There is a huge difference between American Idol today and what the show was like in the past, and Randy Jackson considers it a huge problem.
In the early days of American Idol, the judges were Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson.
One thing that was expected was for at least one of the judges to insult the singers and make them consider quitting their dreams completely.
It is one reason that Foo Fighters’ lead singer Dave Grohl hated the show so much since he said one person’s opinion shouldn’t convince a kid to give up on their dreams.
However, for Randy Jackson, this is considered tough love.
Randy Jackson hates American Idol and The Voice being too nice
It is nice for some fans to watch American Idol and see the judges being kinder to the singers.
They are encouraging, and when they don’t think a person has it yet, or a singer isn’t ready, they let them know they need to go home and work on things to get better.
However, for Jackson, he feels the judges should be blunt with the singers, especially when he feels the singers have no chance of making it in the music industry.
“I think they’re all too nice,” Jackson told Yahoo in an interview. “This is a tough, hard, mean, give-zero-Fs business. Being honest with someone — if you’re terrible, you’re terrible. Wouldn’t you want to know that?”
He doesn’t feel that the judges should crush their dreams, but he feels that it would help the singers more to hear more blunt truths, which he feels they don’t give out on American Idol now.
Jackson feels old American Idol was more honest
In the original American Idol series, Paula Abdul was kind and gracious with the singers, much like today’s judges, but Simon Cowell was ruthless and Randy Jackson was blunt.
“Maybe me saying you’re terrible is going to help you get your thing together,” Jackson reasoned. “Maybe you’re gonna go back to the drawing board, like, ‘No, I’m gonna defeat the Dawg! I’m coming back. I’m coming back to get you, Dawg!’”
Jackson said that he doesn’t think the judges today are honest with the singers.
“There’s very little truth being told on these shows,” Jackson explained. “I say all the time in interviews, the thing that helped me the most [when I was starting out] was the no’s — the people that didn’t like me, didn’t like my playing, didn’t like my songwriting, didn’t like my producing. That’s what made me work and try harder.”
He said that competition and challenges make a person get better.
“‘You’re lovely, but not today.’ That doesn’t do anything for anyone.”
He also said the problem is that the old judges, particularly Simon Cowell, didn’t care if anyone liked him. He was just honest. However, today’s judges are mainstream music stars.
“No pop star wants to be mean or wants to be that honest with any contestant,” Randy said. “Because they don’t probably want to get it back. They don’t want to get it back. And they want to be liked.”
American Idol airs on Sunday and Monday nights at 8/7c on ABC.