American Top 6 (Again): I Wanna Rock

Now I know my American Idol updates are insufferably late, but since I started tackling the Idol beast, I have to see it to the end. And now I see my updates as friendly reminders where we left off the previous week and where the Idols currently stand. So there. I do have a method behind my madness, in case you were at all that interested, and I'm sure you weren't.

All right, let's get this over with.

The Idols have returned from heaven (since they were dressed in those heavenly white suits during the Idol Gives Back concert) and are back to business. It was Jon Bon Jovi week, which I was looking forward to because I thought his music would prove to be a challenge for all the contestants, and I thought Bon Jovi could give some pretty good advice. If there's anyone who knows how to write a song, it's Bon Jovi. He's like a damn hit machine, just churning hits out and being ridiculously successful at it. It's too bad his performance the next day turned out to be the dullest mentor performance all season.

Phil started first, and made the mistake of telling us that he's been dreaming of singing "Blaze of Glory" since he 12 years old or whenever he said. Watching him sing in front of Bon Jovi and then later onstage, he looked like an amateur and I could see the 12 year old in him singing in front of his mirror with a hair brush. Well actually a stapler probably since he has no hair.

Jordin came out next, and I loved her new look because every other week she's so sickenly saccharine and sweet, that it makes me want to puke. Unfortunately, Jordin couldn't pull off "Livin' On A Prayer" which is my favorite Bon Jovi song (besides "Born To Be My Baby," which unfortunately, no one sang). The low notes were too low for her, and she got more manic as the song went on that I thought she was going to explode.

Well, after Jordin, anyone could have come out and sounded like a winner. Luckily, Lakisha didn't need that boost. She sang a song that I didn't know, which was probably to her advantage, since Lakisha is clearly not a rocker chick, and any attempt at Bon Jovi's more well known songs would have brought comparisons to the original artist himself. Lakisha was kind of cocky and sassy last week, and I'm not sure why, since she hadn't really been that good the previous weeks. She was also testing fashion's limits by wearing a top with a red band to accentuate the part of her figure, we all do not want to see more of. Anyway, she sang great, and sounded sooooo much better than previous weeks. She sounded bluesy and soulful in all the good ways.

Blake raised the bar even higher after Lakisha with his nerdy and serious music arrangement prowess. Bon Jovi gave us a preview by essentially proclaiming "You Give Love A Bad Name" as some sort of Holy Grail that you just don't touch and kind of preparing us to recoil in horror at Blake's treatment of it. But Blake pulled it off with all of his record-scratching, soda can opening and other sound effects going strong like a one-man techno band, although not as gay as that sounds. I was really impressed. He doesn't have the greatest voice, but in terms of originality, he takes the prize.

Chris Richardson and Melinda were kind of a let-down after two really great performances. Tinny and nasaly as usual, I don't think Chris had the vocal chops to give the growls and rocker attitude suited for rock. He just sounded wimpy. Melinda, while sounding miles better than Chris, was kind of bleh too. The three stoodges' latest thing has been comparing Melinda to Tina Turner, which I think is kind of a stretch. She did inject a little bit of tude, but Tina Turner? Not really.

My votes:

Best Performance: Blake. Like Simon said, his was a love/hate performance. I loved it. Oh and the drum solo was awesome.

Worst Performance: Jordin. What a mess.

Most Improved: Lakisha. While she sounded great, I recommend that she not try any more deep knee bends in tight jeans.