I love hearing from INXS directly. Andrew's take (from last week.) This is the first I've heard a concern about Marty's voice.

Oh yeah, it's JD. If the worst they can say about him is he hasn't got the strongest voice in the world, than color me tickled pink! If they were going for the strongest voice, Suzie & Ty would still be around.

Marty Casey
Marty's pros and cons: "He's such a better performer and singer in every way than when he started this competition," says INXS guitarist Tim Farriss of Casey. "But Marty spent a lot of time in previous years screaming, basically, and it's kind of annihilated a certain part of his voice."

J.D. Fortune
J.D.'s pros and cons: "He definitely has that 'X' factor, that star quality. When he walks into a room, you say, 'Wow, who's this guy?' " says Farriss. "But he hasn't got the strongest voice in the world, and he knows it."

Suzie McNeil
Suzie's pros and cons: "Of all the singers left, I think she's got by far the strongest voice – and she's a fun person to hang out with," says Farriss. "The question we have is does she have that 'X' factor, that 'rock star' quality that we're looking for? I don't know."

Mig Ayesa
Mig's pros and cons: "Mig has a great voice. He's obviously a talented piano player, he's one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He's Australian, too, so he's got that going for him!," says Farriss. But, his theatricality could work against him. "Some of the guys (in INXS) still feel he's got a lot of (musical) theater in him.

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I am feeling really good about tonight's show. Mainly because I like all three performers a lot and these were my picks in week one to be the final three, and it's happened!! Although each one of them is right and wrong for INXS in various ways, I will be happy with no matter who is chosen so I think it's going to be a very exciting show to watch. I won't end up disappointed, so I'm glad. I am still leaning towards a JD win because of "Pretty Vegas," but a surprise would be a fun twist.

Either way, all three of them are going to do very well no matter what happens (I actually think the two losers will do better in the long run) and I am looking forward to following their post-Rock Star projects. This has been a very enjoyable show to watch -- the talent was simply amazing, so much better than American Idol, which I also like.........but unlike American Idol, I am actually considering going to the Rock Star concert tour.

Well said. I'm totally with you.

It will be interesting to see who goes the farthest and was it becuz of winning or not. Honestly, I never thought the non-winner would do better, but that was based on emotion (INXS loyalty) more than anything else.

Logically - I dunno. I don't remember hearing much about Idol winners a year or two later (except on that damn cruise commercial) but then again, I don't follow pop music, so what do I know?

I gotta think that no matter how strong a following someone gets from the show, they are not going to headline a 50,000+ stadium the way the winner will.

I think MiG has the most mainstream/across the board appeal so I imagine he'll have a lucrative career, regardless of whether or not he wins.

"I gotta think that no matter how strong a following someone gets from the show, they are not going to headline a 50,000+ stadium the way the winner will."

That is very true. The winner will have the most short-term success, I believe. I am just wondering if winning will keep him from experiencing longer term success (mainly because I do believe this is a one album, one tour deal -- maybe two, but I don't see anything further.) But who knows? Everything is so volatile in the music business.

Although several of the American Idol winners and non winners have had successes, I think you can truly only call two of them BIG successes -- Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken. The others seem to have varying levels of smallish-big to medium to no level of success -- and unfortunately, I do suspect that will probably be true for all the losers of Rock Star. When I say successful in future projects, I certainly don't imagine the others in huge headlining tours. I guess I mean simply capitalizing on the success of this show with the fans they have collected, for as long as it lasts. And that depends on them and their talent and how they choose to market it.

Music just isn't the same anymore -- bands and/or singers don't appear and then sustain for years and years like the bands of yesteryear. Marty was right about one thing -- it's a singles world now - that's how the music biz plays it, that's how these downloading services market it, and that's how the consumers view it. What ever happened to the good old days of "albums". sigh. Such a nostalgic word anymore. lol.

"Marty was right about one thing -- it's a singles world now - that's how the music biz plays it, that's how these downloading services market it, and that's how the consumers view it. What ever happened to the good old days of "albums". sigh. Such a nostalgic word anymore. lol."

My honey and I had a discussion about this over the weekend.

On the one hand, I see the point about singles and downloading and all, but there have always been singles.

I think artists will always think in terms of albums and marketers will think in terms of singles. There are singers in both categories.

I think technology will be used to deliver more of the artists' concept not less. Look at DVDs of movies. Now you get the movie, the deleted scenes, interviews, special effects, you can watch the whole thing with commentary. Lord of the Rings has FIVE DVDs for each movie (and I've sat through them all with bf, the LOTR geek!)

Since I'm an INXS geek, I would sooooo buy a DVD of the next INXS album with bonus features like: the making of, in the studio, commentary on, "we tried a bum bum di di bum but went with bum di di bum di di" (okay, I admit I have NO music knowledge whatsoever), bloopers - all of that.

That's my dream anyway.

I'd agree with the whole "singles world" idea except when it does come to rock. A perfect example is the most successful rock album (I say that because it hearkens back to the old idea of all of the songs being connected) in years: "American Idiot" by Green Day. It was successful, massively so, before there were any singles on the radio and much will never be heard on radio because of "obscenity." So if you have a great concept and make great songs that work best together, Marty's concept doesn't hold up. One of the reasons the singles market is so huge is that most artists today fill their CDs with too much filler crap with the singles so that the CD doesn't hold up to a full listen. Take a page from Green Day and just make a whole CD of great songs and people will buy it.

I'm such a slut for the blues.

>"I'd agree with the whole "singles world" idea except when it does come to rock."

Great minds & all that, Geg. Great rock albums are filled with great songs that never hit the radio. Personally, I very rarely listen to the radio, I have my CD's & I make my own little compilations.

I buy rock CDs from those I love and am very rarely disappointed with the catalog. (I am very eclectic, musically, & buy CDs of my fave composers as well, 'cause I love classical music, too.)

I download "singles" of top 40 pop, hip hop or dance for my workouts, because that's where the "one hitters" usually are for my music tastes.

I'm with you, geg. One of my all-time favorite bands is Dire Straits. Their albums are full of songs that so many people have never heard, but if you sit down and listen to them, they are so full of GREAT MUSIC. Not singles to be played between commercials on the radio, but instead each song is like a room, and all the rooms go together to make a wonderful, well-constructed house. And if you appreciate the music, that house feels like a home you can relax and escape into. The same can be said for groups like Pink Floyd (think Animals), or Steely Dan.

"Not singles to be played between commercials on the radio, but instead each song is like a room, and all the rooms go together to make a wonderful, well-constructed house. And if you appreciate the music, that house feels like a home you can relax and escape into."

Dude, that was beautiful.

Why, thank you Lisa.