Steve Lillywhite Says He Can Improve 'American Idol'

By Michael D. Ayers Posted Mar 1st 2010 05:30PM

A few weeks ago, murmurs started surfacing from the camp of famed producer Steve Lillywhite about possible involvement with 'American Idol' next year -- specifically, that he wants to be the next Simon Cowell. And he thinks there's room for improvement.

"People know my music, don't know my personality," Lillywhite tells PopEater. "People who know my personality don't see it as being a strange thing for me to do. I've been following the show closely and the more I see it, the more I feel I can do the job. I think I can improve the show. The current crop -- certainly of guys -- there's been no real standouts, and I can't believe that out of the thousands of people that auditioned, these are the 12 best guys. Simon knows that. You can tell by his body language that he's embarrassed by the choices they've made."

For those unfamiliar with Lillywhite's resume, it's certainly stacked. He's worked with U2, Dave Matthews Band and jam kings Phish, and he's currently in the studio with Evanescence, so it's safe to say he's got an eye and ear for pop music. To keep with 'American Idol's' tradition of employing a Brit, Lillywhite's UK origin and accent would fit the bill.

But he sees himself as potentially a different type of judge than Cowell. "I'm not mean," he says. "But I'm fair, based on the fact that I honestly believe that 99 percent of music is rubbish. And I'm not scared to say it, either. My definition of a star is slightly broader than Simon's -- what he perceives as a star is relatively narrow."

For Lillywhite, it's all about one thing. "Do I want to be in this person's world? Is there something that makes me want to find out more about them? I believe that the great artists, you buy into their world," he says. "I would try an instill that and try to work out the best way to do that. This is what I do when I produce records, and this is what I would do on 'American Idol.'"

As far as his chances go, Lillywhite is being cautiously optimistic. "The thing is, they might want to dumb it down," he says. "But if they don't want to dumb it down, and I think the American public believes in art, then why not take a chance and raise the bar a bit? That's what I would try and do."

Tags: american idol, steve lillywhite

Comments

(13)

Monday 01 March

By Steve

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Geez, who COULDN'T improve that crap?

By john popa

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first thing if stern gets the job at idol i wouldn't waste my time to watch it because he's ignorance and rotten foul moth and his attitude i would love to close his mouth for the rest of the viewing audience.
please ther's a 1000 better choices than that ass

By poughkeepsiejohn

Anybody who produced Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" and "Biko" deserves a shot at improving "American Idol".

By jimi

steve lilywhite is a no name jackass;
he has been rude to UK 80's pop star Toyah after working with her,and now he's working with Evenescene who are basically a Toyah wanna be band;
having this dead beat on the show will sink it once and for all..

Tuesday 02 March

By AP

You could only wish to be that kind of no-name, jackass.

By gnncy7

coool. Agree

By james claypool

AMERICAN IDOL IS GOING DOWN THE DRAID FAST

DRAIN

By AJ

he says people know his music and not his personality, I don't even know his music so there goes that theory, second, AI is not what it used to be, it's only a matter of time before its lost in tv land heaven.

By Colin Cody

Most people such as Lillywhite want to change "Idol" in only superficial ways that would not attract the huge number of viewers needed by that program to survive much longer.

On the other hand, were I offered an opportunity to overhaul "Idol," I would make radical rather than useless superficial changes.

Continued.....

First, to Hades with currently popular noise pretending to be music, I would insist that talent sing only high quality ballads or classic show tunes or even light opera that everyone loves to hear.

Then I would let it be known that only people with legitimate voices, the kind of voices required to sing those kinds of highly enjoyable songs need apply to audition.

First, to Hades with currently popular noise pretending to be music, I would insist that talent sing only high quality ballads or classic show tunes or even light opera that everyone loves to hear.

Then I would let it be known that only people with legitimate voices, the kind of voices required to sing those kinds of highly enjoyable songs need apply to audition.

Wednesday 03 March

By Nate

I've never heard of Steve Lillywhite, but he brings up a point I have been making since I started watching Idol about 7 years ago, that is, of all the thousands of people who audition for Idol, they consistently choose a pretty weak group of contestants. How do people like Sanjaya, Hailey Scarnato, Megan Joy, Bo Bice and a long, dreary list of other mediocre singers, get on this show that is supposed to be about singing? It seems that they have a criteria other than selecting good singers when they choose their contestants, and I think that should change. Who cares if they have an interesting, heartwarming or tearjerking story, I just want to hear good singers, not soap operas and drama.
And if it isnt bad enough that they dont choose good enough singers to begin with, they keep the contestants so busy with so much promotional stuff and other nonsense that they dont have enough time to work on the songs they will be singing. I think that is another big reason for some of the dreadful performances we see on the show.
I love watching American Idol, but it could definitely stand some tweaking and improving. I always record the show so I can just fast forward through all of the useless, time wasting parts, which ends up being about half of the show. Otherwise, I dont know if I could watch the show live.

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