Monday, December 13, 2010

20 Things I Learned from Tonight's "The Sing-Off"

1. There is a show called "The Sing-Off."
2. Ben Folds hasn't been touring lately because he's a freakin' JUDGE on "The Sing-Off"!
3. The dude from Boyz II Men is a big fan of Radiohead. And later talked about buying albums by The Police. Who knew?
4. Radiohead's "Creep" can be totally AWESOME when it's done a capella.
5. It is possible to make David Bowie's "Changes" suck. I don't care what the judges said about it being innovative. It sucked.
6. In a show where the bands first had to do a rock song, followed by a guilty pleasure, Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" fell into the rock song category. ???
7. Every singing talent show has to have a Paula Abdul on the panel. Nicole Scherzinger might think that guys wish their girlfriends were hot like her, but I think those guys are happy that their girlfriends have two IQ points to rub together... unlike Nicole Scherzinger.
8. The lead singer of the Commodores-type band keeps staring at Ben Folds strangely, as if he's thinking, "Who are you? Aren't you that IT guy who works upstairs?"
9. No matter how much I cross my fingers and pray, absolutely no one is singing "F*** the Pain Away." Dammit. (I mean, come on, if The Muppets did it, why can't The Sing-Off?)
10. The fourth band is called Groove for Thought, and not Grouper Thighs, which is what I originally thought Nick Lachey said.
11. Oh yeah... Nick Lachey is on this show. And... um... yeah.
12. OK, still watching, and the dude from Boyz II Men knows a LOT about music.
13. Ben Folds is the king of the backhanded compliment. "You know, you guys totally slipped there at the end and the tempo was wrong and you hit a key I didn't know existed, but great job guys, great job." Sits back slowly, grinning, two thumbs up.
14. My husband has seen more bands in the "guilty pleasure" category than in the rock category. Hall & Oates: "I loved them! Saw them in 88." Mr. Mister: "I saw them in 87."
15. People still sing "Every Breath You Take" like it's a love song. Sigh.
16. Nick Lachey is still reminding people he was in 98 Degrees. WHY?!
17. When Lachey is reading the results, the music in the background is a "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" version of Iggy and the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog."
18. When you make David Bowie's "Changes" suck, you go home.
19. Each group gets to choose their swan song ahead of time, and sadly, this week's band didn't choose Cee Lo Green's "F*** You."
20. This show is AWESOME fun. I'm totally watching next week.

8 comments:

Carol said...

I couldn't believe the guy from Boyz II Men was a Radiohead fan, either. (or that Nicole is, too.)
I thought the Temptations-type group did a good job with "Satisfaction."

The Chapati Kid said...

OhKAY!So, a little anecdote. I hung out one evening with the dude from Boyz II Men at my little private liberal arts school in northern NY. He was dating a friend at the time, who was acting in a play with me. I had a sore throat, and he was giving me advice on what to take to make it better (honey). He also told my friend he thought I was pretty, and she got pissed off with him. She told me. I was 18. They were MTV. I was thrilled.

humanebean said...

I love this show! Oh, sure, the production values and promotion are cheesy and Nick and Nicole lower the collective IQ points in the room each time they open their mouths but HEY, that happens on C-SPAN too, so I'm amenable.

I've always been a big fan of acapella music so I was hooked from the opening episode of last year's first season. A group called the Beelzebub's came out and did a marvelous performance of The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour". I was IN. While the quality of the performances, and the song selections, vary widely, the show is good fun and a venue for music you normally do not hear - on the radio, on TV, on stage - ANYWHERE, for the most part.

The lead singer of the "Commodores"-style group is Jerry Lawson, former lead singer of The Persuasions, one of the seminal acapella groups of the 60's and 70's. I had seen them live several times before they broke up in 2003 (they had been singing together for nearly 40 years) and was thrilled to see that Jerry was making a comeback in this venue. If you want a genuine thrill, seek out The Persuasions' MIght As Well - The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead — or their Frank Zappa tribute album (NOT a typo). They OWNED the genre — and Ben Folds, among others, has pointed out that it is a bit unfair that Jerry and his band, Talk of the Town, is in this competition against the younger amateur and semi-professional groups. It's not against the rules, though and Jerry deserves to be here to demonstrate the power of traditional acapella that never takes its eye off modern melody and dynamics.

Ben Folds, I think, does an excellent job of offering kind compliments mixed with genuine criticism of the performance. I presume he practices this on Chat Roulette. ; ]

Linda345 said...

I saw this show -- literally, it was on closed captioning at my gym and I forgot my earbuds -- and Ben Folds worded his critique beautifully and looked quite pleasant. Incidentally, this season I've been playing my Christmas album that has the beautiful Boyz II Men version of Silent Night. Just lovely.

Kiki said...

Just watched for the first time last nite and then stopped by here --- which (confession here) I hadnt' been here for awhile -- and can't believe you watched too!

Okay- all the corny stuff aside -- well maybe not since we are talking about the Sing-Off. Changes did TOTALLY suck! I was like, that chick was all over the place and the beginning was awful -- like this year's American Music Awards performance awful. And they ripped on Committed -- I know their name because they were my favorite of the night -- for not being "rock" enough! Love the Commodore guys too. So fun! Do we have a new show to critique?!!?

Anonymous said...

Here's the only way to watch this show: record it, and fast forward past the commercials AND everything the judges have to say! Only the music is good. The host is terrible and so are the three stooges they call judges.

Joan Crawford said...

Ha! I saw Nick Lachey's big doofy face on TV and I was like "What's this asshole doing?". Thank God it isn't A.C. Slater, at least. That man makes my knees feel oogy.

Here is a pic of him kissing his brand new baby. Look at it. Really look at it.

http://igossip.com/gossip/Mario_Lopez_mario_lopez_baby_gia_Rumors/1321988

Horrifying, yes? And what's creepier is all the comments I have read - things like "Aww, so sweet!" and "What a good dad!!!1!!!".

Seriously?

Is it just me who can't stop frowning when I look at it?

Austin Gorton said...

@Joan: Thank God it isn't A.C. Slater, at least. That man makes my knees feel oogy.

So what you're saying is that the A.C. stands for "absolutely creepy"?