I'd imagine it's the € € € € € € € €'s!!!!

He has a very chequered history but was always associated with pop music and to a point, the Eurovision. If memory serves, he wrote "All kinds of Everything" for Dana, did he not. Then there was the whole Bay City Rollers much in the seventies. On the other hand, he has worked with Elvis Costello, Sinead O Connor and even Richard Harris. I suppose it is inevitable that talented songwriters who are not stars in their own right drift into producing and writing for other artists. Equally, if you are in that game and good at it, you are almost certainly going to be drawn to writing for pop stars whose top 10 hits will bring home the bacon. That said, this pop star muck is cheapo crap television and those associated with it need their heads examined...

Cheap Trash TV it may be, but I find it rather entertaining. Watching unknown talentless individuals being mercilessly put down by famous talentless individuals (Phil Coulter excepted). Quality entertainment!

Must say, I had a very low opinion of this sort of TV until I recently saw Fear Factor on Sky One recently. Genuinely C-list celebs (Kieth Chegwin, Some punter from the Salon etc) being half drowned, buried in snakes & ants & shunted up tall poles. Great to see these wastes of space getting the humiliation they deserve. And all in the name of charidee! The irony is delictable....

I had to look after my niece the other day, and consequently I had to sit through an hour of Pop Idol. Ccccccccrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggeeeeeeee!!!! Bloody hell, I have to say that TV programming that stale is absolutely disgusting. It's funny how these shows set out to expose talent, but only ever end up exposing the lack of it. Q2

Incidently, I hear a story that Eura-a-spa's "success" story, Mickey Joe Harte recently played DCU or somewhere recently and the attendance was so bad, they ended up giving tickets away just to get rid of them. Hee hee. Come in Mickey Joe, your 15 minutes are up. Q2

funny you should say that i saw him recently at a gig in the village the guy hasn't got a clue he was wearing tight eighties style levis ,white runners and some pathetic unique clothes shop tie dye shirt in between trying to get the attention of the girdles wha with his posin and stuff nobody paid the least bit of attention .sony ireland know how to dress there top stars alright .as for that spanner coulter he deserves a good thrashing

funny subject matter this, i mean its Phil Coulter not Phil Lynott (yeah i know he's dead!) we are talking about - Mr Eurovision himsmellf, so not too surprised to see him lend "credibility" to the whole thing... Q2, like you i was amazed that he would actually smash up some poor kids guitar like that. i would sue the f**ker claiming mental anguish owing to extreme sentimental value of the guitar or some other such nonsense. i didnt actually see that episode, just RTE using that shot to advertise the programme, so maybe somebody would tell me whether he apologized and forked out??!

Fair enough Sheena, your opinion is as valid as anyone else's and I respect that. But for me personally, "I know you're my every tomorrow" amongst others, is not a lyric I'd associate with a songwriter with talent. Also, I had the not so honourable pleasure of meeting the man when I was working at Special Olympics closing ceremony this year, and his attempts to text-book charm my fellow female workers frankly, had all of us in stitches laughing. Not to mention that his singing at the ceremony was diabolically out of tune. Plus I think he's a product of the entertainment side of the industry that constantly churns out commercial Monday-morning selling muck that everyone will have forgotten about in a couple of years. All of this leads to me having a severe lack of interest in the man's work. Not you however, but well and good. It's nice to see a genuine fan speak up in this thread anyway, after all, where would discussion be without 2 sides of the issue? Q2

Firstly Q2, I want to point out that Mickey Harte did NOT write "We've got the World" (Eurovision song) I agree, its crap! And it's definately something he would not write. But Phil Coulter insisted he play it for You're a Star - Probably hoping the public wouldn't like the song and chose Simon Casey! God i hate that ponse! Mickey HArte hates his eurovision song! he charges an extra €1000 to play that song at gigs because he hates playing it so much. He also got rid of the green guitar because he wants to get away from the you're a Star scene - i don't blame him but the songs he writes himself that are on his album are really good but thats just my opinion. Everyone has a different taste in music, and i like his.

In fairness, Mickey Joe Harte knew exactly what he was getting into when he entered for the "Your a star" competition. He knew that he would lose respect with the gig going public if he attached himself to the machine that is "Your a star". He put himself in the same boat of all those people that queue up for hours to audition for "your a star" with the sole intention of becoming Famous... This doesnt take from the fact that the guy probably has talent. However, when he decided to enter the "Your a star" competition, he basicially chose the pop crap route to success, and he therefore has been tarnished with that brush and it will be very hard for him to away from it.

Does it matter that Mickey Joe Harte got to fame via your a star? No (unless your an indie elitist ) Can he sing? yes, but without individuality Can he play guitar? Yes, and despite what Thom Yorke may have you believe, not everybody can play guitar. Does he bring anything REMOTELY new or interesting to the tired singer/songwriter genre? No, moving swiftly along then....

Just going back to the original topic. I watched Eura Star last night and I have to admitt I was glued, its so entertaining. They had a theme of 'bad guitarists'. About 10 guys came on with their guitars completly out of tune and as it went on Mr. Coultar got more and more frustrated. Eventually he grabbed one poor individuals guitar and smashed it to pieces, then he says 'Now sing.' Your man replies 'How can I f**ken sing without my guitar!' If he smashed my guitar, I would have finished it off over his face. Nobody could replace my 'bernie'. It must be said hes great to watch, putting pressure on Pete Waterman/Simon Cowel (what ever his name is)

Sorry folks but what the hell are you all doing watching a bunch of fools wanting to win the f**king eurovision song contest when the most memorable thing about the thing is how great the interval was!!!!Waste of time.

Cos I got time to waste? Actually good point Kim, I have seen the error my ways! I shall draw up a schedule immediately and use my time for more noble worthwhile pursuits!

...if only I could just get the willpower to turn off the TV

I am very proud of you...none more of this mickey harte talk..hehe

Kim Deal? Is that a Dandy Warhols refernce? Q2