Hero [Single, Import]

X Factor Finalists 2008 (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 4, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single, Import
• ASIN: B001GR6HM6
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,182 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A terrible record - for many reasons., December 8, 2008

By 

The Curmudgeon "Your life lacks purpose - my ... (Latveria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hero (Audio CD)

Not content with ruining the Christmas number one spot for, like, the 75th year running, Simon Cowell decided that the 12 finalists of this years ghastly X Factor team up to cover "Hero", the Mariah Carey song (back when she actually used to sing, you know, songs, instead of screeching, wearing very little and pretending to like black people).

But let's hold those critical horses for a second because, hey - it's for CHARITY. Yes, it was time for serious faces and bare-faced sanctimony on the X Factor, as Cowell unleashed this horror on the world, playing some kind of Doctor Doom figure looking over his anti-Avengers style league of Super Heroes Against Music.

And what was the charity for? Help For Heroes - a worthwhile charity, not that the 12 odious idiots on the X Factor seemed to care, of course. From the videos shown when it was announced this single was number one, the ONLY thing they cared about was that their voice was on a hit record. "Screw the soldiers with their legs blown off - my voice is on the radio! Aiiiiiiiieee!"

Let's remember something - these 12 finalists didn't WANT to do this; they were TOLD to do it. This isn't like, say, Prince releasing "S.S.T" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina or Geldof's "Band Aid." This is the sound of 12 talent show finalists reading a lyric sheet while Cowell looks on, all the while delighted that they're actually getting to make a single. And what a comfort it must have been for those war veterans in attendance the night this song was unleashed. Yes, brave soldier - your sacrifice, determination and courage - all rewarded by some 16 year old Irish simpleton singing a Mariah song.

No matter how bad this record actually is, it is still (at time of writing) the biggest selling single of 2008. And here's my other main problem with "Hero", and it's not a swipe at the song or even the singers, more the people who went out and bought it. This CD sold 100,000 copies in ONE DAY. So where the hell are these people when OTHER CD singles are being released? Why are CD singles becoming obsolete, now seen as for "completists and collectors only", if there's this amount of people willing to actually go out and buy them?

Simple - because the people who bought this record don't actually LIKE music. They're the "buy one album a year" crowd (and that album will be the winner of the X Factor), the scourge of real music, where what they listen to begins and ends with what gets played on reality television, or if they're really being adventurous - car adverts.

So while actual CD singles by actual artists continue to become a thing of the past, a CD by 12 people you won't even remember in 6 months time is the biggest selling single of the year. If that doesn't make you want to vomit you may want to question your existence on this planet.

You want to give to charity? Be my guest. Donate through a website. Give to charity shops. Stick some money in a collectors tin. Do anything but feed the ego of Simon Cowell and the fame hungry cretins singing on this record.