Wow, has American Idol changed. At least since I last watched it, that is. I hated the first season of the Fox singing competition. All that karaoke-sounding pop music and oldies tunes. I think back then the lame song selections had something to do with copyright issues, that the owners of all of the good songs didn't want their music on some silly reality show. Fast forward a few years to today's American Idol, where bands like Queen and classic rockers like Rod Stewart are (well I don't want to say selling out, but...) all dying to get their music (and their faces!) on this show.
Last week's rendition of Queen songs was pretty horrendous. The only one worth a salt was Chris Daughtry because he has the voice for it. Taylor Hicks (the young guy with the very gray hair) was trying to be Elvis or something. Elvis doing Queen. And Kellie Pickler needed to stick to her wholesome country girl roots; her rocker vamp schtick just didn't work and it was even kinda scary.
In any event, the songs selections on Idol have vastly improved, because now that the show is a megahit, everyone wants their music on it. Except for ingrates like Kelly Clarkson, who seems to have forgotten where she came from.
Personally, I'm rooting for Chris Daughtry. Yes I like looking at pretty-boy Ace Young, but I don't think he'll make it to the end. Daughtry has the chops for it, though, with his strong vocal power. It would be so refreshing to see a hard rock type actually win this thing. But is America ready for that? I'm not sure. It wouldn't surprise me -- not one little bit-- to see someone "safe" like Kellie Pickler (A Carrie Underwood clone, in my opinion) win it at the end. But that's the beauty part of American Idol. You don't have to win it to have your career take off. (Example: Clay Aiken did not win American Idol).
So with just a few weeks left, we'll have to wait and see. But somehow I think we'll be seeing more of Chris (and Taylor and yes, even Ace) long after this edition of the show has ended.
