Adam Lambert was Born to Be Wild on American Idol

Last night, the American Idol Surviving Seven took on movie songs, with legendary movie director Quentin Tarantino guiding them. But will the top dogs survive those surprise cuts that usually come in the next few weeks? Nearly every year, starting about now, there have been unexpected eliminations of crowd favorites.

Danny Gokey was pretty sensational as usual. Kris Allen and Matt Giraud sang great - but Kris' song was short, uneventful and obscure, and neither guy astounded the judges. Lil Rounds got really angry at another bad review, and didn't really deserve the stomping she got. Allison Iraheta's voice sounds to me like it's good right now but her vocal chords are going to be shot in about 3 more years. Anoop Desai didn't play up the climax of the song as much as Tarantino told him to, but still got top remarks.

Adam Lambert stole the show...yet again. After his absolutely madly insanely good version of "Mad World" last week (can you tell I liked it? Hear it here), he comes out and does "Born to Be Wild" which was used in the '70's flick "Easy Rider".

First of all, out of all the movie songs available, who but a genius like Adam would pull "Born to Be Wild" out of the hat? It's a fabulous rock song but many people probably don't even remember it being used in the movie. Even if it was given to him on a list, it was an inspired choice.

Second, although he didn't stray from the great rock vibe of this song, Adam once again made it his own with high notes that none of us knew existed in the male vocal register, and his unabashed stage movements.

Paula Abdul called him "the bravest contestant ever".

However, watch out, Adam. Sometimes those on top don't get to ride the wave all the way. Top 7 is exactly where Jennifer Hudson got eliminated in Season 3. Season 4 saw the end of the popular Constantine Maroulis at Top 6 although he had never even been in the bottom three. Season 1 bid farewell to the favorited Tamyra Gray in 4th place, and the same thing happened to Chris Daughtry in Season 5.

Last season Brooke White, thought to be a shoo-in, began faltering and was gone in 5th place. And those we can't wait to see go, like Scott in Season 4 and the famous Season 6 Sanjaya seem to just go on and on. Although the early eliminations certainly didn't end up hurting most of those performers' careers (including last year's 9th place Michael Johns who just released a single with an album due in June), it's always caused suspicion that the show is fixed.

But for now, rock on, Adam. I hope to see you at the finale.

Because Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi have talked so very long in each contestant review the past couple of weeks, the show's been going at least four-five minutes over. Last week, Adam didn't get to hear all his reviews on the air, which was unfair. And this week, the judges had to pair up and each singer got their comments from only two judges. I liked the shortening, but not sure it's a good thing. And Simon probably won't stay silent very long.

Sources:
Adam Lambert, Mad World - You Tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK4Hu3lAPTk, posted by Victory 5700.
Michael Johns Press Release, ETOnline.com, http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/04/72542/index.html