Welcome to the first in our series on other Idol blogs. The purpose of this series is twofold:
- It is a transparent and shameless attempt to get established Idol blogs to notice our little site.
- It is a sincere effort to inform our handful of readers of the best of what’s out there, as not all of them read Idol stuff obsessively.
Vote for the Worst (VFTW) is one of the best-known Idol blogs due to its legendary role in the disaster that was the Idol career of one Sanjaya Malakar. The site caught on in a big way while pushing Malakar, being talked about by Morning Zoo-type radio jocks all over America, including Howard Stern. Simon never mentioned the site by name on air, but his oblique references made it clear that VFTW had gotten under his skin.
The awful Sanjaya made it all the way to #7, and two legends were born.
VFTW does not always support the worst singer:
We don’t necessarily vote for the worst technical singer; we take into account many factors like the contestant’s personality, how well they dance and move around the stage, if they talk back to the judges or have an attitude, and how likely they are to annoy everyone when they stick around. We vote for the most entertaining contestant using our own criteria, but bad vocals are usually standard.
My favorite part of VFTW is their take-no-prisoners show recaps, which are often uproariously funny:
Kimberly [Bishop] gets her personality cues from Ally Sheedy in Breakfast Club. She’s insane and high as a kite. She tells Randy, “You’ve lost weight. I saw you on TV.” Too bad he gained all that weight back on the back of his neck hump. Freaky Kimberly sings Katy Perry with a strange cockney accent, as she keeps rubbing herself, possibly because of some parasite. That’s a lesson for us all, free Kara hugs aren’t exactly consequence free, are they Kimberly? Kara says “I think you’re naughty.” I think you’re a worthless whore who’s a STEP DOWN from drunk and useless Paula. But you already knew that.
They do go too far for me, sometimes–I thought their comments about Danny Gokey last season crossed a line and I hated Gokey. But they put out too much awesomeness for me to ever cheat myself by boycotting.
They also break news. They were first with the “Adam Lambert kissing dudes” photos last year (although that really shouldn’t have been news) and the first to reveal that Season Seven contestant Carly Smithson was a plant (a singer with previous major-label experience that The Powers That Be put on the show while pretending that he or she is an amateur).
Now, I don’t encourage anyone to vote for the worst. But I do encourage you to read Vote for the Worst.
(They have an excellent post today on Idol sob stories in order of effectiveness.)
Sanjaya Malakar – “Bathwater”
Related Posts:
Featured Idol blog: USA Today’s Idol Chatter by Brian Mansfield
I remember first checking VFTW out when they were pimping Sanjaya. I thought it was funny. I like the spirit of VFTW and check the site now and then, but I don’t like it when they conclude that a bad contestant has gone forward because of their efforts, instead of the country’s bad taste. I mean, Kristie Lee Cook did a number on that competition, and that was her very own good ole American strate-gery, not the doing of VFTW. And they never acknowledge that they’ve had far more failures than “successes.” But, above all, they are a fun read.
Funny you should mention Kristie Lee Cook in the same comment with Sanjaya. As a preview of my upcoming rankings of contestants by position finished, I ranked Sanjaya over Cook in the Seventh Place finishers.
God, I hated her. And that’s how much.