image and fitting into a cookie cutter. Notice how ALL the contestants have kept their own looks on Rock Star? That's rock'n'roll, man.

And notice how no one ever belittles the performers? Respect is everywhere on this show. It's classy. All class.

Maybe that's not reality. But don't you wish it was?