These shows are what they are. It would be news to me if their goal was the furtherance of pop and rock music as a cultural influence. And people that perform there are not the new Hendrix or Dylan nor do they want to be. Most of them don't even know a Hendrix or Dylan song. They want to be the umpteenth Mariah Carey or George Michael. Everybody gets what they expect, the jurors promoting themselves, the willing participants, the audience lapping it all up. No complaints there. It's crap, but crap among consenting adults. Or at least among those who don't know better.
I rule out that Robert Zimmermann would have participated in something like X-Factor. And if he would have and had won I rule out this would have spawned a career of Dylanesque longevity. We're really talking two different universes. It's like saying that a young Meryl Streep wouldn't have won a casting interview for Hannah Montana. That says nothing bad about Meryl Streep and nothing bad about Hannah Montana as a series unless you are a moron who believes that Hannah Montana is or should be the breeding ground of the next generation of Academy Award winners.
That said, Sting, Gene and Jack sound like grumpy old men here. Which they are. And Gene isn't Robert Plant by even his tongue's stretch.
No one from X-Factor or American Idol or however they are called will ever be Dylan, Hendrix or Led Zeppelin. Just the thought of it is ludicrous heresy. They won't even be Kiss. Best they can hope for is to be the new Monkeys. For a while.
If real rock and pop music is an erotic picture, then this stuff is cheap porn. Which has its place but let's not confuse the two and please, please, please leave the next Dylan/Hendrix/Rotten/Cobain out of stuff like it.