It seems to me, that with Gokey/Scott/etc. AI is desperately hoping to cover the Contemporary Christian music marker - just like they hoped with Archuleta.

Because America may allow AI contestants to have a penis, as long as they never, ever imply they know what to do with it. Brixtonville hit the nail on the head: voters want the safe, nice boy who is happy with holding hands and Waiting For Marriage. Meanwhile, Adam is the bad boy who wants you to Touch Him There.

Add to that the shocking originality (people complain about the homogenized AI year after year, but still manage to shit the bed when someone breaks the mold) and alternative sexuality (AI voters will vote for an openly gay contestant the day he/she graduates Jesus camp and forsakes same sex lovin'), and you have a contestant that doesn't fit into the nice, neat Ken Doll box that voters are comfortable with. Also, he eyefucks them until they're sore.

[q]If the point of country week is to sing country, he failed.[/q]

I agree. Adam is a fantastic singer and performer, but last night he sucked at singing a classic country song. He made it un-country (and I'm not a big country music fan.)

I utterly loved Adam last night. It was an awesome version of a song I grew sick of ages ago - he made me like it again. Go Adam!

If someone had asked Adam to do a campy, over-the-top parody of an emo boy singing country, that's what it would have looked like. The fact that he has a great voice didn't make it less campy.

Adam's schtick has been done and it's been done better. Even the most daring people on this show - Blake, David Cook and Daughtry - knew not to treat country night as something they couldn't be bothered with. Adam felt he was better than the assignment which is a shame because I bet if he had actually tried, he could have been original instead of stealing from another contestant on another reality show. As it was, that performance was lazy. Give me Anoop and Matt (your so-called boring contestants) because they're actually trying.

And I'm tired of the attitude that I must be a homophobe because I didn't get it.

I'm not sure why "country music" is viewed with such reverence that no one is allowed to play around with variations on the original songs. Are we unsettled when we hear something different than what we expect? Sure. Does that make it "bad"? Nope.
I thought Adam was spectacularly ballsy in doing what he knows how to do on America's greatest blandifying stage. Bravo.

Apologizing for multiple posts...not sure how that happened?

Lambert rocked the Kasbah last night - and in more ways than one. I for one am totally on the Adam bandwagon - I'm leading the charge, in fact. And you're dead to rights about the internet hate-fest. Just read the comments over at YouTube. Far too many people seem concerned with what Adam does in bed. Me? I want to watch the man perform on stage - not in a porn video (though he’s done wonders for my fantasy life!). So I say Yay! Adam. It's about time American Idol proffered up someone less about pap and more into knock you on your ass, here comes Ziggy Stardust rock-n-roll.

I haven't watched AI in quite some time, but my mom was watching it when I was at her house. His performance has hooked me into it again. I thought it was completely out there and different, and done well. It would have been a disaster, I feel, if he'd done it, scuse the phrase, straight.
I'm all in favor of letting your freak flag fly, especially if you've got the chops to back it up, which he does.
As for messing with the song, other people have messed with plenty of classic songs, to actually pretty good results. And as other people have mentioned elsewhere, Cash himself probably would have loved this rendition of it, given that he was into experimenting with music and mixing genres. Music is a personal thing, I think, and there's is nothing wrong with taking a song and bringing out new meanings by changing the arrangement entirely. For instance, Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" is great when sung by her, but then there's Whitney's version. And then there's the ever popular "Over the Rainbow" which has been done so many times so many different ways. And really, the best ones are the ones that are farthest from Judy Garland's own version.

Adam's Ring of Fire made me love him. That came out dirtier than I intended it to be.

Honestly, though, I have watched so many reality TV shows -not just AI/Pop Idol/X factor, but ALL competitive reality TV shows -where the contestants are just a 'cast', playing the roles they're meant to, filling their niche, never stepping outside of the reality TV paradigm. That performance just convinced me that Adam Lambert isn't just the 'emo' contestant -he is actually a batshit crazy beautiful unique performer who will do something which makes no sense in reality TV verse. He's like a prophet.

Also, he has an incredible voice. He could sing anything. He's technically proficient beyond all of the others. Instead of just resting on this, or toning himself down to be just good enough but not polarising, he does crazy stuff which he wants to do. I believe he is a unique person. Which is so special on one of these shows.

"If the point of country week is to sing country, he failed."

I think we've hit on the real meat of the issue. There are two main camps here, and a performance like Adam's can really polarize you into one camp or the other. Some people think American Idol is a karaoke contest, where you sing songs everybody knows and stay close to the way they originally sounded. Wow the audience with your vocal skills, throw in a few glory notes, get Paula up and dancing, and you're golden.

The other camp wants American Idol to be more of a cover song contest, where the vocals are important, but they're only a part of the whole package. These people are looking for interesting arrangements, daring song choice, and the kind of reimagining of songs that you see when real artists do a cover song.

Which camp you're in informs the way you judge the performances on Idol, the way you react to people like Adam and Blake Lewis. If you talk about desecrating a classic song, or being "better than" the theme, odds are you're in the first camp and are looking for somebody to sing the song the same way you've heard it a hundred times before. I mostly identify with the other camp, the one that wants to see the performers bring creativity not only in their vocals but in the whole feel of the song. Bend the genre, break the theme. The point of country week is not to "sing country", it's to perform a song that comes from the country genre. Where you take it is up to you, and from where I sit, the farther the better. I listen to Coverville.com all the time, and I've heard far weirder versions of Ring of Fire.

I'm still not sold on Adam. I see guyliner and black nails and I instinctively tune out. But he's making me take notice, which is more than I can say for a good 2/3 of these people.

I must be in the minority here, but I thought the performance was just plain awful. While I agree that he can sing, the over-the-top screeching is just too much for me. He's wailing like an 80's hair band lead singer who's fighting with a deranged cat. Not my cup of tea. I'll give respect to trying to make his own thing out of the song, but I just don't see the appeal. And stop with the Constantine eyes. Just stop.

I don't care, I love Adam. He's awesome.

Count me as another who dislike Adam intensly.

Sure he's "entertaining" in the 'look-at-the-monkey-do-stupid-things-for-the-idiots-with-the-cameras' kinda way.

Could he have a Broadway career? Most definitely. Could he have a RECORDING career? No way in H*ll.

He just doesn't have any soul, as far as I'm concerned. I don't get an emotional connection to him when he's singing -- I don't sense that HE has an emotional connection to what he's singing. He's theatrical, he's a great showman, he can hit lots of crazy notes -- but he doesn't MOVE me.

Not to say that he doesn't or shouldn't move you. To each his own. But the "if-you-don't-like-Adam-you're-a-goof" viewpoint has become tiresome.

He just doesn't have any soul, as far as I'm concerned. I don't get an emotional connection to him when he's singing -- I don't sense that HE has an emotional connection to what he's singing. He's theatrical, he's a great showman, he can hit lots of crazy notes -- but he doesn't MOVE me.

Not to say that he doesn't or shouldn't move you. To each his own. But the "if-you-don't-like-Adam-you're-a-goof" viewpoint has become tiresome.

I totally agree with you Scott. I'm firmly in the camp of those who believe that the whole point is to reimagine the song and perform it in your own style. American Idol is not a karaoke show. It's not about performing the song the same way the original artist did. I mean, how many times do the judges criticize a contestant for doing that and for not "adding their own personality" to the song? The whole point is to show what they would be like as an artist if they win. Personally I think Adam did just exactly that. I was fascinated with Adam's performance, mostly because I'm a huge Johnny Cash fan and I think Adam did a good job. If I wanted to hear a performance of Johnny Cash's cersion, I'd put in my CD and listen to that.

As a country music fan, I'm always excited/cautious when country week rolls around on Idol. And to be honest, I only "watch" Idol while doing other things - on my laptop, in the kitchen, etc. So I guess you can say I'm really only into it for the vocal performances.

I don't understand where all the outrage is coming from. Personally, I was much more scarred by Megan Joy's horrible, horrible rendition of Patsy Cline than by Adam's Ring of Fire. I think people are using his version of the song to launch unsaid feelings about his person rather than about his talent. Like him, don't like him, whatever.

I won't say I would go out and purchase his version of the song (which I have said in the past about some David Cook renditions), but I also won't say that it grated on every nerve. I think it's the second week of the themed competition weeks. If he continues to do the same thing week after week, then it will get old. For now, to each his own.

I like Adam Lambert. He may not be anything stunningly new in the music world, but he's certainly something new for American Idol. He's a breath of fresh air as far as that goes.

However, I swear I will NOT vote for him no matter what until he ends his membership in the Constantine Maroulis gross school of eye fucking. It's skeevy and he doesn't need to do it because, unlike Maroulis, Adam Lambert can actually sing.

Dear Adam, the first performance you manage without a single eye fuck, I'll pick up the phone and vote for you 50 times. Truth.

I'm a mother, and I'm so on board the Adam Love Train. I simply can't look away. And I wouldn't vote for Danny if you put a loaded gun to my head, so don't lump all us moms together.

Too, I tune into AI to hear something new. If I wanted to hear note-for-note covers of songs I like, I'd listen to the originals since no one could ever do it better without changing it. I give Adam props for finding a way to make a theme that he clearly dislikes work for him. And those who would slam him for cheating the theme are hypocritical if they don't apply the same judgment to Anoop and Matt who also turned country songs into slower ballads.

What I've figured out is that it seems to be a real Good vs. Evil/Darkside vs. Lightness contest when it comes to Adam vs. Danny. Adam represents all that's subversive and off limits in our society, while Danny is supposed to personify all Jesus-loving, righteous living saintlyness. And I'll pick a Bad Boy over a Goody Two Shoes any day of the week.

i think he destroyed a perfectly good and famous country song by an artist with actual talent. he scarred my memory of that song forever. it was wretched. enough said

I love Adam, he's my favorite contestant this year...however, I'm sorry, I just didn't get his performance. I just didn't. I had to agree with Simon's comment that it was a bit self indulgent... and I just think that "Ring Of Fire" is a song that shouldn't be touched or changed especially in that way... it would have been weird no matter who was singing it, to me.

Word.

The Judges say over, and over again to make the song your own. To not sound like the original. So here's Adam doing just that, making it his own, putting his own spin on it and everyone suddenly has their panties in a twist. If you want to hear the original, the way it was "intended to sound" listen to the original. If the judges don't want them to "make it their own" they shouldn't say it. Adam is a fantastic performer. He has amazing vocal ability. I love Adam and every week he's had my vote. It's about time someone doesn't stick with the cookie-cutter, perfect little American Idol contestants. Everyone is just afraid of Adam because he breaks the box, he's original. The only thing about Adam I don't like is that he's gay, being gay means I have no shot at being with Adam. Lol. He took a risk, get over it people. Country week is not to sing a COUNTRY SONG JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL. If it was, they wouldn't have let Adam do his own thing.

Speaking as a wife, if I die unexpectedly during a routine operation and my husband is out flogging my butt at an AI audition a miserable FOUR WEEKS LATER I am not only haunting his ass, I'm going to give every one of my other-worldly karma points to the competition.
Which might, actually, explain the Adam phenom...

Hey... don't blame all of the Twilight fans for Gokey! I happen to find him unbearably irritating and dude... though it's sad, she's dead. Let her rest in piece. Now as for the Jonas Bro fans... I can not speak for those people.

Adam in all his hot weirdness is amazing and I agree the best thing to happen to AI. I too haven't watched the past two seasons because it was so lamely predictable.

"Because America may allow AI contestants to have a penis, as long as they never, ever imply they know what to do with it. Brixtonville hit the nail on the head: voters want the safe, nice boy who is happy with holding hands and Waiting For Marriage. Meanwhile, Adam is the bad boy who wants you to Touch Him There.

Add to that the shocking originality (people complain about the homogenized AI year after year, but still manage to shit the bed when someone breaks the mold) and alternative sexuality (AI voters will vote for an openly gay contestant the day he/she graduates Jesus camp and forsakes same sex lovin'), and you have a contestant that doesn't fit into the nice, neat Ken Doll box that voters are comfortable with. Also, he eyefucks them until they're sore."

Yesssssssssss. Yes, yes, yes.