When I first heard that American Idol was doing Queen, I thought that they meant Queen Elizabeth the Second. I had visions of Simon’s royal highness sitting at the front end of the Kodak Theater stage in crown and robes tapping out the beat with her scepter. Perhaps, she would say a few gracious words to the contestants, or even knight Simon for these royal command performances.
I thought too that the rest of the royal family could get in on the fun. I could see Taylor teaching Prince Charles how to dance and maybe Kellie giving Lady Camilla makeup tips with her community snot rag. Maybe there would have been a scene of Ace Young giving Prince Harry one of his beanies. Perhaps they could steal viewers from 24 by having Randy and Paula meet with Tony Blair about the content of the Downing Street Memos.
Now, that would have been great television.
Instead, Queen turned out to be these old guys dressed up as glam rock and rollers trying to explain to Ace that they weren’t going to change their arrangement just for him. I was honestly a little confused. There were all these scenes of Brian May et al., working on arrangements with the contestants, but on Tuesday night, the last eight Idolators were backed by the competent but usual American Idol band plus backup singers.
In a couple of behind the scenes glances we got of Ace Young, one of the interesting things is that he’s as much of a musician as he is. He actually does have ideas about specific changes he’d like in the arrangements and shares them. The end of the segment strongly suggested that Queen was respectfully not dismissive of Ace Young-the-musician. Watching it gave me the impression that Ace is quite serious about his music rather than all about staring languorously into the camera. It’s one of these persistent hints that the producers of the show want you to see the contestants in a particular way whether it’s Ace, Kellie, Paris, or Chris.
If American Idol is supposed to be about being “today’s” pop sound, I am curious about the recent run of guest judges. When was the last time you saw a young adult browsing for Kenny Rogers or Barry Manilow at the local music store? No, Bobby Bennett doesn’t count. Think about this, when Ryan came out and said “Here he is performing from Queen’s 1978 album….”
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Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
beauty CL, funny as hell!
2 - sal m
i don't care how many cd's he's sold, rod's attempts at the american songbook are pretty mediocre - at best - and i'm not really looking forward to next week's show. if the contestants were tasked with taking on rod's songbook i might be a little more upbeat.
since tony bennett is still alive, and actually can sing the standards properly, he should be the guest.
but since idol seems to be all about bad imitation, i guess rod's the perfect choice.
3 - SteveS
This was a good review, and pointed out a lot of things I never would have thought of.
I'm not entirely sure why they do genre music, they tell everybody to find their niche, then make them do all sorts of different themes. As for older music, maybe it's cheaper to pay the residuals, more recognizable or most likely they have a deal with some companies to perform their artists. I recall some newsstory recently about them unable to do Kelly Clarkson songs at all, until the news coverage finally made her relent.
I don't know about Ace Young's musical experience, I know he's been on some sitcom for the WB, so I tend to think he's more of an actor. I certainly cannot stand the voice, he sounds to me like someone who wouldn't have made it through an NSync audition. And that falsetto that everybody (Paula) raves about is just horrific.
I don't care for a lot of singers like Jon Secada or Marc Anthony, so I suppose Ace will find his niche in with that crowd, they seem easy to please.
Right now, I have to say Chris is my favorite, but just like on the radio, who I like best tends to change over a short amount of time.
4 - chancelucky
First Eric and Steve S. thanks,
I do think the guest artists are commercial tie ins for the various companies that produce or sponsor the show. Even someone like Michael Buble or Michael Feinstein would make more sense for a "standards" theme night. I assume Rod Stewart has some sort of commercial connection to the record companies involved in Idol.
Some established artists are surprisingly versatile. Ray Charles, Modern Sounds in Country Music, for instance. or Linda Ronstadt's pretty reasonable albums with Nelson Riddle and her Canciones di mi Padre. Few, however, ever have to stretch as far as they are asked to stretch on Idol which comes closer to Barbara Mandrell does Sun Ra Arkestra (actually Sun Ra appeared on a Disney album once). I do have a sort of interesting album of the World Saxophone Quartet doing Motown somewhere in my CD shelf.
5 - Sister Ray
They probably just want to draw in middle-aged viewers
6 - Frank M
It's time the the AI producers stop showing favoritism among the contestants. I have been
a fan since season 1 and never have missed a
show. However that will change if they don't
give equal time to ALL contestants. For weeks
now Elliott Yamin has given the most consistently
good performances and has had the most praise
from the judges and yet they seem to be always
hiding him. I think he deserves better and if
they don't stop ignoring him, I won't be watching
Season 6. How anyone could think that Kelly
Pickler, Ace Young and Taylor Hicks are better
singers than Elliott I don't understand.
Hang in there Elliott, your fan base is growing
regardless of your less than fare treatment
by the big wheels at American Idol. I'll be
buying your first CD & you'll get a contract.
7 - SlvrLegnd
Great article.
I think the reason that none of the past superstars of music would work on this show is because the music world is saturated. In a saturated market you've got dozens of guys (or gals) who can do the exact same thing and it becomes about selling the persona and not their talents or individuality. I mention selling because it is definitely all about business in 'the business.'
If someone's not going to make you lots of money you don't give them any lead. It's not like the people on this show are trying to break through at the bottom like most other musicians are anyways.
Most folks with talent rise up to stardom, and I think that tempers them a bit. The contestants on Idol are stars before they even make it to hollywood--no rising before baking. I figure if you're going to elevate people so quickly, you're at the point where you have to whore them out in every way possible in order to turn them into big cash cows. Other musicians have to struggle for years in order to turn into corporate prostitutes.
Did I mention that I hate American Idol and all it stands for? Fox gave them an automatic pickup through 2009, with renewals through 2011 if they meet targets. This all for a show that was done when they crowned Kelly Clarkson. What, they've named three other idols since then??? What were their names again?
Does anybody still think it's worth being the American Idol?
8 - Brian May
AMERICAN IDOL - ACE - AND BEING MISREPRESENTED ..
OK ... it begins ....the fallout from American Idol.
There is so much to say - I sure have learned a lot myself already from this experience ... but slowly will do it ... one thing at a time ...
Firstly let me comment on ACE. He's a great guy.
Some of you have written in accusing me of undermining ACE with his interpretation of WWRY. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm afraid this is an illustration of exactly what I have been quoted as saying about the programme ..... that the critical process would be better off done in private, like we do in auditioning for our musical ... .
We had an interaction with ACE, a conversation, in which we gave him the best advice we possibly could, based on studying the demo's which we already had in our iTunes - which I'd personally given a lot of time to study. This conversation, in my book, ought to have been private, but that is not the style of the show, sadly. But the even more unfortunate thing is that you are then in the hands of the video editors, who seem to seize with glee anything that looks negative. It was edited in such a way that it looked as if I was purely negative - they very naughtily inserted a bit that I said about "not on my own song" so it appeared that I said it AFTER we had played together, which was not the way it happened ...making me look like I was against the whole thing. But this was not the case. Having said that I wouldn't be able to play the arrangement exactly like his demo, and that I didn't think it would work without the stomps and claps which are foundation of the song, we then discussed how we could improve his ideas and with a mixture of a quick conference and spontaneous creation we came up with a kind of mixture of his thoughts and ours - WHICH WAS THE BASIS FOR THE ARRANGEMENT THAT YOU SAW THE HOUSE BAND PLAY ON THE NIGHT ! It was actually pretty damn good, I thought, for a quick attempt ... and he sang it very well live. If you talk to ACE he will confirm that we parted on the very best terms, and he thanked me for the input. I made it very clear that I respected him for taking chances and trying to make the song his own. The version you saw on TV used a straight sample beat with stomps and claps which set up the song in the first verse in the classic way, and then a working in of an underpinning riff (close to what I had done in our rehearsal period together, in response to Ace's idea) and then back to a straighter 3rd verse, but ending in his delayed phrase end stop, again, just as we did it together .... and I thought it was damn good.
Just in case any of this isn't clear .... the version of WWRY that ACE performed on AI last night was a DIRECT RESULT of his own ingenuity and the advice we gave him, with our full encouragement and blessing. And he definitely rocked. And we wish him much luck in the contest.
If you watch the programme again you will notice that ACE said he enjoyed working with us, and that I also said quite clearly that I thought an approach of personalising songs was a necessary ingredient of greatness ... my exact words were ... "He's a very interactive person, and that's what makes Greatness". I hope that wherever ACE is right now he remembers that there is mutual respect there between us, and much good feeling. And to all you guys out there who have become his fans ... please remember this too ...
As for the rest .....well, a little later ..
But I was impressed with all our new friends, the Idols - wonderful job, guys, THANKS ! .. and we feel really complimented.
With Love
Bri
© brianmay.com
9 - Jim
I don't think Paris understood Queen music at all. Freddy didn't say "come on" and giggle in the middle of "The Show Must Go On".
10 - Wendie
Been waiting for this weeks and you never disappoint. FUNNY stuff! "Clockwork Orange meets Cats" LOL!! That alone is going to have me giggling all day. Loved the review
11 - Joanie
Congrats! This article has been placed on Advance.net
12 - Ali
Regarding Elliott's ethnicity, he is Jewish. Paula, on the other hand, is certainly not Jewish. She is of Arabic origin. Not that any of that matters, what matters is that Elliott is an incredibly talented singer and is the most deserving to win this competition.
13 - chancelucky
[Faulty html deleted] One can be both an Arab and Jewish at the same time. Ethnicity can be very complicated and much more subtle than most assume.
I'm not sure about the whole being Jewish passing through one's mother part... but.
14 - chancelucky
whoops, link didn't come through.
Paula Link
15 - Maggie
Stupid Ass. Paula Abdul is not Jewish.
16 - chancelucky
well, a couple Jewish groups seem to claim Paula Abdul. I don't know if she's ever been observant, but that gets into the whole business of whether being Jewish is a "religious" choice or an ethnicity.
Because Jewish tradition seems to mix the two, it often depends on how the individual self-identifies. According to the Wikipedia, not always a perfect source, both Paula's parents are Jewish.
there are lots of people in the world who are both Arab and Jewish at the same time. IN the Middle East identity isn't as simple as the media makes it out to be.
17 - Rev. T. S. Painter (R)
Who will replace the Golden Calf as America's idol?
Find out at:
my blog foxamericanidolresults.blogspot.com