Watching "American Idol" last night, where it was the girls' turn to (hopefully) rock the '80s, you wondered if any of the contestants had been watching the show the past six seasons and listening to the judges' comments. Clearly not. As my neighbor and friend, G., said to me this morning, "Where have these people been living the last six years, under a rock?!" Clearly yes.
I am not going to do a long-winded (or short-winded) recap of last night's amateur hour. For that, I highly recommend the pop culture stylings of Craig Berman over at MSNBC. Though I will say that overall I think the girls did better than the guys did on Tuesday. (I really like Brooke and thought she did a great job reinterpreting Pat Benatar's "Love Is a Battlefield," though I felt Amanda's performance was way overrated -- and predictable -- and Simon unfair to Kristy, who also did a nice reinterpretration of an eighties rock song.)
But please (pretty please, with a cherry on top?) can the producers institute a ban on singing songs made famous by Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Mariah Carey? Please? Since the contestants are clearly not bright enough to make good song choices/career decisions on their own, can you help them out? And while you're at it, can you cross out Phil Collins and Lionel Richie from the playlist, too? There should also be a strictly enforced limit on the number of Donny Hathaway songs performed each season. (Got some names to add to the list? Include them in a Comment.)
To paraphrase the First Lady of the 1980s, when it comes to singing power ballads on "American Idol," particularly you youngsters 21 and under, "just say no."
In other pop culture news.... I see that Christian won on "Project Runway." (I didn't watch. Will have to catch the rerun.) Very disappointing. I was pulling for Jillian, with Rami as the runner-up.
And in Hillary news.... Okay, I exaggerated a bit in yesterday's post. I don't hate Hill, just don't like how she's run her campaign or her authoritarian streak. But instead of bloggering on about her, I suggest you check out the humorous political punditry of Gail Collins over at The New York Times, who has a column titled "Hillary's Edge" in today's paper.
Now back to my day job...
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2 comments:
I hate power ballads and eighties too, but for different reasons.
I thought it was end of the world when Reagan was elected (and then re-elected). I will go on record saying that hated the eighties during the eighties. And it's quite a statement about our time (the 2000s) that we are watching a group of Ted Mackers singing ersatz versions of songs that were saccharine to begin with.
I was and remain blissfully ignorant of the pablum that was released in the name of popular music during that time (the Talking Heads were really a late 70s band). I didn't own a TV (so no MTV), and didn't listen to anything on the radio but WFAN or NPR.
And to waffle a little bit, I will go on record that Michael John's should have sung "Pride In the Name of Love."
...can the producers institute a ban on singing songs made famous by Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Mariah Carey?
No. The show in fact is designed to find the next Mariah Carey or male equivalent. Based on my relatively limited viewing (I am not looking for the next Mariah Carey and would like the present one to go away) the judges favor those who can bring the melisma.
And speaking of the judges, we tuned in last night at 8:45 and what was up with the judges? Did Paula share her stash or something? It clearly looked as if the producer had a word with them before the last singer came out.
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