May 6, 2009
...No not Ryan Seacrest. I'm talking about Adam Lambert.
Whether any of us want to admit or not, American Idol is a dominant force in the music world. Oh sure Taylor Hicks was a bigger bust than Cop Rock and Ryan Leaf. But for every Taylor Hicks, there's a Kelly Clarkson. Hell, Carrie Underwood is the biggest star in country music (and the other four artists in country music are pissed about it).
It's not that American Idol is seasonally uncovering the greatest musical talent in America, it's that artists like Daughtry receive three months of free P-R that has no match in the industry. And now, now the show's actually stumbled upon an amazing talent. Through all his theatrics, eyeliner and the wearing of the tight pants, Adam Lambert has a huge, effortless voice. The knock on him has been he has no fit in mainstream music. His future seems better suited for Broadway than Broad Appeal. That is, until last night.
In all honesty, last week I was sitting in my living room watching Idol (for show reasons of course) and I thought to myself, I'd like to hear this guy sing Guns N' Roses. Well, sure as Shinola, this week turns out to be classic Rock week. Despite Slash's presence as guest coach, Lambert does not choose a GNR song. No, he embarks upon a far greater challenge. Axel Rose, Schmaxel Rose, Lambert had the never-been-touched-by-a-girl balls to sing Robert Plant. Robert Plant! What person in the right mind tries to sing Robert Plant on national television and to an audience comprised mostly of housewives, teenage girls and radio show host(s)?
But here's the kicker... Dude kills it! Knocked it out of the park. Scratched it's eyes out with his long, black fingernails. Adam Lambert finally found his niche and it happens to be the material from the greatest era of music in history (all apologies to Mozart). Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Beatles. Was it ever better? It certainly hasn't been since.
Wouldn't it be flat crazy if a gay guy from a televised talent show used the PR machine that is American Idol to revive Rock n' Roll? If Lambert takes what's her name's advice and makes a brand new classic rock album, you know it will sell. The question will be, can classic rock catch on with America's youth while simultaneously catching on with the genre's core fans who may or not be able to overlook Lambert's girl-hair.
It will certainly be interesting to see.
As for the rest of the show, I thought Danny Gokey's performance of "Dream On" was flat horrible this week. The judges ripped his final blood-curdling note, where I was more concerned with his Mel Tormey (sp?) doo-doo-dadoo-doo scat he put in the middle of Aerosmith's "Dream On"! For that he should go… But he won't.
The judges teamed up on Kris Allen last night. He was certainly out of his comfort zone last night. It must stink to get this far and get tripped up by the last kind of music you should sing. Had it come up earlier in the season, he wouldn't have flown through the round. But with only four left?
Allen was outperformed by his duet partner Danny Gokey last night, but Gokey should have erased all memory of that victory with his show-closing cat screeching.
I think Kris Allen's a goner tonight. And you can hold me to it.
Blog at you later.
chuck
AMERICAN IDOL
Now let me preface this by saying, I know this sounds crazy, but can a seemingly gay man from American Idol revive Rock N' Roll?...No not Ryan Seacrest. I'm talking about Adam Lambert.
Whether any of us want to admit or not, American Idol is a dominant force in the music world. Oh sure Taylor Hicks was a bigger bust than Cop Rock and Ryan Leaf. But for every Taylor Hicks, there's a Kelly Clarkson. Hell, Carrie Underwood is the biggest star in country music (and the other four artists in country music are pissed about it).
It's not that American Idol is seasonally uncovering the greatest musical talent in America, it's that artists like Daughtry receive three months of free P-R that has no match in the industry. And now, now the show's actually stumbled upon an amazing talent. Through all his theatrics, eyeliner and the wearing of the tight pants, Adam Lambert has a huge, effortless voice. The knock on him has been he has no fit in mainstream music. His future seems better suited for Broadway than Broad Appeal. That is, until last night.
In all honesty, last week I was sitting in my living room watching Idol (for show reasons of course) and I thought to myself, I'd like to hear this guy sing Guns N' Roses. Well, sure as Shinola, this week turns out to be classic Rock week. Despite Slash's presence as guest coach, Lambert does not choose a GNR song. No, he embarks upon a far greater challenge. Axel Rose, Schmaxel Rose, Lambert had the never-been-touched-by-a-girl balls to sing Robert Plant. Robert Plant! What person in the right mind tries to sing Robert Plant on national television and to an audience comprised mostly of housewives, teenage girls and radio show host(s)?
But here's the kicker... Dude kills it! Knocked it out of the park. Scratched it's eyes out with his long, black fingernails. Adam Lambert finally found his niche and it happens to be the material from the greatest era of music in history (all apologies to Mozart). Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Beatles. Was it ever better? It certainly hasn't been since.
Wouldn't it be flat crazy if a gay guy from a televised talent show used the PR machine that is American Idol to revive Rock n' Roll? If Lambert takes what's her name's advice and makes a brand new classic rock album, you know it will sell. The question will be, can classic rock catch on with America's youth while simultaneously catching on with the genre's core fans who may or not be able to overlook Lambert's girl-hair.
It will certainly be interesting to see.
As for the rest of the show, I thought Danny Gokey's performance of "Dream On" was flat horrible this week. The judges ripped his final blood-curdling note, where I was more concerned with his Mel Tormey (sp?) doo-doo-dadoo-doo scat he put in the middle of Aerosmith's "Dream On"! For that he should go… But he won't.
The judges teamed up on Kris Allen last night. He was certainly out of his comfort zone last night. It must stink to get this far and get tripped up by the last kind of music you should sing. Had it come up earlier in the season, he wouldn't have flown through the round. But with only four left?
Allen was outperformed by his duet partner Danny Gokey last night, but Gokey should have erased all memory of that victory with his show-closing cat screeching.
I think Kris Allen's a goner tonight. And you can hold me to it.
Blog at you later.
chuck
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