REVIEW: Rock Star Supernova – Rock Star Supernova (2006)

ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA – Rock Star Supernova (2006 Epic)

It’s no wonder this band came and went, with Lukas Rossi now toiling in obscurity once again. Even Jason Newsted didn’t want to tour with this band. (Why would he, when he had better stuff going on like VoiVod? He was replaced by Black Crowes bassist Johnny Colt.) Tommy Lee and Gilby Clarke have stated that they really wanted to have two singers, Rossi and Dilana, but the TV execs wouldn’t allow it. That shows you how much integrity is contained herein. Even the name of this band sucks.

Butch Walker (ex-Southgang) created a faceless, generic, dull sounding record with all the modern bells and whistles that scream “ProTools”. He deserved plenty of the blame since he co-wrote all the songs but one. The drums barely sound like Tommy Lee; the band has no identity. There is not one bonafide great song on this CD. There are a couple decent moments on some of the rockers such as “It’s On!”, but this is 40 minutes you won’t get back.

One of the main issues with the album is Lukas Rossi himself, a generic singer with no real identity. He sounds like any number of glam rock vocalists with nothing unique or special. The other musicians are rendered faceless by a batch of songs that are too lame for most Motley Crue albums. But come on — if you have a TV series about finding your new singer, find somebody memorable, you know?

If you bought this, you simply supported the same-old-same-old, plastic, processed, fake, and commercial music that has been rammed down the throats of the world since the advent of reality TV. Really, this just gives rock a band name, because people see this and think it’s actually rock music. It’s not. This is prefab music designed to generate hype and sales. It’s also suspect when I read multiple drummers’ names in the credits.  Thankfully people saw through it and the sales tanked (except in Canada where Rossi is from).

Don’t spend a penny on this music. If you like these musicians and you want to hear them do something cool and different that you probably haven’t already heard on the radio, pick up the following:

Gilby Clarke — Pawnshop Guitars from 1994
Tommy Lee — Motley Crue’s self-titled 1994 release with John Corabi on vocals.
Jason Newsted –- the band Newsted

If you support Rock Star Supernova, you just twisted the knife a little bit deeper into the back of rock and roll.

1/5 stars, and one big stinky piece of cheese.

1. “It’s On”
2. “Leave the Lights On”
3. “Be Yourself (and 5 Other Cliches)”
4. “It’s All Love”
5. “Can’t Bring Myself to Light This Fuse”
6. “Underdog”
7. “Make No Mistake… This Is the Take”
8. “Headspin”
9. “Valentine”
10. “Social Disgrace”
11. “The Dead Parade”

stinkycheese1

41 comments

    1. They were supposed to be called Supernova. Then halfway through the TV series, they realized another band had the rights to that name. So they added “Rock Star Supernova”. (The TV show was called Rock Star.)

      Just terrible name. Gilby’s Giblets is a better name.

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  2. To my shame, I actually watched the TV series where they were looking for the lead singer. I always believed they should have chosen the girl who came second over Lukas. I’m glad that I never bought the album after reading this.

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        1. The LA Guns drama was, admittedly, hilarious to follow. I know you’re not a drama guy, but these guys were changing singers every 2 months. Dilana probably lasted less time than anyone!

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  3. I did own this CD, ages ago (it’s no longer here). I even seem to remember getting it for $1 from a bin at our old Music World. I’d have bought it for Newsted. I don’t remember much about it, which probably says it all right there, doesn’t it.

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    1. I think it does. You can’t pre-fab a supergroup on TV. It has been proven to be a failed enterprise. It wasn’t just Rock Star, there was also a show with Sebastian Bach and Ted Nugent or some shit.

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  4. Yeah, this album wasn’t that much to write home about. I thought there was a good song or two on it and Lukas Rossi was a pretty good singer and frontman, but nah, I would spend my bucks on it.
    But that show, man, I just loved it. Me and my fiancee watched probably the whole thing in a week or so. I still have it on a burned DVD.
    There was some really great singers there. Dilana was one, Storm was one and that short blonde chick, can’t remember her name, was really good as well.
    And let’s not forget about Australian surfer boy Toby. Great voice. He released a fantastic album called Nowhere Left To Hide with his band Juke Kartel some years ago. If you can find that album, buy it!

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    1. I did not watch the show because I didn’t have TV at the time. However my wife showed me some clips. I enjoyed Ryan Star actually and he was the guy I wanted them to pick!

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    1. You are very close! JD Fortune was on Rock Star: INXS. He was in INXS for one album. Also a Toronto singer. I found it funny that two Toronto singers won on both seasons of a US show!

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      1. Good question – I can say with almost absolute certainty that I’ve never seen an entire episode of any of them.
        It’s strange, one of the highlights of the school year is watching the high school talent competitions. But then watching talent shows on TV, *homer’s reaction when offered mountain dew*, no thanks!

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  8. Never bothered with this and won’t, but gotta say from the youtube clips back when, Dilana was the only vocalist IMO they should’ve considered.

    Bought her recent release and as cool as it was and vocally magnificent as she is, kinda frustrating too that she hasn’t managed yet to hook up with a musical soulmate and deliver that BIG record she so deserves ya know?

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    1. Yeah I was surprised she didn’t launch into something bigger. I know from reading the Metal Sludge site that she also has a lot of haters. I don’t know why though.

      She did appear on a Gilby Clarke greatest hits CD. She sang with him on a track called “Black”.

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  9. I remember correctly this originally aired in that TV wasteland known as “summer programming”, even at the height of “reality TV mania” in the US!

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      1. Yeah … though I think he got wise to what he’d done and abandoned ship soon after (Johnny Colt of The Black Crowes was involved at one point). Soon after meaning shortly before the others decided this was a really bad idea.

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  11. Haha, Rock Star INXS. Oh man, how sad. I actually wept when I heard they were trying to find a lead singer to replace Hutchence. Like a bad train wreck I could not stop watching that show. INXS should have reformed into another band. It was just sad.

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    1. I said the same thing at the time. Now, I know that a lot of fans did accept JD Fortune as the new singer….

      BUT the band themselves F’d it up when they dropped JD Fortune after the tour and wouldn’t return his calls. THAT is how you treat your “new” singer?

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    2. They had a fine replacement in Jon Stevens, local lad friend of the band great singer well known from his Noiseworks days… But for whatever reason they couldn’t move forward :(

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