Tonight, Frankie, I'm going to be ... staying at home

Frankie Stevens, Megan Alatini and Ian Stables want support from rock's stars and the music industry.

Not content with lambasting the precious little talent on this year's show, the NZ Idol judges and the show's producer have had a go at Kiwi music's old guard for not supporting the series.

"Snobs" they called the likes of Neil Finn, Dave Dobbyn, and Boh Runga in the Herald on Sunday yesterday for refusing to be guests on the show.

"Boring idiots," lashed the ever-outspoken Ian Stables, castigating the established stars' attitude towards the show and singling out "the Graham Braziers of the world" for their view that musical credibility had to earned, rather than gained through TV talent shows.

Finn refused to participate in a Split Enz "tribute" planned for this season.

Dobbyn also turned down an invitation to have his songbook given the Idol treatment.

Runga said she "would rather lick the inside of a toilet bowl than appear on Idol" - no doubt prompting phone calls from producers offering to work the scene into their next reality show.

The judges - Frankie Stevens, Megan Alatini and Stables - and NZ Idol executive producer Gavin Wood also grumped about the music industry's lack of support.

SonyBMG issued albums from the winners of the first two series, but turned down a third loss-making opportunity to contribute to the bargain bins of the nation.

All of which says ... what exactly? Apart from "no one's watching this year let's kick up a fuss"?

This being the third series of NZ Idol, the contestants are probably less deluded than their predecessors.

They surely know that, apart from the prizes, winning the thing is probably going to lead to a whole lot of nothing, as it did for Ben Lummis, Rosita Vai and even those runners-up who might have seemed like potential pop stars.

But if the contestants aren't deluded, the judges' comments show they might be.

Stevens: "Who's to say these kids won't be the future Neil Finns or Dave Dobbyns?"

Hey, can I be the first to say now that they won't be?

No, the future Neil Finns and Dave Dobbyns are in the garages with their mates practising for the next high school Smokefree Rockquest, a contest which lets the kids be themselves, write their own songs and make a noise that is meant to frighten their parents.

Its record in finding our next generation of pop talent makes NZ Idol look pathetic.

Back to Alatini: "I would love to sit down with some of these industry people and look them in the eye and ask them what this is all about.

"We all have to start somewhere and it doesn't matter where you start."

Surely the music industry has enough problems without Ms Alatini going around and staring at them.

Of course, she was in TrueBliss, so she would say that. TrueBliss? Oh go on ... you remember.

Frankie Stevens' 70s singing career was boosted by the British talent show Opportunity Knocks.

Yesterday Stevens called on his "fellow artists" to support the show. Which begs the question, where is John Rowles when you need him?

As for Stables, he works in the sort of radio that plays music but just doesn't like it very much.

As for those supposed anti-idols, well the Finns, Dobbyns and Rungas are a different breed.

They might be singers, but they also really are artists.

They create these things called "songs", which start as reflections of them.

But sometimes as their words and music go out into world, they achieve something else. And that can range from the Exponents' Why Does Love Do This to Me? being sung on terraces to Dobbyn's Loyal being sung at funerals or Finn's Better Be Home Soon being sung by Kiwi troops overseas.

But being used as ammo in a TV karaoke contest and then being insulted for refusing the honour? Obviously there are some "tributes" that our greatest musical talents can live without. And as a fan, you can only admire them for saying no.

As for the outspoken judges, they should know from all those auditions, that sheer desperation is never pretty to watch.