Today in “water is wet” news: Brian May hates The Voice. The Queen guitarist says the show—he’s talking about the U.K. version, but his feelings would probably carry over to the U.S. version as well—“is absolutely the dullest, dumbest, most depressing programme on TV,” and is “the ultimate insult to music and performers.” In a post on his blog, May writes that he hopes the show “dies a natural death very soon” and that seeing “young singers busting their guts trying to win somebody’s attention, who is rudely sitting with their back to the singer” makes him feel sick.
May goes on to say that competition is not what music about and that, in fact, it hurts art. He writes:
“When we sing, or play, for real, we are NOT screaming at the top of our lungs trying to persuade someone to notice us. We have messages, we have subtle emotions, we have beauty, which can only be shared by a performer in front of an audience whose whole attention is already freely given. The performance is all about EVERYTHING the performer gives … in voice, in sound, in body language, in facial expression, in intimate eye contact. This stupid, stupid idea that someone can JUDGE a singer by turning his back on him, and missing out on proper contact, is, to me, a fatuous nonsense. And actually poisonous to the growth of young performers.”
In unrelated news, May also has plans to release his anti-badger hunting song “The Badger Song” in the near future.