Chris Daughtry and his Backstreet Boys

Finally finally finally! - A newspaper writer has spoken the truth (and that's what we specialize in here), about Chris Daughtry and his group of Backstreet Boys - yes, those faux rockers - guy liner, key chains and bald heads in tact. This guy has a life span of about 2 years and then he'll fade into pop music oblivion where most of the faux rockers end up. I never could understand the attraction to Chris Daughtry. His arrogance and stage presence makes my stomach chirn. There's nothing original or interesting about him. His sales mean nothing and says nothing about his below average singing, songwriting and innovativeness. You see, I've seen the great rock bands of the past, and Daughtry is just an embarrassment in comparison. Remember, New Kids On The Block sold millions too. I really hate to insult the real Backstreet Boys like this (they actually had a couple of listenable songs), but they're just a minor footnote in pop culture history now - exactly where Daughtry will end up in short order.

Here the writeup from the Harford Couriant:

Chief among the various sins of "American Idol" is the way the televised competition has codified clichés.

Sure, it takes a modicum of talent to actually win, but plenty of finalists coast pretty far on what they, and the audience watching at home, imagine is the way a pop star should look and sound. For example: Chris Daughtry.

Bounced off the show as one of four remaining finalists in May 2006, he fit the image well enough to land a record deal, and his self-titled 2006 debut has sold more than 3 million copies. Last week, he was nominated for four Grammys.

Yet his performance Sunday night at Foxwoods Resort Casino was never more than a wan rehashing of conventions cribbed from the past 20 years of hard rock, with a particular (and unfortunate) emphasis on the late '90s and early '00s. His songs have all the dour angst of nu-metal, but without the bite.

In fact, the 75-minute concert felt at times like Daughtry was still trying to impress the "American Idol" judges as he strove to demonstrate his range, which is limited.

With a shaved head and scruffy cheeks, he looked the part. But Daughtry is an average vocalist — and not much of a songwriter, either, if you prize originality.

That was never more painfully clear than when he and his four-piece band launched into an abridged version of Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City," a juiced-up firecracker of a tune that made his own songs seem as thin and watery as gruel.

The GNR tune was easily the most advisable of his cover choices, which also included over-emoting on John Lennon's "Imagine" — a song that all but begs for understatement — and, in the middle of Daughtry's Richard-Marx-meets-late-'80s-Heart mash-up "What About Now," a verse from Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line."

Daughtry's originals were mostly maudlin minor-key rockers, with chugging guitar parts and bombastic choruses. He offered a new song, "Back to Me," which he performed alone with an acoustic guitar, and thrilled the crowd with sing-alongs such as "Used To" and the break-up song "Over You," which ended his main set. His lyrics seemed largely to consist of platitudes about lost love, loneliness and overcoming hardship in this mean old world.

That's powerful stuff, and easily relatable. Yet Daughtry was unable to transcend the clichés that have made him a star, and although he performed throughout as though he yearned to take flight, he never quite managed to leave the ground.