As you might be aware of, I’m a great fan of rock and heavy metal. I used to play guitar in a band when I was young(er), and I just love going to concerts and getting my kicks! Therefore, when the show Rock Star Supernova was shown on Swedish TV, I was an avid fan.

The idea behind the show is that some already existing rock stars; Tommy Lee (former Mötley Crüe), Jason Newstead (former Metallica) and Gilby Clarke (former Guns ‘n’ Roses); formed a band, and the TV show was a competition where a happy few selected people were to compete about getting the role as the band’s vocalist.

Granted, the program was full of totally shameless sponsors, and anything hosted by MSN isn’t that impressive to me. Besides, the show’s URL (by the way, thanks for giving away the winner before the rest of the world had aired… :-|) and the band’s official web site isn’t that good, so I rather recommend reading the excellent information in Wikipedia’s Rock Star Supernova page. And as a sidenote to the band’s official web site: how come a non-Flash version is always labeled “low bandwidth version”; maybe I just want the info right away instead of some inaccessible Flash that takes forever to load, no matter what bandwidh I actually have! Ever thought of that?

Anyway… The show consisted of a lot of very talented people (as opposed to watching some Idol crap) and naturally an elimination process would never get a 100% fair. The way it worked was that people watching the show could vote for their favorite artist, and after the votes were in the band would choose who got to go home, and who got to stay in the competition.

The winner

After a number of weeks, Lukas Rossi was crowned as the winner, and while he’s an ok singer, he was far from my pick. And the thing is that, at the end of all the shows, the band decided to go with the person who got the most number of votes through the web site. While hopefully this wasn’t the only reason why they chose him, and I’m sure that’s the case, there’s a number of reasons why it was a bad factor to give the votes such weight:

• It will hurt the artistry to go with other people’s opinions, than choosing what the band feels right, although it might not be the most popular decision right at that exact moment. But maybe they should’ve thought more about what’s best in the long run.
• The show only aired in the US (and maybe some other countries, I’m not sure), so how good of a demographic is the votes for such a vital decision? For instance, in Sweden, and I guess, rest of Europe, it aired about 5-6 months later.

The real stars

In my eyes, a number of the other contestants were the real stars, and I’m convinced things are looking very bright for them!

Dilana

Dilana got placed second, but really, we all know she was the best one there. Apparently Gilby Clarke has also said that Lukas Rossi won because:

…he made [their] music sound more like a band, whereas Dilana sounded like a singer, with Rock Star Supernova backing her.

And I think that was the general fear, and perhaps with a dash of egoism. They didn’t want someone who would outshine them, they just wanted another member. In the end, though, I think that it was the best for the band as well as for her. Dilana has some Janis Joplin-like qualities, and I can’t wait till she gets her album released. Until then, listen to these songs with her:

• Supersoul
• Mother Mother
• Behind Blue Eyes”
• Lithium
• Zombie
• Every Breath You Take

Storm Large (at Wikipedia)

Storm is overall fantastic and entertaining, and definitely a wild chic! While I never thought she would be around to win, I enjoyed every episode when she was still in the show. Listen to her songs:

• Ladylike
• Anything, Anything
• Suffragette City

Toby Rand

Toby Rand is a really charismatic performer and his original song “Throw It Away” was a great hit during the show. He sings in his own band Juke Kartel and I guess I ought to listen to some of their stuff! Make sure to listen to these songs with him:

• Throw It Away
• White Wedding
• Layla
• Rebel Yell

Ryan Star (at Wikipedia)

Ryan was never destined to win, but I think most people soon realized that he would become a fantastic solo artist, and he’s pursuing his career just as we speak! Things to listen to, just to be able understand what he can do:

• Losing My Religion
• Back of Our Car

The future of Rock Star Supernova

While I like the people behind the band, I’m not sure their future looks that bright. They lost the legal rights to the original name, Supernova, so now their name is Rock Star Supernova. How catchy is that? And the material they presented on the show wasn’t all that, and I definitely think they would need a good lead guitarist to complement Gilby; he’s great for rhythm, but someone like Dave Navarro would be super next to him.

Another thing is that Jason Newstead got badly injured when a bass head fell down on him, and the rehab will take a long time. Therefore, he has been replaced by Johnny Colt (former Black Crowes).

However, on the other hand, I think the future lies wide open for the “non-winners” mentioned above, especially Dilana! We’ll see, we’ll see… 🙂