Let's Help American Idol Pick Their Next Theme Night

By the way, this post is dedicated to my husband and Scott Butki who faithfully watching American Idol with me each week (one beside me on the couch and the other through texting) and together came up with most of the ideas in the poll.

1 vote

#1.1 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:55 AM EDT

evilgenius

METAL! I'm sure that would eliminate all be maybe two or three contestants.

2 votes

#2 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:13 AM EDT

Michael the Great

American Idol does Iron Maiden!?! How cool would that be!

It's kinda like that other show where the the kid band played Iron Maiden every other week-- Next Great American Band, or some such nonsense.

3 votes

#2.1 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:22 PM EDT

That was my husband's first choice.

1 vote

#2.2 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:22 PM EDT

Michael the Great

Of course, if they did have a Metal night, the country folks would do Blue Grass versions of Poison. Think "Kelly Pickler does Winger" and you'll get the picture.

1 vote

#2.3 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 PM EDT

Blue Grass versions of Poison

Sounds scary, but at least it's something different.

1 vote

#2.4 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:00 PM EDT

I'd kinda like to see regions, countries and cities thrown in there to give people more freedom; plus, there are some people I just have no desire to see singing a polka.

-is it just me or is Paula standing up and dancing during the performances (most notably The Ladies Man this week) starting to look like a middle aged drunken recent divorcee at a bar on a Wednesday night?

2 votes

#3 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:32 AM EDT

a middle aged drunken recent divorcee at a bar on a Wednesday night

You pegged it with that description. Hard to believe that 20 years ago people paid to see her dance.

1 vote

#3.1 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:26 PM EDT

I'd like to see them all do some punk songs. If they want to throw some bluegrass
or country in there with it too to mix it up that'd be cool. But let's try having them do
some songs which none of the judges know - not that Simon seems to know half the
songs the rest of the time - so they can't easily critique how good the covers were.

2 votes

#4 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:24 PM EDT

Punk rock theme night critique

Randy:

"yo dog, what's going down dog, you did your thing, you know you got the whole butthole surfers joint happening...I like the butthole surfers, I worked with the butthole surfers.."

Paula:

"well, you look pretty in your skinny pants and mohawk..."

Simon:

"If I'm being honest, it was a mess, the whole thing had no melody, it was dreary, monotonous, and you shouted your way through it" "it was all a bit like bad Circle Jerks karaoke"

6 votes

#4.1 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:23 PM EDT

oh my god, you nailed the critique Greck! I'm starting to worry that you are watching too much Idol if you can predict the judges reactions that well.

not that Simon seems to know half the
songs the rest of the time

Scott, Simon does seem to have missed out on a lot music if he truly doesn't know what have the songs are that the contestants sing. And he's in the music business!

2 votes

#4.2 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:29 PM EDT

and

Randy: "you did your thing"

Paula: "it was a bit pitchy"

Simon: "it seemed like you were just yelling a lot"

Incidentally there was a question on Jeopardy last nite that went something like this:
Apparently her single for "rush rush" was not too "pitchy" to be a #1 song

Who was Paula Abdul?

I almost cried.

3 votes

#4.3 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:29 PM EDT

I think Simon's would be something like:

"It was all a little too 'boy in his bedroom with a guitar at midnight' for me"

3 votes

#4.4 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:02 PM EDT

Apparently her single for "rush rush" was not too "pitchy" to be a #1 song

they really should have said "didn't think it utilized too much reverb to offset her flat voice to be a #1 song"

3 votes

#4.5 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:33 PM EDT

I think "pitchy" is going to become the next word everyone uses to mean whatever they want it to mean.

I really dont want to know what Simon does in his room at midnight.

2 votes

#4.6 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:47 AM EDT

I think that's a pitchy idea. :-)

2 votes

#4.7 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:37 PM EDT

biggerthebetter

"I really dont want to know what Simon does in his room at midnight. "
Dunks his granny teeth in a glass??

Okay, okay, that was mean. But I'm keeping it!

2 votes

#4.8 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:08 AM EDT

He's not THAT old. But he does seem to wear the same outfit every nite, doesn't he so maybe he is?

1 vote

#4.9 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:17 PM EDT

Or he's one of those fashion-lazy guys. In other words, he buys several of the same item so he doesn't have to make fashion decisions.

1 vote

#4.10 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:59 PM EDT

Bill-251916

I'd like to see an ABBA night. ABBA is more popular now than ever with the hit musical "Mamma Mia" breaking box office records all over the world. The film version starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Bosnan is coming out this Summer. ABBA has sold over 370 million records, more than any other band except the Beatles. The ABBA theme was great on the British version of Idol called the X Factor. Simon even said ABBA was the greatest band of all time. Check this great site
www.abbamail.com click on news to educate yourself.
By the way RAP is not music, it's CRAP

1 vote

#5 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:27 PM EDT

you sooo don't get to tout ABBA then berate any other music genre. Go find a bully and have him give you a wedgie for that one.

rap, by the way, is a vocal style, not a genre. It stopped being a genre somewhere around 20 years ago. Some of it is good and some sucks; most is just mediocre like anything else.

1 vote

#5.1 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:50 PM EDT

I'm not a big fan of ABBA, but I'd bet Simon would like an ABBA night.

I'm with greck, I thought rap was a vocal style too. But I think a hip hop night, although not my favorite music, would be very interesting.

1 vote

#5.2 - Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:50 PM EDT

This is fascinating but in the spirit of the "Writer's Strike" - the problem is with what they can get the rights to use on-air. They likely paid enough for the Lennon-McCartney book that they needed to use it again.

2 votes

#6 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:44 AM EDT

the problem is with what they can get the rights to use on-air

I sure that limits them a lot. But repeating the same theme two weeks in a row is boring. If they were going to repeat, the least they could do was spread it out.

1 vote

#6.1 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:33 AM EDT

I have even more scary news. They only got the rights to 25 songs!

2 votes

#6.2 - Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:39 PM EDT

And we've already heard 12 of them, plus the medley sand during the results show! That sucks! This coming week is going to be bad.

2 votes

#6.3 - Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:50 PM EDT

RUSS MEAGHER

I THINK THEY SHOULD HAVE "WIERD AL" AS A MENTOR. IT WOULD DEFINATELY ADD
SOME HUMOR. BETTER THAN WATCHING SIMON AND RYAN GO AT EACH OTHER.

2 votes

#7 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:55 AM EDT

Weird Al would definitely spice things up as a mentor. Good call.

1 vote

#7.1 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:20 PM EDT

navehm

How about the Blues such as Eric Clapton

#8 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:01 PM EDT

glb4d

Let's have a MUTE RYAN SEACREST night!

1 vote

#9 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:44 PM EDT

Only if we can also have a mute Paula night.

1 vote

#9.1 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:22 PM EDT

Wayne Brady would make a MUCH better host. He CAN sing and entertain otherwise.

2 votes

#9.2 - Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:09 PM EDT

I've never seen Don't Forget the Lyrics, so I'll take your word.

1 vote

#9.3 - Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:54 PM EDT

He was on "Who's Line is it Anyway" and had a daytime show for a while.

2 votes

#9.4 - Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:56 PM EDT

glb4d

Let's have a MUTE RYAN SEACREST night!

1 vote

#10 - Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:08 PM EDT

Sarah-253499

I think Madonna songs or Bryan Adams would be great (can you imagine David Cook singing "Run to You"?) That would be so hot!

1 vote

#11 - Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:11 PM EDT

can you imagine David Cook singing "Run to You"?

That would rock! I like your ideas.

1 vote

#11.1 - Sun Mar 16, 2008 4:57 PM EDT

Kim Wolf

A few bands stand out for their longevity and relevancy today and their music will be familiar to most viewers.The first that comes to mind is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-what a library to choose from!Who didn't see the superbowl?) Also-Aerosmith-their music library spans so many styles of music-what a show that would be.From power ballads to straight ahead rock and roll to down and dirty blues rock... I vote Tom Petty......

1 vote

#12 - Sun Mar 16, 2008 5:04 PM EDT

I vote for Aerosmith. Great suggestions.

1 vote

#12.1 - Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:17 PM EDT

How about "One Hit Wonders"?

3 votes

#13 - Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:57 PM EDT

That would be a great category -- something for everyone's niche. Which one hit wonder would you like to hear most?

1 vote

#13.1 - Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:18 AM EDT

Dr Know, AWESOME idea!!!!

1 vote

#13.2 - Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:20 AM EDT

K-255512

How about tunes from Broadway shows? There's such a great range of songs for all ages and for all voice types.

1 vote

#13.3 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:31 PM EDT

Broadway songs would be perfect for this group that has several that only seem to be able to sing ballads. Great idea.

1 vote

#13.4 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:00 PM EDT

I'd like to see who would choose a song from Avenue Q. However, all those boring ballad singers would just sing "Memories" from Cats...

1 vote

#13.5 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:41 PM EDT

Perry O

I posted this on one of your other articles, but it seems appropriate here. They should forget about Lennon-McCartney and have Lenin-McCarthy night.

1 vote

#14 - Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:06 PM EDT

LOL

1 vote

#14.1 - Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:49 PM EDT

That would definitely being a interesting twist.

1 vote

#14.2 - Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:54 PM EDT

The repeat of this theme has been terrible. I don't know what's up, but so far all of the contestants have been disappointments at best and painful at worst. They are choosing bad songs, arranging them terribly and not even seeming all that into it.

Also, they've moved from Lennon/McCartney to straight Beattles, as a George Harrison song was sneaked in there...

1 vote

#15 - Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:16 PM EDT

Also, I think we need to get a live chat going over all of this... I can't wait until you post your review to comment!

1 vote

#15.1 - Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:17 PM EDT

Ok, I'm just going to leave his window open and comment away!

Jason Castro picked the perfect song for him. I think I've been underrating him, but he just had his moment, and he's interesting in his videos. I can't believe he judges didn't care for it. Maybe I'm grasping for straws here since no one has been all that great this night. But it's at least the best song so far tonight, though it doesn't touch the top six songs from last week.

I do like how Simon agreed that from the underwhelming performances this week, repeating Beattles again may not have been the best idea...

1 vote

#15.2 - Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:27 PM EDT

This week's review is up.

They might have called it Beatles night, but it was definitely a repeat of Lennon-McCartney night with all the songs being written by the one or both of the duo with the exception of the Harrison tune.

I really think that their guest mentor backed out on them. This repeat theme was a terrible idea and it showed in the performances.

1 vote

#15.3 - Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:58 PM EDT

I agree with Adam. The performances were blah for the most part.

My Review

1 vote

#15.4 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 1:14 AM EDT

KC-255402

How about some fun Southern Rock. You know, a little bit country, a little bit Rock 'n Roll!!!!

Can you say "Doobies? Marshall Tucker Band?"

1 vote

#16 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:14 AM EDT

I would love a night like that. That's some of my favorite music. I see David C., Amanda, Chikeze and maybe Carly having a lot of fun with that kind of theme.

1 vote

#16.1 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:02 PM EDT

Mouse-255451

Showing my age here but how about Air Supply night? David Cook and Michael Johns and even little Davey.
Like to see someone do "Me and Bobby McGee" possibly Amanda but maybe Carly would be better.
Like to see someone do "Long, Long Time" by Linda Ronstadt maybe Carly in a change of pace.
I think Carly is going to win this.

1 vote

#17 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:24 AM EDT

I guess I'm showing my age too, because I know who air supply is. It would be an interesting night.

Carly is definitely a favorite of the judges. She's going to have to make some great song choices though if she wants to win.

1 vote

#17.1 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:03 PM EDT

DJ Smith-255471

Why not go back to the 40's. The era of big bands, the last great war supported by most Americans with their prayers and their music, wild energic dancing, and strong musical voices.
It would be nice to see if the rockers could quit being predictable and rely on their vocal skills rather than their performance skills.

1 vote

#18 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:47 AM EDT

The 40s would be fun. I could see the rockers doing a little Bugle Boy. It would be a blast! But Simon would call it old fashion.

1 vote

#18.1 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:04 PM EDT

Hmm, swing music, I think David Cook could totally handle this ;-)

1 vote

#18.2 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:47 PM EDT

Kind of like a Brian Setzer sound. It would be cool.

1 vote

#18.3 - Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:22 AM EDT

I think we should have a Monkees night!

1 vote

#19 - Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:06 PM EDT

sal-256023

Why not a Folk Song night????????
Why not a Gershwin night????????
Why not a Woodstock night????????

2 votes

#20 - Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:45 AM EDT

If we had a Woodstock night, would we be able to remember it in the morning? ;-)

1 vote

#20.1 - Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:22 AM EDT

Bonni Brown

How about if the contestants do a top 5 song from the year they were born. That would mix things up just enough to be interesting and not doing the decades. The top 5 song choices they would be given might put some out of their comfort zone just enough for them to have to work a little harder to shine through

1 vote

#21 - Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:59 AM EDT

Great call since tonight's theme was songs from their birth year. Unfortunately, not all the contestants actually picked songs from the year they were born.

1 vote

#21.1 - Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:37 PM EDT

Nancy-266872

How about "School House Rock" week or a musicals night (Grease, Sound of Music, Evita) ??

1 vote

#22 - Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:23 PM EDT

Good ideas. Or even a night of songs from movies. There are a lot of great sound tracks out there.

1 vote

#22.1 - Mon Apr 14, 2008 9:46 AM EDT

tvn

The best shows seem to me to be those when the mentors actually mentor.
Remember Barry Manilow? I am not really a Manilow fan, but not a single contestant did poorly that week! He actually coached them about what key to sing a particular song in that suited their voice, how to modulate their voices, phrasing, etc. He didn't just listen politely and say "good job" like so many mentors. The best mentors are the ones who actually write music and know how to make modifications to an arrangement, etc. Pick singer/songwriters to mentor and make sure that they know that they are expected to actually teach the finalist something abour their craft. That would be my advice to make the show better and more interesting for the audience, especially those of us who actually know something about music ourselves. Also, each voter should only get one vote to avoid the issue mentioned earlier.

What about Eagles - Don Henley?!
Acapella night?

1 vote

#23 - Thu Apr 24, 2008 5:10 PM EDT