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Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

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  • Vital Idol: Who Goes Home?

    After the first real week of American Idol, we’re left with a couple of questions.

    1. Who is the front runner?

    The show would like you to believe David Archuleta is the front runner, but can a sixteen year old prodigy really be the front runner? As he showed last night, there’s a ton of pressure involved in winning this show. Truly, through week one, there is no front runner. There are several folks last night who showed that they will do very well in the competition, but we won’t know until we see who Fox promotes next week.

    2. Is this season’s cast really that talented?

    I’d say yes. The naysayers think that every year Randy, Paula, and Simon say that and they’d be right. But that’s their job. They have to promote the show. But this year, Randy, Paula, and Simon are right. Let’s look at season one of the show. Other than Tamyra Gray and Kelly Clarkson, every single one of this final twelve is better than everyone from season one. Just watch the Idol re-runs that are on cable. Match it up to how glitzy and well produced the singers are today. It’s not even close.

    By the way, last night I predicted that Kristy Lee Cook, David “The Stripper” Hernandez, and Syesha Mercado would be in the bottom three. Syesha is the odd one out, but really, who else do you put in that bottom three? She was the least memorable out of the rest of the ten.

    Let’s get on with the elimination.

    – They showed Jim Carrey who is promoting the new Horton Hears A Who movie and my first thought is, why don’t they promote the Idol albums like that? It would be nice if Ryno Seacrest told us that Jordin and Blake had albums that were in stores.

    – Syesha is the first one in the bottom three, so I was right with her.

    – Ryno just made Chikezie nearly faint as he tricked him, but he’s safe.

    – David Cook needs to wear a hat every time he’s on TV. It’s like Cal Ripken Jr. wearing a hat versus Cal not wearing a hat. The Cal with the hat looks like a baseball warrior. The other Cal looks like an old man with a round head. (Yeah, I know, dated reference. Oh well.)

    – Kristy Lee went to get the microphone to sing before Ryno even told her she was in the bottom three. She guessed right. She’s also in the bottom three. I’m two for two.

    – They should never do On Air With American Idol ever again. Please drop this segment. It was akin to watching the sweat build up on Phil Stacey’s head.

    – Katherine McPhee performed, with David Foster on piano, and that was the best publicity for her album that she could’ve ever received. Too bad her album came out last year.

    – Big Dave Archuleta breathed a sigh of relief and back to curly Brooke and Ramiele Maluby are safe as well. That leaves “Shake What Ya Mama Gave Ya” Hernandez in the bottom three. I’m three for three baby! Chalk this one up in the record book. I’ll never do it again for the rest of the year.

    – Syesha and Kristy Lee are safe. “Drop It Like It’s Hot” Hernandez goes home. Big Rube Studdard sings him home. I think I’ll go buy the new go home music on iTunes. Word to Dan Powter!

    At the end of the day, no big loss. He wasn’t going to win. I think the shake ups start next week though. Someone who doesn’t deserve it could go home.

  • Singing "Hallelujah"

    So it’s been established before that when songs are performed by the “American Idol” contestants, there is a bump in sales for the original recording, but at no point has this been more evident than this past week.
    After contestant Jason Castro sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (whose most popular version was recorded by the late Jeff Buckley), sales went apeshit.
    Buckley’s nearly 15-year old rendition of the song zoomed to the top of iTunes’ digital singles chart, with over 177,000 people downloading the song in the past week. Meanwhile, “Grace”, the Buckley album that features “Hallelujah” (and the only album Buckley completed in his lifetime), scanned 6,521 units last week, which would have been enough to place it on the Top 200 albums chart (indeed, it re-enters the catalog albums chart at #10). This, after scanning less than 500 units last week.
    “Grace” has truly been a story of a classic album and word of mouth. The album, which never peaked higher than #149 on the Billboard Albums chart, has scanned in excess of 800,000 units in the years since. Of course, much of this can directly be attributed to the mystery of Buckley’s drowning death and the legacy he left, but a lot of it is just ’cause the music is good!
    And for all folks say to down “American Idol”, you’ve gotta give props when something like this happens.
    Here’s the video for “Hallelujah”

  • Madonna, Mellencamp And The Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame

    Want to know about something people care about even less than the Grammy Awards?

    How about the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame?

    Over the past couple of years, the HOF has been sort of excitement-deficient. Or more accurately, the excitement and attention has been given for the wrong reasons. Most of the attention centers on Jann Wenner’s political pull at the event (rumor has it that Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five did not meet the required votes to properly be inducted last year, but were grandfathered in by Wenner…which is nice from a politically correct standpoint but also turns the HOF into “Wenner’s Faves” rather than an actual listing of rock’s most important figures).

    More attention centers on who *isn’t* in the hall of fame, a list that includes Rush, Kiss, Genesis, Hall & Oates, Tina Turner (as a solo artist), Chaka Khan/Rufus and many other artists of deserving stature, and the MOST attention centers on what exactly is “rock & roll” and what kind of artists deserve placement in the somewhat hallowed halls.

    Of course, *I* understand that the term “rock & roll” is a fairly loose term, used to describe just about any popular music made over the past fifty years, but there are some folks out there who look at certain artists with the mindset that “rock & roll” means some dude with long hair and tattoos wielding an electric guitar. Of course, folks like that seem to forget about the guys who started rock ‘n roll, like Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and guys who wouldn’t be considered “rock” by the mookheads that listen to Linkin Park nowadays (or the snobbish hipsters who are too busy wearing tight tee shirts and listening to Spoon).

    At any rate, this year’s class is fairly underwhelming, with acts like The Ventures and the Dave Clark Five (I’ll let you guys argue over whether they are deserving of their honors or not) getting inducted over passed-over artists like The Beastie Boys, Donna Summer and Chic (two of the three are absolutely deserving).

    In addition, this year sees the induction of heartland rocker John Mellencamp (who’s work is about even with fellow inductee Tom Petty and way above fellow inductee Bob Seger-who just might be the most overrated popular rock musician in history). Mellencamp’s albums have always been interesting, and the trio of albums that marked his most successful period (“American Fool”, “Uh-Huh” and “Scarecrow”) are all close to (if not) excellent. Not only has his music been steadfastly political, but he’s also championed many young (particularly black) artists over the course of his career, working with Tony Toni Tone’s Raphael Saadiq, india.arie, Meshell Ndegeocello and Junior Vasquez.

    Of course, the most boldface name on this year’s list is Madonna. Most folks would say that Madge’s music is not true rock ‘n roll, and it isn’t. Madonna has always been a pop/dance/R&B artist. However, she brings true rock ‘n roll attitude into everything she does, and as the most important and influential female artist of the past 25 years, she absolutely does belong here.

    (However, I would say that Pat Benatar and Joan Jett, at least, also belong here)

    Another question is who are the gimmes for the future? As we move further into the MTV generation, the list of must-haves grows much thinner. Of course, there’ll be room for Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Radiohead and Soundgarden, Guns ‘n Roses, The White Stripes…The Beasties, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, NWA, Public Enemy, Sonic Youth…but what about Janet Jackson (who is eligible, as her first record was released in 1982)? What about Motley Crue? Bon Jovi? Def Leppard? Biggie and Tupac? Jay-Z? It would seem like there’ll be more artists on the bubble as we move into the future and the selection becomes less immediately iconic…

    …The plot thickens…