Me either. I realize the shows are devoted to pop music, not rock, but aren’t The Voice and American Idol just televised open mic contests? It’s hard to break through and become a well-known music act, but it always has been. Yes, it is more like a lottery than a meritocracy, but that’s nothing new.
There are lots of rock bands being formed and playing music. But the path to success has changed. Playing the clubs then getting a record deal then being pushed onto the radio isn’t how it’s done now. Now it’s playing the clubs then going on YouTube then playing in front of bigger crowds and going on tour all the time is how it’s done. Artists make their money playing live now, not selling records or CDs or downloads. It is also very fragmented now, with very few huge rock acts becoming famous and wealthy.
The accepted “wisdom” has usually been that American pop softened to the point of favoring crooners like Paul Anka and Bobby Darrin (sp?), and that American rock and roll was rescued only by the British Invasion. While there may be a kernel of truth there, pop ballads certainly weren’t the only thing happening in the early 1960s. In Southern California surfer rock was well started by the time the Beatles got here, and then you also had the musical miracle known as soul and other R&B from Motown and others.
BTW Although Little Richard quit the business to become a minister, he came back to it in the early 1960s. At least through the end of the decade we was still an exceptional performer; as videos from the Toronto Peace Festival in 1969 will attest.
I was thinking of real open mics. Those shows on TV seem to be about the sentimental act of singing someone else’s song. That’s not what rock stardom has been about since back around Bobby Vee or some of those guys.
I don’t watch enough to know if any contestants play and sing original songs as their act. But these shows are “not rock” if anything can be said to be.
We might plausibly argue that rock is a subset of pop music, taking a rather broad definition of the latter. But without a doubt there is a great deal of pop out there that isn’t rock.