Getting It Right

Okay, I'm impressed. In the last two weeks, the voting public has actually gotten rid of the four worst bands on Fox's Next Great American Band. Two weeks ago, they dispensed with the adult-alternative crap -- mildly ironic given Johnny Rzeznik's presence on the judge's panel -- and then last week, the two bands with lousy singers got the boot.

I still have issues with dot dot dot, for the same reasons Dicko articulated a few weeks ago -- that they're some marketing guy's idea of what a band should be -- although they have their appeal. Namely, Rose is a badass on guitar. And they're really almost the only band any of the judges can quibble with at this point, although you can make a case for Tim Robbins lookalike Denver's stage inertia.

As much as I dig Franklin Bridge, I thought they mailed it in on "Big Shot," but they might not have actually flubbed the lyrics -- the two lines were about the "suit up your nose" and "don't come bitchin' to me," which might not have made it past the Fox censors. In any event, they kept it loose, and that's what Dicko was looking for, but I don't think he "gets" where they're coming from.

At this point, after Franklin Bridge, I don't even care who wins. As for who I think will win, I'm leaning towards The Clark Brothers. They're just too freakin' good, and their obvious appeal to the teenage girls might outweigh Sixwire's housewife vote.

I don't know if American Idol has this problem, but because all the bands and their styles are so diverse, it's not even a "this band is better than that band" thing anymore. That's obvious from the judges just heaping praise on performance after performance. It makes for terrible television, but again, the remaining bands all seem good enough to do their thing well, so it's just a matter of taste at this point.