X Ratings

MOVE over Pete Doherty, or just loll the other way, there’s a new cocaine crackpot tearing up the British music scene.

It’s not Justin Hawkins, The Darkness’ frontman, who tells the Sun that he’s spent £150,000 in three years on cocaine. “I became secretive, volatile and verbally abusive, a really unpleasant person to be around.” And at 31-years of age, Justin is no teenager.

No, the new rock ‘n’ roller is Ben Mills. You know Ben? Course you do. Tall-ish. White teeth. Ten fingers. Possibly ten toes.

If you don’t know Ben, you haven’t been watching the X Factor TV show, the event that gives the Mirror a headline each and every day.

Today, the Mirror’s front page is: “I AM COCAINE ADDICT. X FACTOR BEN’S DRUG SHOCKER.”

It is indeed a shock to read of Ben on the front page. But there it is. And inside the paper, we hear Ben (“I WAS ON COCAINE..BUT I’VE CRACKED IT NOW”) admit to having taken ecstasy, cannabis, speed and acid. He also used to snort cocaine up to three times a week.

But not any more. Says Ben: “Rock and roll and the drugs that came with it are my past – but singing is my big passion in life and X Factor is my future.”

Ben, company Director of a marquee company (claim to fame: “putting a marquee up for Jools Holland”), should note that X Factor runs for something less than four score years and ten, and unless he plans to exit early in true rock ‘n’ roll style, his life could be a disappointment.

But, in any case, the X Factor is more than just drugs. As the Sun reports, wannabe star Jermaine Sanderson’s dad has served jail time for manslaughter.

“X FACTOR STAR’S DAD WAS KILLER,” says the headline. It’s “Jermaine’s manslaughter heartache.”

And so it is that a contest that began as a karaoke sing-off is now an insight into so much more. Do we vote for the good boy of a bad man or the reformed druggie?

Or is the winner the performer who gets the most headlines?

Posted: 11th, October 2006 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink