MJ’s Take on Rolling Stones Week: No Real Satisfaction
The Top 12 kicked off the season 9 finals Tuesday night by taking on the songs of the iconic British band, the Rolling Stones.
Could the remaining kids pull off such big songs? This week’s performances weren’t as bad as they could have been. On the other hand, there were no truly fabulous performances, either.
‘American Idol’: Kara attacks Simon…’s chest, on the scene at the Top 12 performance night that is known as the Idoldome. Best I can tell, the set itself hasn’t changed much at all sin
Ah, the Idoldome. It’s my fourth year recapping the behind-the-scenery at American Idol, and my third inside the double-decker, steel-and-mylar-and-HD-jumboscreens behemothce The Season of Kradison — the only major difference to the studio I caught was the addition of three rows or so to the rear of the audience.
‘American Idol’ Recap: Highs And Lows With The Rolling Stones
It has been five days since America took a machete to the seriously talented people on “American Idol, ” but as is always the case with this insane show, you just have to accept the results and move on. (Says the man who spent the day watching Katelyn Epperly’s “The Scientist” on repeat. While clutching a homemade Allison Iraheta plush doll. And weeping.)
More Idol recaps after the JUMP…Keep checking back for more…
‘American Idol’ recap: The Jaggered Edge
That hilarious moment played out in my mind during last night’s episode of American Idol, because several of season 9’s finalists botched the translation of the Stones’ songs they were tasked with singing. Katie Stevens turned a classic tale of romantic longing into a pitch-imperfect plea for text-message votes. Andrew Garcia massaged a ferocious anti-war anthem into a puddle of meaningless pablum. Paige Miles, well… I’m still trying to make sense of her gender change-up of ”Honky Tonk Women.” And poor, misguided Tim Urban delivered a tale of sexual domination as if he was reading a brunch menu to an aged aunt who’d left her glasses back at the rest home.
Few stand out in long, uneventful ‘Idol’ show
Two hours is a very long time to commit to a television show. Add the interactivity element to it, as “American Idol” does, and you’re asking viewers to spend their entire after-dinner evening watching relative unknowns cover Rolling Stones tunes, and then pick up the phones to vote and text for their favorites.
‘American Idol’ Gets Its Ya-Ya’s Out On Rolling Stones Night
“Someone in the ‘American Idol‘ hierarchy must have a sick sense of humor.” That was the first thought I had when I heard that the Top 12 would be blasting its way through the catalog of the Rolling Stones for its first night on the big stage in Los Angeles. The Rolling Stones? The same Rolling Stones who could never get “Satisfaction, ” who demanded “Sympathy For The Devil, ” who had infamous bootlegs of their backstage adventures?
Ann Powers: The Top 12 meet the Rolling Stones
For any rock fan who has learned to love “American Idol, ” the theme of Tuesday night’s first showing for the Top 12 — the music of the Rolling Stones — was fraught with tension. Imagine if you’d had two high school boyfriends, one the student body president and one a pot-smoking juvenile delinquent, and they got to talking at your 10-year reunion. There you would sit, sheepishly sipping your Grey Goose and tonic, caught in a crossfire of mutual disbelief: How could you have liked that loser?
‘American Idol’ Recap: Aaron Kelly Brings It With the Rolling Stones’ ‘Angie’
First off, let me get my predictions out of the way before the show starts so you can come back and cheer me or mock me afterwards. If you want to see my psychic link with Simon Cowell informed opinions on how the remaining “Idol” contestants are going to do this season, check out my power rankings here on Billboard.com.
12 Finalists Compete
I know a lot of you are going to say “Haw haw! You thought this show was about singing?” but it’s really dispiriting to hear the judges repeatedly give feedback along the lines of “You didn’t hit all the notes but you did a great job.” Can’t we at least try to pretend that singing well is still a big part of the show? But this is the top 12, the Stair part of the show. People sing on the stairs. Ryan descends the stairs. Idol and its precious stairs. There’s no time for getting the notes right when there are stairs to think about!
‘American Idol’ Top 12 done in by Rolling Stones
It was Rolling Stones night on “American Idol.” Be yourself, know who you are as an artist — but surprise us and sound like you mean every word. Oh wait! It’s Rolling Stones week! Three-chord songs with limited vocal range that never sound good performed by anybody but the Rolling Stones. Nevermind.
American Idol top 12 recap, rankings: starting us up
While this is hardly a rocker-heavy group, the top 12 managed to pull off Rolling Stones night with some level of satisfaction.
Siobhan Magnus’ star keeps on rising while two other frontrunners Michael Lynche and Crystal Bowersox (in the well-earned pimp spot) maintained their positions.
Blake Lewis: ‘Where was the excitement’?
Big Stage, Big Voices, but no BIG performance. I watched American Idol twice Tuesday night to see if I had missed anything. Had I? I was hoping to be blown away by someone’s stunning performance, and, sadly, I was not.
There were some great vocals and that’s just great. Great, Great, Great. But this was a Rolling Stones tribute night?! No one in the entire night channeled Mick Jagger or Keith Richards. Where was the excitement on stage?
“American Idol” Finds Its Lady Lambert on Rolling Stones Night
American Idol is definitely reeling from the loss of queen of kook Paula Abdul — see Rob Sheffield’s excellent Post-Paula Depression for a full explanation — but the show is also lacking something it didn’t even have until last season: breakout sensation Adam Lambert. Say what you will about his post-Season Eight career, but for a few months in ‘09, Glambert was the reason people tuned in to Idol on Tuesdays (to see what he’d sing) and Wednesdays (to see what he’d wear while someone else got sent home).
‘American Idol’ Top 12: Crystal Bowersox, Siobhan Magnus Come Out On Top
The “American Idol” season-nine top 12 made it to the big stage Tuesday night (March 16) to take on the songs of the Rolling Stones. And, in a wakeup call on the first night of mixed-gender competition, the women served notice that they really are the ones to beat this year as Siobhan Magnus drew more raves and Crystal Bowersox had yet another solid performance.
Siobhan Magnus’ ‘Paint It Black’ Lights Up The ‘American Idol’ Stage
She looks like Marcie from “Peanuts, ” embraces theatricality like Adam Lambert and sings Rolling Stones songs like she’s Mick Jagger’s long-lost daughter (which, knowing Mick’s reputation, could be a possibility). Her name is Siobhan Magnus, and her rising star shone bright on Tuesday’s (March 16) top 12 episode of “American Idol.”
‘American Idol’ Season 9 Recap: Siobhan Magnus Tops the Top 12
In a nod to the successful all-Beatles night two years ago — well, the first night was successful; Idol kind of ruined it by stretching it to two weeks — the Idols took on the Rolling Stones. They had a lot of material to chose from. (Disclosure: I am not terribly familiar with their material once you past the most popular ones. And my TV broke, so I was working off a backup. Bear with me.)
American Idol: The Top 12
Since this worked so well last week, let’s make it a tradition: Siobhan Magnus > Crystal Bowersox > Casey James > Tim Urban > Andrew Garcia > Paige Miles > Katie Stevens > Lee Dewyze > Michael Lynche > Aaron Kelly > Didi Benami > Lacey Brown
A band puts a song out in the world, and quickly it belongs to everyone: fans sing along to it, critics dissect it, young artists cover it. It’s gone: once you let a song go, you can’t take it back.
Top 12 Recap- “I Always Thought My Son Would Be a Custodian”
Ryan Seacrest mentions that 450 screaming fans are in the live Idol audience tonight. What a coincidence. That’s the exact same number of albums the winner of this season will sell. In the hotly contested 2 dog race between Crystal and Siobhan with 10 supporting players, the Rolling Stones were murdered quite a bit tonight. I thought some of the takes were better than I was expecting, but Tim Urban’s out of left field reggae version was the WTF moment of the night. I knew Tim wouldn’t let us down. After Ryan Seacrest calls The Rolling Stones the “most iconic band on the planet” and the “greatest rock and roll band in the world” (didn’t see say that about the Beatles two years ago?), it’s now time for amateurs to shit all over their collection. Are you ready?
Final 12 – It’s Hard To Ruin The Stones, But They Sure Tried
Seacrest announces 450 fans are in the audience tonight. Ooh, so intimidating. There’s usually more people standing around at the Post Office. Now that I think about it, this episode was about as exhilarating as being stuck in line at the post office, except without the stamp-licking.
In Idol’s inimitable, fawning, over-the-top kiss-ass style they praise The Rolling Stones, and call them “The Most iconic band on the planet. Their live shows define the meaning of rock and roll.” And I can’t really disagree. Although technically you can’t be the “most” iconic, as anything iconic is the epitome of it, therefore you can’t be “the most epitome” of anything.
The ‘American Idol’ Judge Power Rankings: Kara stays on top, Randy sinks further down as we head into the Top 11
Eleven more eliminations to go … and the judges seem bored. Can we blame them? With America ousting the contest’s less mind-numbing contenders early, Rolling Stones week as interpreted by this Top 12 was about as rock ‘n’ roll as Plain White Ts’ “Hey There Delilah.” See: Katie’s “Wild Horses, ” Andrew’s “Gimme Shelter, ” Aaron’s “Angie”…
Is Simon’s weariness (or is it secret sabotage?) rubbing off on everyone? Kara’s still the most eager to be there, offering the contest’s only thoughtful and consistent commentary. Ellen’s jokes are hit or miss, but hey, she’s a fan of every hopeful, no matter what. And Randy’s already completely lost in his Randyisms.
American Idol Recap: You Can’t Always Get What You Want
American Idol entered the finals portion of season nine last night, bringing the top twleve contestants to a larger stage with more lights, a louder audience and inescapable Coca-Cola advertisements. The episode was Rolling Stones–themed; considering the amount of questionable talent that still remains, that daunting assignment hung over the evening like a dark, terrifying cloud. Would Aaron Kelly strut around the stage doing Mick Jagger’s rooster dance while shouting out “Brown Sugar”? Would Katie Stevens make us sit through a mind-numbingly vanilla version of “Wild Horses”? Would someone lean on the ever-popular “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” as a musical crutch? Well, no, yes, and sort of. But the night was not the disaster it might have been, and a few of the weaker performers even displayed signs of improvement.
Eggheads on ‘Idol’
As a judge on American Idol, Ellen DeGeneres could use all the help she can get. Remember when she accidentally thought a piano was a guitar? Actually, this whole season of Idol seems off key—three promising performers went home last week and Simon Cowell seems more tuned out than ever. That’s why NEWSWEEK recruited the world’s smartest Idol fans to serve as our own judges.
Kimmel admits to sucker-punching Leno
Could the Rolling Stones revive Season 9 of “American Idol”? In a word, no. I came to Tuesday night’s competition disgruntled, disappointed and highly skeptical. I used to be a believer back in the day, when “Idol” produced greats like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry. I should have known better when Adam Lambert didn’t win and sworn off “American Idol” forever, right then and there.
American Idol: We May Have Just Finally Killed Keith Richards
Well, OK, it wasn’t that bad. But did you, like me, find yourself wondering what Lily, Epperly, and Carol Brady would have sung? There, flickering dimly in the crumbling Aztec theater that is my sad and addled brain, was Alex Lambert doing a crystal-croony version of “Wild Horses.” There was Epperly doing a slo-mo piano “Angie.” And the Worst Witch? Well, I don’t know. I don’t really know any more Rolling Stones songs. I’m honestly sort of skeptical that anyone in this world actually sits down and listens to the Rolling Stones. When is that occasion? OK, maybe if you’re hanging out with Tim Allen and John Travolta and they’re like “Wanna take a motorcycle ride?” then maybe I would listen to “Start Me Up” or whatever. But then and only then. Otherwise, forget about it. Give me my Justin Bieber and call it a motherfucking day. Heard?
Guest blogger Jon Peter Lewis talks Top 12
In the first of a (hopefully) regular series, “Idol” Season 3 alumnus, “American Nobody” host and longtime F.O.I.T. (friend of Idol Tracker) Jon Peter Lewis is our guest blogger for the week. He breaks down the Top 12’s first round and will join us for our live chat today at 1:00 p.m. PST (4:00 p.m. EST).
The Rolling Stones are a challenging band to tackle for the “American Idol” format, and I’m kind of surprised to see them (the producers) take the risk. The Stones were about style and swagger, not good singing and generic, corporate marketability. Listening to rock ‘n’ roll in general was meant to give our “greatest generation” grandparents the musical middle finger. Rock was rebellion in the ’60s and the Stones were the epitome of that movement.
‘American Idol’ Report Card: How Did The Top 12 Do?
Epperly, Katelyn? Lambert, Alex? Scott, Lilly?!
Oh, that’s right. We almost forgot. Those three promising “American Idol” students were expelled from the show last week. Let’s skip attendance and jump right into Tuesday night’s “Idol” report card. We have a feeling Siobhan Magnus and Crystal Bowersox will be graduating with honors, while Andrew Garcia and Paige Miles are in danger of flunking out. Let’s see how they all fared with Rolling Stones week. (And don’t miss Jim Cantiello’s recap of their performances in the MTV Newsroom.)
In Which We Take ‘American Idol’ Rolling Stones Covers Way Too Seriously
It’s a really slow news week, perked up only by my unexpected encounter with pepper spray on the Metro last night (I’m fine now, don’t worry — it wasn’t even aimed at me, surprisingly enough), and that means we must turn our attention to the very odd collection of Rolling Stones covers on last night’s American Idol. The contestants have undoubtedly been clamoring for more advice, so I will now give some. (As always, if the somewhat wonky embeds don’t work, all performances are here.)
