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American Idol sucks, right?
By robertzavala in Turn it up!
May 13, 2009

My wife and daughter love American Idol. I never really got the attraction. The endless row of Celine Dion sound-alikes just didn't click with me. In the last few years I have converted a bit and I think part of the reason is that the show has opened its doors to singers whose talents go a bit farther than pop-lite displays of vocal calisthenics.

Last year's winner, David Cook, showed some originality, style and just a little bit of grit. This year's front runner Adam Lambert takes that baton and runs even farther with it. This guy with the guyliner is the real deal. But does he have what it takes to make it in the real world after he says goodbye to Simon?

Let's start with his look. Sheer talent without "the look" will only get you so far in the world of rock, ask Roy Orbison. With Lambert's edgy haircut and Elvis snarl, he looks like he was sent from central casting to play the part of Rock God. Is it manufactured? Sure, but in this day of TMZ-media overkill, what isn't? The point is that it works. Attitude? Well, he's got it onstage where it counts. When he's not performing music, not so much, but hey, this is American Idol, where being NICE is part of the package, so we have to grade on the curve on this one. Talent? Yep, yep and yep. On a recent AI he had the audacity to perform Zepplin's "Whole lotta love" which is the rock and roll equivalent of re-filming "Gone with the wind". So just how bad did he fail? I think he did better than just pull it off, I think he knocked it outta the park. Here's the YouTube file the let's you hear the performance.

As good as the vocal performance is, it's too bad you can't see the visuals on this clip. The guy roamed the stage like he'd been fronting Aerosmith for the past five years.

I think that if Queen had any sense they would boot the ill-fitting Paul Rodgers and hire this guy to play Freddy Mercury on the next tour. No doubt Freddy would have approved. But they better hurry, I've gotta feeling Lambert's gonna be pretty busy soon.