Let the right be wrong?

[koganbot]

Adam Lambert's "Ring Of Fire" on American Idol was indescribably terrible, but still was one of only two performances this week worth hearing more than twice. The guy has ideas, even if putting them together produces a misshapen mess. The other was Kris Allen doing "Make You Feel My Love" with a light step, turning it into gentle slush and ignoring the lyrics' buried aggression, which is fine with me.

As for the rest, forget 'em unless you're interested in the ongoing story of Megan Corkrey and Allison Iraheta, who've had better nights. Megan's got the only distinctive voice of the lot of 'em, but her "Walkin' After Midnight" sounded like she was reciting a foreign language phonetically while children pelted her with small stones. Allison rocked and half-mauled "Blame It On Your Heart"; she sings with feeling but her straight-ahead note-bashing is going to get tiring. Danny Gokey and Anoop Desai were competent and listenable but both mediocrities, Lil Rounds sang "Independence Day" in tune and with a smidgen of force but was incapable of getting within miles of the song's unsettling combination of triumph and destruction (and to echo something justfanoe said, Rounds was insane to match herself against one of the most searingly powerful vocal performances in country music history, though I don't suppose a lot of Idol viewers know the original). Matt Giraud, Scott MacIntyre, and Michael Sarver were strained or rushed or just plain wrong, Alexis Grace was a bit overmatched on "Jolene" but she did give it an interesting delicacy, and I'd have certainly kept her around in place of Matt, Scott, or Michael.

I don't know whether I'm going to stick with American Idol this year. I've only been hearing the songlets on YouTube, so I can't tell you how it's working as television, but it's sure not creating good music. Maybe Allison can develop an effective slider and a change-of-pace and make herself matter, though my guess is that if this is going to happen it won't be for a couple of years.

If you haven't heard the original "Independence Day," you must.

Comments

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Why do you assume a lot of Idol viewers don't know "Independence Day"?

[koganbot]

Because the majority of pop fans don't listen to the country stations and the song never crossed over to Top 40 or MTV. Also, it hit fifteen years ago and didn't even make top ten country.

Of course, since then it's become an acknowledged country classic, so I assume it gets plays on CMT and probably a bit on VH1 as well; and Carrie did it on Idol in 2005, which I'm sure raised the song's profile; but that doesn't mean that Martina's version is well known among average noncountry listeners.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Well, what I was getting at was, "Why do you assume 'a lot of Idol viewers is the same as 'average noncountry listeners'?" Country always does well with Idol voters; there's a meme among more cynical Idol fans that crappy singers sing country as a way to pick up votes and stay on the show. (See: Kellie Pickler, Kristy Lee Cook, Michael Sarver.)

[koganbot]

Not related to this subject (unless it is) but I just got a promo email containing a picture of LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride, and Julianne Hough in bikinis as they appear on the cover of Shape magazine (a magazine the existence of which I had previously never noticed).

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Shape magazine (a magazine the existence of which I had previously never noticed).

You, sir, have led a charmed life.

[koganbot]

I know. The thing is, all the titles of these magazines blend together in my mind (Shape, Self, Women's Health, etc.). I tend to categorize them as (1) likely to have Taylor or Ashlee on the cover (these I'll recognize the title of), (2) someone I know has written for it (I might or might not recall the title; a friend of mine wrote a piece for Allure once; seems to be a good magazine; another friend says it's the best of the "magic beauty magazines," in that it gives actual practical advice), and (3) other (I almost never notice). Except most in the category "other" I'm sure have or shortly will do their best to get Taylor on the cover. I recognize the title Women's Health because it once printed the words "Frank Kogan" (in conjunction with the words "Taylor Swift")(Taylor may have been on the cover; I'm not sure).

[koganbot]

"I never again will refer to those little four-minute dramas as just songs"

[koganbot]

But a bit of the song was used to introduce Sarah Palin at the Republican Convention, outraging the song's author Gretchen Peters; here she sings "Independence Day" for Planned Parenthood. (Couldn't find her studio version on YouTube, though a little is used at the end of this clip. Less high drama than in Martina's version.)

Anyhow, it may well be higher profile than I realize. I'd never heard it until Xhuxk sent me a spare copy of Martina McBride's Greatest Hits CD in 2001.

[koganbot]

OK, looking again to that clip, I can't tell if the song was used to introduce Palin to the convention or at some other venue, but in any event was used by the Republican National Committee to introduce Palin (to the country? to some gathering?).

[brak55.livejournal.com]

The right, being totally unable to grasp the meaning of lyrics (see New Jersey wanting to make Born to Run the state song), has put their slimy little fingers on Independence Day and tried to turn it into a great patriotic anthem. Shaun Hannity has been using it as his theme on radio for years (since 9/11).

[koganbot]

Ah, MySpace has it:

Gretchen Peters "Independence Day" (a couple of years after Martina's version)

[koganbot]

That link's gone, but the Peters version is here.