a funny-lookin' music star? it'll never happen

Hello! My name is Bobby Flynn! I reckon just maybe I can make it big in the Music Biz!

With that hair? I think not. That hair is positively funny-lookin'.

Too right. No one ever made it big in the Music Biz with funny-lookin' hair.

Dude, really! Who do you think you are? Get a hair-cut!

It's not just the hair, guys. This bloke is funny-lookin' all over. Does he think just any genuinely talented singer-songwriter can make it big? Sorry buddy - not if you have bad hair and are funny-lookin'.

And what's with the high, girly voice? No one's going to listen to that.

A high girly voice, funny-lookin' and weird hair. This guy is dreaming.

Does he think he can make it big in the Music Biz while being a dead-set weirdo? Is that what he thinks?! It'll never work. Go home, Bobby.

Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't realise that to be a successful musician you had to have pretty blue eyes, pretty gelled hair, a six-pack and a pretty straight white smile. I stand corrected. Thank goodness the Pretty-People Police pointed out the error of my ways, before I made a fool of myself. I'll just quietly go home now.

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For those whose music collections don't extend beyond Kylie and Justin Timberlake, the people above are: Robert Plant (frontman of Led Zeppelin), Leo Sayer, Roger Daltrey (frontman of The Who), Donovan, Neil Young, Tim Buckley and David Bowie. None of them is a Pretty-Person. Each of them is considered reasonably legendary in the world of music.

How many of music history's legends are incredibly hot male-model types? Bob Dylan?... err - no. John Lennon?... perhaps not. Anyone might think that - shock! horror! - there are more important things than looking like you just walked off the pages of a beautiful-people magazine.

For the record, I think Bobby is by far the most engaging contestant in this year's Australian Idol. He is the only one who genuinely interprets his songs, and is truly unafraid to "be himself" (as Marcia keeps repeating like some hippy mantra). I must admit, when his version of Warren Zevon's classic 'Werewolves Of London' began, I was thinking "What the fuck are you doing?!". But then I had Bobby's version stuck in my head for three days. In a good way. His vocal style is unusual - and doubtless not to everyone's taste - but I'll take it any day over the by-the-numbers r'n'b rehashes and soft-cock indie rock that make up the rest of the field.

And for those who are anti-Bobby because he's "ugly"... try not being as shallow as a puddle some time. You might just find it rewarding.