One of the artists I admire, Eddie Vedder, disliked art being honored even by awards, much less a competition over it. His reaction at the Grammys was pretty infamous at the time. And I get what he is saying.

That is not to say that all music competitions are "bad". But as we watch the last few weeks of "The Voice", I am a bit turned off by the increased aggro nature of some of the fans of the various competitors. At a certain point, it would be nice to say, hey look at all these great singers you didn't know about before. You can tell the remaining artists feel that way too, as they mourn when another one of them is sent home. But the show has to crown a "winner".

Quote Originally Posted by marnold View Post

The problem is with the "second place is the first loser" mentality in our society. We wear shirts with slogans like that and then have the gall to wonder why no one seems to be able to act like a civilized human being.
This pretty much sums up what I don't like about some of The Voice fans and how things are turning out as it heats up at the end. Also a Rah, Rah, root for the team sort of feel as fans of different music styles express their "feelings on the matter". For instance, there is quite a bit of pro-country/anti-country discussion online regarding the show.

I like better contests such as a bluegrass picking contest, or maybe a similar contest in the context of metal/shred, or some other like guitar skill. Then it is more a skill thing than a popularity contest between artists from different types of music. Such competition is not necessarily "bad", and at least has some parameters to go by.

But in the end, the artistry should be valued for the artistry itself. Or so I believe.