In the 1990's, you could practically get away with anything and still come across as a marketable music act that could sell millions. Spice Girls for example, well past their peak but still one of the biggest selling girl bands in the world. Their music was silly and the image was over the top. They got movies, video games and everything. Cannibal Corpse also did well. Their music was also silly and the image was over the top, but their music actually got banned in several countries including Germany. At least Cannibal Corpse got featured in one of the Ace Ventura movies.

People are reading this saying I can't compare a death metal band to a pop girl group because they're so different. So what does me comparing Cannibal Corpse to the Spice Girls have to do with the X Factor? I was just pointing out the weirdness of the 90's and how it influenced several music executives use the dreams of aspiring musicians to make a huge cash cow.

Not many advertisements for musicians came on the television that much, so at the time it was an interesting concept. Popstars was a start, although that didn't give off any offspring that could last despite the hype. Eventually Pop Idol was born in 2001 which was influenced by Popstars, but they left any remaining contestants in the live shows to have their fate decided by voting members of the public. The fans felt they could create their own pop-star. Head judge Simon Cowell became a mascot for his "I'm not being rude, but you suck," attitude.

Pop Idol only lasted two seasons, but the concept lived on creating many spin-offs like the X Factor. Which opened the doors to anybody removing the no contestant older than mid-twenties can apply rule.

These sort of shows do show some good. Some of the performances are absolutely hilarious like the chicken factory dude that performed Barbie Girl and a bunch of other auditions that I can't remember, so I have to look on either youtube or wikipedia to remember them.

In the show's peak, the show was addictive, compulsive and made people bang their head against the screen. People who loved it where forced to watch it religiously and the people who disliked it had to either be forced to watch it or hide watching Strictly Come Dancing. X Factor became something that everyone in the UK was expected to watch as if it was compulsory.

The show's format is "debut" auditions in front of the judges (despite already auditioning before hand by other people who decide which people would be entertaining or not on television) -> Boot Camp -> Judge's houses -> Live shows -> Final -> Random post X Factor stunts.

X Factor tries to cause as much controversy, fuss and hype as possible. Put as soon as X Factor is all over, the hype shatters into a million pieces and comes back around the end of the summer. Now in it's Eighth season, it seems to be long past it's peak. People are starting to see the true corniness of the show now being aware of many other talent shows with the same concept such. All of them where a new tool for the pop factory so any member of the public who think they can be musicians can go through lots of auditions and boot camps. If they're lucky, they may meet the live stages and maybe get a nice record contract.

X Factor encourages people to buy music which is good considering how there's so much concern about internet privacy. They often hope that the X Factor Winner gets a Christmas Number 1 in the charts. Unfortunately, I don't think it's enough to give a solid positive impact. I think it leaves a negative impact on the music industry because it leaves stale influences onto future generations of music to come. It's had many hyped up artists, but only a teaspoon percent of those hyped artists like JLS, Leona Lewis, Wand Erection and Alexandra Burke actually progressed into credible artists.

In case you're wondering how much is teaspoon percent... it's under 5 percent and it shrinks within every year because the shows get stale and no one cares about the sob stories anymore.

There are some X Factor contestants that I've actually liked. I think my favourites were Rhydian Roberts and Diana Vickers because they where so weird and entertaining they came across as unique because there's lots of contestants on the show that steal other acclaimed artist's mojo and claim it as their own. I actually did buy Rowetta's album and a couple of songs from Alexandra Burke and Leona Lewis as well.

Winning the show also doesn't necessarily mean that you'll automatically win strings of number one singles, albums and world tours. Most people know it doesn't work like that, but a lot of aspiring singers believe that just winning this show will give them instant success through default. They're dreaming of all the glory being on stage and all the luxuries they can be exposed to; red carpets, autobiographies, playboy girls, respect and all the free booze in the world.

It's very common for a contestant of the show to be a one hit wonder. Take Steve Brookstein for example, he won the first series of X Factor. Had a number one hit, an album just a couple of months later and then dropped into obscurity. He claims to earn more money now with pub performances than to what he did with Syco.

These talent show contestants release some rubbish. Because they did all these glamerous kareoke sessions, there's this mind-frame that original songs is too risky so they think they'll be safe with an album of covers. Like that dick-head who thought it was an excellent idea to put a Jonas Brothers cover in the same album as a John Lennon cover.

So the X Factor has made positive influence... in Simon Cowell's purse. He looks pregnant with the amount of money he has in his purse. It good for the television industry but it strikes such a negative impact on the music industry. Cher Llyod was heavily influenced by Cheryl Cole, and now she's considered an inspiration to young girls. This is quite worrying to be honest, because their music is lacking in solid emotion, substance and talent dare I say.

The contestants shouldn't need to worry if they get dropped. Some of them go into Broadway or theatres. Joining exotic metal/rock bands isn't a bad idea idea, just like Ailyn from the first Spanish series of X Factor did. She's the first female vocalist of Sirenia who actually stayed on to do another album, and she is still in Sirenia.

I think these sort of shows give an inaccurate perception of what working in a music industry is like and more recently we're beginning to see the cracks and how it's not all as glamorous as they make it out to be. As we all know even the judges let some horrific acts through. I think they know exactly what they're doing; they got their cash goggles on and once all the glitz and glamour is gone they realize they where blinded by the cash goggles.

In my opinion I think these sort of talent shows are killing pop music. The enthusiasm of modern pop music is lacking compared to previous decades where the commercial markets where more open-minded. I think these sort of shows eventually made people lose hope in the music industry, despite bringing out some talented acts, those dreadful acts are the ones that stand out the most. I think commercial music has gradually become a lot more close minded, which is a shame. It's becoming a lot more predictable and if it's too predictable, it gets bland and boring.

But there are some good things to this as well. It makes people want to discover music from different countries, learn different music cultures, explore different genres. So based on reading my review, you can tell that I'm not a big fan of the X Factor. I have watched previous seasons, but I don't really remember a lot about them. I tend to only watch the bad auditions because I find them funny and I enjoy Simon Cowell's blunt honesty.

I've heard some of the most recent X Factor performances when I walked into the living room, had to walk back out again. I think X Factor has to rest in peace. A lot of the greatest and my favourite musicians had humble beginnings. There's nothing humble about X Factor. As I've mentioned many times in this review, X Factor is a negative influence on the music industry and it's showing signs of killing pop music to many generations to come.