I am 56 years old and have been singing pro with bands since my early teens. The songs I sing are about as diverse as you can get in style and genre. I rub shoulders with talented musical people daily so I think I know by now a goodun from a badun. I can tell when a singer is out of tune or has poor tonal qualities or cannot express feeling or light and shade. I know when a guitarist has a limited repertoire, when a keyboard player is not up to scratch or when a drummer has only learned the basics. I know what I like and what I do not like but still can appreciate talent from other disciplines or musical styles. I know when someone talented is playing a piece I might not care for. I see that talent still shining through. I abhor rap music for the crime and gang culture it stands for and flowery vocal gymnastic R&B singing. I am not keen on some folk and country music either..yet I can see that some of the exponents of these genres have talent.
In short we should all be able to determine crap from talent. Why shallow, crap and mediocrity should sell big time is beyond belief and understanding..... it should be beyond every other honest persons thinking.
I watched in disbelief and got so angry I almost threw up during this weeks X FACTOR. What sickened me was not the woeful lack of talent. It was the fact that people get enjoyment and entertainment watching sad deluded people being ridiculed and making a fool of themselves on national TV. One or more of these people will become a millionaire and make hit records.....none of them have any real talent.
I am not bitter....just angry that people with huge talent who have spent a lifetime dedicating themselves to music and perfecting skills get nowhere and the charts are made up of average karaoke singers who succeed or fail on the whim of a panel of equally shallow people who only have cash registers for brains.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=5238055