OH i agree.. i am sick of the race card being played all the time when something doesn't go their way. doesn't he think the others had good weeks??? did he ever consider that when he does perform it was like look at me not look at me AND the band..... I hated his hair!!!!

You people are so trifling. He played the race card for good reason, how many people vote based on color? How many people can't see a black guy being a lead singer of an australian rock group.
So what if his hair is a mohawk what should it have been an afro?
A bald head?
So then let me see all the so called rock people would be like he looks a little to hiphop.
Would that have been what you wanted? He was better than the other male performers but let's say playing the race card this time was fair.

Also since when did todays white people ever understand the race card and how its played against people of color?

I think JD is completely lame. The other folks have no pop to them. Its no wonder INXS are slipping as a group.
Someone mentioned terrance trent darby well the stones had prince open for them back in 82 and the white crowd booed the hell out of him.
Let's face it australia doesn't have a history of the best race relations and if you white folks listened to the Inxs member he said " Ty you are a very good soul singer."
So he was saying ty was not a rock and roll singer but a soul singer big difference. Soul is James Brown, rock is Axl or jimi.

Also by Ty saying he had more soul well let's say this why do music writers call white folks that do soul music "blue eyed soul"? They do so because its a white guys representation of the real thing.
Read the rollingstone article on Jimi and see what he had to deal with from the white audience and musicians that were copying early black music and coming up with what they couldn't quiet get the soul.

Criticizing your fellow posters is a violation of our community guidelines. You are welcome to express your opinion of the show, as long as you can do it without criticizing other posters in the process.

>Criticizing your fellow posters is a violation of our community guidelines. You are welcome to express your opinion of the show, as long as you can do it without criticizing other posters in the process.
>

I missed the insult? What was it?

Oh, was it calling people trifling?

I totally agree that racism is alive and well today and as a white person, I have NO IDEA what it's like to think (or be made to think) about my skin color everyday.

But that doesn't mean that racism was what was holding Ty back or was the only thing or even the main thing. Look at Marty (so white he's practically albino.) Read through back posts here - Marty used to be a strong leader then many, many people started getting sick of his all-grunge-all-the-time. It was oft said he should be trying out for Nirvana, not INXS. INXS even came out and told him they were having a hard time seeing him with the band.

What did he do? A little FU to INXS (still screaming) then paid the price (bottom 3) then knocked it out of the ballpark blending grunge with INXS in "Don't Change." Then really stretching himself and trying a different style, dropping his screaming altogether if only for a song.

So, whether or not Ty is soul or isn't soul (by the way, does soul mean you really feel what the singer is singing? If so, then I haven't felt Ty since No Woman, No Cry.) I mean, he says he soul, the band says he is, so I guess I'll just have to accept it.

But the question is: Is INXS soul, or more importantly - do they wanna be?

I know someone told me earlier that I don't know INXS at all if I don't know they are soul, but I swear, I don't really hear it. I'm not their biggest fan so I don't know the whole catalog, but I woulda never called them that.

Just like the question could be are or wanna be grunge?
Or power rock/belting it out? - Deanna
Or country rock? - Brandon

Why is it that they can say to 8 other people - your style and our style don't mix and it's accepted but they can't say that to Ty? And don't you think what they say is reflected in the voting? Ty outlasted many, many performers.

You people are so trifling. He played the race card for good reason, how many people vote based on color?"

Really??? I think not many at all. I know 'color' never influenced my voting. With most ppl, it's all about the performance and let's face it.....Ty's performances were lacking.Maybe if he performed liked a rock n roll singer he would have been appreciated as such. He performed like a Broadway performer and was labeled as such. Black, white, yellow or green----doesn't matter.

"He was better than the other male performers but let's say playing the race card this time was fair."

Your opinion and you're welcome to it BUT in most ppl's opinions, he was NOT better than the other male performers. IMHO, he was not near as good as Marty or Mig.

Also since when did todays white people ever understand the race card and how its played against people of color

We've gotten to understand it a lot. Since MOST times, it is the response to a minority not getting what they want. So many times, in fact, that it makes me ill.

He performed like a broadway performer, I think you are getting him mixed up with JD. Do you know anything about broadway performers? As far as all about performance you don't want to admit it pale face types but color does play a part in the way you react to folks.
As a person of color who has gone to school in perdominately white schools and is well traveled I know for a fact white people tend to not know how to act around black people. We get subjected to black speak, as if we can only understand some broken wanna be ghetto slang, we get this along with the so called I'm the hip white guy wanting to be considered down handshake, but the asian next to me gets the hey dude, with the regular handshake.
You should see the surprised looks on your face when you see our music collections and there isn't a stitch of R&B or hiphop.
Let's face it we are hard on our own harder than you would think and when I saw Ty initally I was like what is this brutha doing? Then he was up there acting like a very non fake rock and roll guy. He was not a R&B guy but a rock and roll guy. We know our own.
If he sucked I would say hey bruthaman you stunk but he was as good if not better than the two white boys remaining.
As far as minorities not getting what we want. I think when you as a majority class have always gotten what you want without batting an eye and always blaming your forefathers or saying it wasn't me that is what makes me ill. Then all of a sudden you want to come new like it wasn't my generation,yet you keep perpetuating the bs.
The new folks of color aren't falling for the trip anymore, we see through the trifling vail.
It all comes down.

Muffin Man, I cannot claim to know what it is like living as a person of color, but……Ty sank his own ship.

Reason #1…The spike hair thing does not appear to be the “look” INXS is looking for…check back to the times he braided it back how was he was received by the band, regardless of performance, compared to the times he had it spiked and they way he was received. Black or white, he was asked to tone it down on the hair and he didn’t.

Reason #2..the tongue thing..need I say more….

Reason #3….Spoke of how he wanted to bring “Soul” to the band….Well, last time I checked, INXS was not a “SOUL” band.

Reason #4….He sounded AWESOME singing more of the “soulful” type music. I think he will be well accepted as a “Rock Singer” in a DIFFERENT band, not INXS.

So, the public is not bashing him for being a person of color, he was “let go” for being not the right man for the job. It had nothing to do with Race, Color, ethnicity or sexual preference. I am sickened by the way “Everything” that happens today is blamed on one of the above criteria! Sometimes, there are other reasons. Every day people of color as well as whites get “let go” from a job because they are simply “not Right or not qualified” for the position.

Ty has a great music future ahead of him. I am sure he will do well.

~~~Stepping down from my soapbox now to go back and sit quietly……

I'm with you there. I was hoping J D would get kicked off. I haven't liked him from the start. He thinks he's better than anyone else.

Ty is really lucky he isn't FAT! If he had been FAT no matter how great he sang he wouldn't have even made the show!
That is the prejudice I live with. As do apparently 60 percent of the US but we still don't like others that are fat!

Moother you are so right! Talk about discrimination in the entertainment industry.

It is politically correct to be hateful of fat people because the world thinks they 'choose' to live that way.

I remember reading that when Jennifer Aniston arrived in Hollywood she was 130 lbs and told she was too fat. Dropped to 115 at the beginning of Friends but then got Zone diet and workout crazy and now weighs 100 lbs. Yeah, that is healthy and normal.

Yes, Ty's comments were uncalled for.

All along he has been saying how he wanted to add soul to the INXS mix.

He knew that was not what INXS was all about.

So why was he surprised when he was eliminated as not being right for INXS?

A little soul might make for a brand spanking new INXS, and it's not necessarily a bad thing.

However, INXS wants rock, not soul.

That is not racism.

I liked Ty, but he has never been my favorite as lead singer for INXS.

In another setting, with another band - I'd sit up and listen.

Just not with this band.

Everyone is entitled to my opinion.

"He performed like a broadway performer, I think you are getting him mixed up with JD. Do you know anything about broadway performers? As far as all about performance you don't want to admit it pale face types but color does play a part in the way you react to folks."

I've been to more broadway shows than I'd like to admit because it would definitely give away my age, so I DO know a little something about a Broadway performance. I've also been to more than my share of Rock n Roll concerts. So I know how a lead singer of a Rock N Roll band should perform. Ty falls into the stage performer category. Also, since you don't know me I'll let the pale face comment drop BUT I can assure you that 'color' has nothing to do with the way I have been voting. Believe it or not MuffinMan, not EVERYTHING is black or white!

<Also, since you don't know me I'll let the pale face comment drop

Hi bravegirl.

I didn't make the pale face comment.

I think you meant to reply to someone else, not sure who.

Everyone is entitled to my opinion.

I agree with everything you wrote except the rooting for JD part, Nash... using the race card as an excuse wasn't cool at all.. and more than a little whiney. Shame on Ty

Ty should just learn to keep his mouth shut. The more he talks and does interviews the worse he sounds. And that is not good for his future career. He keeps going on about it being about race. And now he is even insulting MiG in his interviews. Little MiG who usually tries to get along with everyone. MiG who was so upset when Ty was booted. Now Ty is telling everyone that MiG doesn't deserve to win. I think it would bother Ty if MiG won because he considers them both Theatah People. And if they boot Ty and let MiG win then Ty can't even use that excuse. Oh Ty, please just shut up.

Loree,

Ty is insulting MIG??? WHERE??? WHEN???? What did he say??

NOW I'm really ticked off!

I don't remember exactly which interview it was. Ty has done a few since being booted. And he was saying that MiG will never win because he didn't think MiG had the talent. I thought it was a slam considering how much MiG liked Ty and we never heard MiG insulting Ty. If Ty wants to think that, fine. But he doesn't need to say it in an interview. But I think Ty feels part of the reason he was booted was because he was too theatrical. So it would really bother him if MiG (also theatrical) then won.

Jimi Hendrix was black and a rock star. So is Lenny Kravitz. Living Color was successful. Granted, there aren't many blacks in rock 'n roll -- it could be a lack of interest, rather than a racial issue.

But Ty? Ty stuck his tongue out. He smiled during intense songs. "Proud Mary" -- he smiled, and seemed to be near a laugh, the whole song. That's why I didn't vote for him. He's got pipes, but zero charisma. As for soul? Mmmmm. Mig on the piano showed some soul -- Ty smiling through every song, even the serious ones, showed a lack of understanding and appreciation of lyrical effect. His soul is like that of a five year old -- not a grown man singing grown music.

LAST EDITED ON 09-07-05 AT 01:17 AM (EST)

Ok so I'm going to put this Ty thing to bed.
He stuck his tongue out hmmn which rocker uses his tongue as a damn near calling card?
He smiled, god as a man of color if we don't smile white folks are forever asking whats wrong and why we aren't smiling.
Zero charisma and JD is just ready to lead us to the promise land?
Jimi had to battle a ton of white folks in the rock industry, not to mention his own black folks who weren't feeling him same with Lenny. Living color succesful why are they lving large on the back of my milk carton?
It could be a lack of interest, another phrase for lack of white interest, kinda like bush In New Orleans.
Let's face it he tried to bring soul to a white aussie group which wants to have soul. The only difference is white soul and the real thing black sou their is a huge difference.
White folks copy, black folks have it thats why blues comes from the south and not from london. thats why R&B is done by black folks and not by copy cat white folks.
Inxs is a rock band which some posters said has a lot of soul which kind I'll never know but probably blue eyed soul which means not really soul or soul lacking a real base.
Its the sound baby its the sound.

Hi, new poster here. Have been following this discussion and want to add my 2-cents.

First, to clarify (since people seem to care about these things): I'm not black or from the U.S.

Second, I think the basic thing is that this is a rock show about picking the singer of a rock band. From its origins (which we all acknowledge are in the blues, soul music) rock has been about invoking 'feelings': anger, sadness, and, let's be blunt, sexuality, among others. We generally call this ability to invoke feelings 'charisma' - and you either got it, or you don't.

Third, I never voted for Ty. I didn't vote for him for the same reason that I haven't voted for JD (an apparent fan favourite)- he didn't 'do it for me'. If Lenny or Jimi were on the show, they would get my vote. Why? Because both of these guys were hot!! They made women - white, black, brown, want to take their clothes off (hmmm ... let me get back on track here). I don't doubt that discriminatory attitudes play a role in sexual preference - that's the nature of preference. Speaking for myself, however, I couldn't care less what colour the dude was, as long as he was able to invoke something in me. He didn't. While other people talk about tongues and smiling through songs, that's just their way of saying that he 'didn't do it for them' either. He was fiercely talented, but not likely to lead a teenage rebellion or to make middle-aged women shuck their clothes.

(For the record: I've never asked a black person why they don't smile - is this a common experience in the US??).

Dear Cat,
I read your post and damn I feel where you are coming from, I can dig your vibe.
JD is lame and if he wins the group only gets further away from where they used to be.
I think this whole let's create a star thing is out of hand especially when you get the brainless masses voting online. People are sheep why do you think the US is ran by Republicans and a moron named bush.
I don't like brits telling me who can dance, as if name one popular dance which has come from England.
I don't like shows where top models get lost in the shuffle. Maybe they should call the show from top to bottom.

Oh and thank god you never have asked ablack person why they aren't smiling.
Is it common well I currently don't live in the US but let's just say women have come up to me and asked why aren't I smiling. Cat it seems like in the US the warm fuzzy feeling white folks get when around black folks comes from black people smiling kinda back to the slave- and early part of the 20 century days, keeping black folks in their place.
Its a north american thing, and probably a brit thing too.

>Oh and thank god you never
>have asked ablack person why
>they aren't smiling.
>Is it common well I currently
>don't live in the US
>but let's just say women
>have come up to me
>and asked why aren't I
>smiling. Cat it seems like
>in the US the warm
>fuzzy feeling white folks get
>when around black folks comes
>from black people smiling kinda
>back to the slave- and
>early part of the 20
>century days, keeping black folks
>in their place.
>Its a north american thing, and
>probably a brit thing too.
>

I find this to be incredibly insulting, especially coming from someone who doesn't live in North America, let alone the US. You have no idea what you are talking about and you certainly don't know me. I resent your characterizing me, my fellow citizens, and our neighbors in North America as nothing but racists. It exists (as apparently, it does outside the US), but most Americans have no desire to "keep black folks in their place." You really should get to know something about us before you make pronouncements like that.

I'm such a slut for the blues.

I can understand why you'd be upset because he is making a gross generalization about north americans but while it is wrong to say we are NOTHING BUT racists, as a group, we are racists (along with lots of other things.)

Look at how our GOVERNMENT responded to New Orleans. We're not only racist, we're classist, sexist and ageist. We have to own that. We have to know it still plays a part in decisions made in this land. Not every individual in this country is, but as a society, we certainly are. How many non-whites are on the major TV networks? How come men get to be fat & bald and still be leading men but women have to be young & pretty?

My point is, I think he does know what he's talking about in that he has experienced racism. No, he doesn't know everyone here. I'm not sure if I'd even know what "most Americans" think. Being liberal myself, I'd like to think they are not overtly racist and certainly the people in my life aren't, but there's a lot of this country I don't know.

"Is it common well I currently don't live in the US but let's just say women have come up to me and asked why aren't I smiling."

Maybe they were hitting on you and they're bad at it.

Maybe they say that to a lot of people. It's practically a staple of Dear Abby/Ann Landers/Miss Manners - people writing in to say they're bugged by someone telling them to smile when they don't feel like it and wanting a snappy comeback.

I'm not saying there isn't rapant racism:

Being watched as a customer in a store. A woman holding her purse tighter as she passes you on the street. Getting charged a higher interest rate. Most importantly: Slow gov't response to the hurricane.

Maybe the Ty thing and the smile thing are not examples. It sounds like there's nothing anyone can say to convince you it wasn't or at least to consider the possibility it wasn't. I mean have you read the petty, personal, judgmental comments that have been written about ALL of the singers?????

I don't doubt that discriminatory attitudes play a role in sexual preference - that's the nature of preference. Speaking for myself, however, I couldn't care less what colour the dude was, as long as he was able to invoke something in me.

Cat -

Just a quick "well done". I agree that sometimes our personal preferences get in the way of our judgement of others. A hottie is a hottie and thank goodness we get the opportunity to freely discuss it (...and see them). Don't want to loose track of the importance of the choice we have to see hotties of all shapes/sizes/colors, without regard to facial expression. Forgive me, but if you don't like "my" type, well, more for me.

peace

whim

I find some of the more recent replies interesting. I thought TY was pretty good, but in no way did I ever see him as the lead singer of INXS. Furthermore, I mean come on, TY's facial expressions were frankly goofy, . . . right out of a stage performance, which of course makes sense, since he is a stage performer. TY had a moderately successful band that put out a couple of records. He will be fine, and better suited to do his own thing if you ask me. As for race, get off of it already. TY's downfall was no more about race than any of the girls downfall was about sex. By the way, where is the outrage about Jordis getting the boot last week? Her father is African-American.

LAST EDITED ON 09-10-05 AT 03:58 PM (EST)

I am sorry you find the why aren't you smiling comment insulting. I have lived in the US most of my life and right now my job has me living in North america.
All you have to do is look at the way america swings perception and treats black folks and you know what I am talking about. Unless you have a closed mind. Ask your two black friends one day in private about their life experiences, and if they are living and trying to succeed then I am sure they have witnessed the examples of racism in the so called modern USA.
As far as Ty is concerned he wasn't a great fit for the band, definetly not an aussie band.
As far as goofy I have never seen a goofy person than JD. He is a poor choice.
Jordis being half black she is what we like to call a passer.She is TV black meaning she is nearly white but has kinda black features, so we can put her on camera with whites and unless you look real hard you won't notice, she won't stand out the whole thing will look white.

I don't think its a race thing at all.if that was the case they would of been gone long ago...as for ty he wasn't the strongest singer for this group, and the crying thing..was pretty bad... and Jordis she seem to give up. I think it was too much pressure for her. I don't think it was about the color of there skin....at all....
Calling Jordis a passer is horrible. If you didn't notice she wasn't just white...you had to be blind...she is a beautiful girl. And she made this far because of her voice....and just being a generally sweet girl.

I would buy her albums tomorrow!!!!!!!

I think it is sad to try to break the winner down to white or black or Aussie. I am a middle aged white lady and my first choice was Ty. I loved his singing even though I hated the hair style. I also love Marty and Mig even though I also hate their hair styles. I do admit that I have prejudicial reactions at times regarding many things, not just color and I think black, hispanic, oriental, people all have most of the same prejudices. Many times this is something that we learned growing up but many of us have come a long way since then and I think if others didn't beat the situation to death it would be less of an issue. My first thought is that if you live in America your an AMERICAN..Period. Not Anglo, Not African, etc. Just an American. That is a great place to start. The problem is that in arguing over race it only takes the divide further apart and just like arguing over the bible we can all make a valid point.

I agree....I just wish everyone could see what people are...and that is by whats on the inside...not the outside...