American Idol: Making Me Feel Old(er)

Before I get to my weekly digest of Idol's theme let me stop to give a moment of silence for Megan Joy as she FINALLY left the show last Wednesday.There. That's all the silence she deserves. After all she could have given me a little silence over the last few weeks and my eardrums wouldn't have been scarred for life. If she ever puts out an album and I find out someone I know has purchased it, I will stop all future communication with said person.  Now we're left with 7 talented singers and one crazy-haired blind guy who didn't annoy me as much last week since he sang our wedding song (Just The Way You Are, Billy Joel) and sang it pretty well.

Tonight's theme is "Songs from the year you were born" which makes for a much better theme than "pick ANY SONG on iTunes, even if it's an old '70s tune that was rehashed by Vanilla Ice, as long as one person has downloaded it." I mean seriously Idol, you just punted the theme last week.  So I'm going to attempt to pick a song for each of the remaining contestants based on their birth year (thanks to Wikipedia for the date info).   Props to me if I get any of these spot-on.

Note that most of the contestants are children of the mid-80's and some will be singing songs from the '90s! Man do I feel old all of a sudden. I can vividly remember the 90's and most of the '80s and it doesn't seem THAT long ago. Another reminder of my three word mantra: Getting Old Sucks.

Kris Allen (Year of Birth: 1985) - Kris is on a roll after knocking it out of the park with his anchor spot last week.  I suggest Heaven by Bryan Adams (another Rose wedding song).  It may be more of a Gokey song but I think Kris needs to stretch his range.

Anoop Desai (YOB: 1986) - Noop Dogg has a plethora of 80's jams to choose from but I suggest a change of pace for the Dogg.  Take Me Home by Phil Collins has the powerful chorus that Anoop could nail.

Matt Giraud (YOB: 1985) - Since Matt keeps singing songs I like (Fray, Coldplay), I fully expect him to choose one of my favorite songs of all time:  We Built This City by Starship.  However, I think it would be a wise choice to make an old classic current,  coming up with a smooth riff on Simple Minds' Don't You (Forget About Me).

Danny Gokey (YOB: 1980) - The Gokester could get the whole crowd rocking if he belted out Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Adam Lambert (YOB: 1982) - I'd like to see Adam start to tone down his inner Axl Rose some.  He was good last week but went a little over the top with his "AYYY YAYAYAYAAAAA" screaming.  It just feels forced sometimes.  I do have THE PERFECT song for him this week.  I present to you I Love Rock 'n' Roll by Joan Jett.  That song has Adam Lambert written all over it.

Scott MacIntyre (YOB: 1985) - Another 1985'er but this one is easier to pick since we need to look for a piano tune (preferably boring).  You're The Inspiration by Chicago seems to be the best fit because it will perfectly set up Paula to cry us a river and blather on about how Scott is an inspiration to us all indeed.  You're a good kid but it's time for you to go Scott.

Allison Iraheta (YOB: 1992) - Looking way back to when I was a Junior in high school, we find Allison's range of hits to choose from.  There doesn't seem to be much available that would fit her rocker girl style, so I suggest a risky choice in Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.  

Lil Rounds (YOB: 1984) - Lil has a chance to go big here with Tina Turner's What's Love Got To Do With It, but since she's been so serious lately, I emplore her to lighting things up with Let's Hear It For The Boy by Denise Williams (from the always timeless Footloose soundtrack).

There you have it, should be an interesting contest tonight and I really can't see Scott surviving another week (unless Matt sings Starship).