American Idol Season 6 Premier Recap

January 16, 2007 |

Wow, we got past the first show and it was as strange as expected. It never ceases to amaze me that people just don’t have a clue that they have no talent, but Simon usually lets them know.

The show started off in Minneapolis with Baba O’Riley from the Who as the theme song. I love it since I’m a long time Who fan and my favorite album is Who’s Next featuring Baba O’Riley. Anyway, Jewel was a guest judge and the first contestant, Jessica had a melt down when her life long dream of being like Jewel went down the tubes. People just don’t realize this is for real.

Some of the more strange folks were the Urban Amish guy (UrbanAmish.com - A new fad? Probably not) who had never watched Idol or knew who any of the judges were and a guy named Monroe who dressed like Apollo Creed from Rocky. Why do people do such goofy stuff to get on Idol? America wants reasonably normal, not weird. It’s not a freak show, it’s a singing contest. People also kept forgetting words which I find strange since you have your whole life to prepare to sing just one song!

Denise Jackson was the first contestant to move on to Hollywood and she had a sad story about being born a crack baby. Good to see her make it. The funny Brazilian girl that made it was a riot and like a young Charo with her antics, but I don’t think we will see her in the next round, I think the judges gave her a pity vote because of her story about sleeping in her car and being homeless.

Then there was cowboy Matt Carver who started to sing Folsom Prison Blues and just talked his way through the song. Anybody can talk through a song, but to go to Hollywood you need to be able to sing, sorry Matt. The lion girl was interesting and she did have a unique talent. Maybe she could get a part as a voice-over for the next cartoon version of The Wizard Of Oz.

Randy Jackson kind of went off on the vocal teacher and I have to agree with him in principle. Just like on So You Think You Can Dance the judges ripped into the dance teachers probably because they are taking money from people when they can’t do it themselves. It’s a much needed wake up call for these people, hello reality!

So who are the top contender from this round? Michele Stygas?, didn’t catch her last name, but she was confident and could possibly get into the top 24. Matt Sato reminded me of Elliott Yamin in that he made his momma proud and he has that intangible factor you just can’t put your finger on. I could see him being in the top 24 and a serious contender with some voice coaching.

Then there was Sarah Krueger, probably the only one of the night I would put in the top 12. She has a great voice when she belted out Somewhere Over The Rainbow that was reminiscent of Katharine McPhee.

Okay, now for the strangest. Ace Young might want to hire a bodyguard and should think twice about drawing little hearts on people like Brenna Kyner. Brenna was a self described Idol Superfan, read STALKER, and did a appalling version of Queen’s Under Pressure for someone who claims to have a degree in Vocal Performance. Unfortunately, reality is a concept Brenna is not yet aware of.

And let’s not forget Stick Boy Jason Anderson. I thought the sticks were pretty cool, but the singing wasn’t. He wanted to be famous and he is now because he will get mentioned quite a bit in the blogosphere. Dude, you’ll get your 15 minutes.

Tomorrow night it’s on to Seattle for what Ryan Seacrest called an extrangeaganza. Seattle gave us Kurt Cobain so I’m sure there’s some talent lurking there.

Stay tuned…

Alan

Tags: sarah krueger, the who, elliott yamin, matt sato, extrangeaganza, ryan seacrest