Inventing Stardom

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Executive producer Lauren Zelaznick says the development process involved some pained discussions about musical success. "Is [the show] about stunts that have nothing to do with music?" she asks. "No. Is it about their musical prowess, and you get a panel of judges, like a rock-'n'-roll Star Search? No, because that's also not the whole picture. It was, How do you represent success in the real world? Is it really cynical and awful to say it's by counting drink tickets sold at the door?"

These bands, as befits the older-skewing VH1, aren't teen pop (several have a circa 1995 alterna-rock sound). But that may not be a bad thing. Despite the success of O-Town and Eden's Crush, that slickly packaged style of music has lately dipped on the charts. Stone and Stanley predict Popstars will be on the air in 10 years, creating bands of different genres to suit each season. But it's hard to imagine, say, a Grungestars, should there be a resurgence in music reliant on at least the appearance of independence.

If prefab pop does enter a bear market, Bands on the Run could prove truly forward-looking, with its low-tier musicians cadging pocket change from strangers. In the series' second episode, the Josh Dodes Band plays a dismal gig at a Chicago Hard Rock Cafe, asking the indifferent crowd to pop by its concert later in the week and help it win a TV game show. "It's all based around money," lead singer Dodes explains. Self-consciously, he grins. "And what the hell isn't?" For a moment, the phrase reality TV seems just about right.