sweetness!!! rockstar supernova!!!!

Rock Star Supernova
"Rock Star Supernova"
(Epic)

In a lot of ways, Rock Star Supernova has more in common with The Monkees than most people would assume. In addition to being a band forced together under the circumstances of a television show, they also have other people playing on the record (Butch Walker of Marvelous 3 fame and studio musician extrodinaire Jason Freese among them), and their sound is indictative of a particular time frame. For example, The Monkees were playing the contemporary style of the '60s, but Neil Diamond's songwriting is a watered down take on 1950's R&B and Doo-Wop, with its complex vocal harmonies. Rock Star Supernova is a bastard child of early-to-mid '90s rock. I can hear this sandwiched between Silverchair and Cake on someone's mixtape.

For all the hype, the lawsuit, and my personal enjoyment of the "Rock Star" reality show, this is everything I expected it to be: a shit burger. I didn't really expect much from the combination of Tommy Lee, Gilby Clarke (seriously, dude didn't even play on "Appetite For Destruction," therefore, he has no right to claim the Guns 'N Roses thing), Jason Newstead and rookie singer, Lukas Rossi. There are a few catchy numbers like "It's All Love" and Rossi's show-winning song "Headspin," but for the most part, this is really generic.

I don't think that if Dilana won, it would've made much difference (other than the fact that she was a pretty bad singer and a shitty lyricist) since many of the songs were already written while the show was still in production. With all its numerous flaws, Rock Star Supernova's debut isn't terrible, but it's nothing to hoot and holler over, either. I'd imagine that if someone paid money for this CD, it would be out of pure novelty, not unlike the band itself. At least it makes for decent background noise.