ADDED: He sang "Whipping Post." I remember 15 years ago, when Bo Bice sang "Whipping Post":
I wrote:
Bo Bice... He's the best rocker and the most masculine singer the show has ever had. Wow! He blew everyone else away.... That song was "Whipping Post": Good lord, I feel like I’m dyin’.
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He was great. And he'll get better as the show progresses. Hope they let him sing more of that type of song.
Also, Katie is GORGEOUS!! Some of her looks have been 'strange', stick to this formula, please.
Also, Katie is GORGEOUS!! Some of her looks have been 'strange', stick to this formula, please.
I remember someone once saying that Katy Perry went from looking like a teenage dream to your drunk aunt at karaoke.
I have not watched American Idol in years, not since it still had the original trio of judges. When did they start having music in the auditions? If I recall correctly, they were originally done a cappella. Also, I wonder if this guy is making the classic American Idol mistake of peaking too early.
My mentor was a huge Allman Brothers fan, and their At Fillmore East was often on heavy rotation while in the car together.
He's not bad but he's no Junior Kimbrough
Katie wears many different exciting extreme costumes that — along with the hair and makeup — give her a vivid, comic-book appearance. It's a dimension of entertainment none of the other judges in the history of the show ever attempted. She also has a lot of smart things to say about professional singing and she does great comedy at the facial and whole-body level. She's a Lucille Ball type, in terms of facial comedy (but she's not like Lucille Ball as a female comic character because she is never displayed as screwing things up or wrong about anything).
The set of judges they have now work really well together! It's better than any set of judges they ever had.
Forgot about Bo Dice! I was watching the show more closely then.
Had to look it up, 4th season, he came in 2nd to CARRIE UNDERWOOD, no shame in that.
The show is no longer about making fun of the contestants or encouraging us to laugh at them. The only people who get on to get rejected are people who are great in some way that's just out of line with the competition, and that person gets a lot of love encouragement to go off on their own journey. There's nothing mean anymore... or arguably mean. The show used to be 40% about the way some young people just don't realize that they're terrible and they have a delusional dream of pop star success. That's not how it's done now. And that got old for many reasons: 1. Only Simon was good at trashing those kids (and he left), 2. Too many contestants were pretending to be delusional fools but were just having their own fun getting on TV, 3. We'd seen all the variations on badness too many times, 4. Our culture shifted to stressing the importance of sparing young people from bullying and pain and shame.
Yes, American Idol is much slicker now. Raw, unadulterated singers are harder to find; because of shows like American Idol.
So they are really setting the bar high for the remainder of the season with some of the acts.
She also has a lot of smart things to say about professional singing and she does great comedy at the facial and whole-body level.
I remember in some of American Idols later seasons, the original judges would add different guest judges during the various city auditions. One season they had Katy Perry and Avril Lavign for, I believe, the auditions in Los Angeles. The contrast was stark. I remember thinking Katy Perry gave great feedback and critiques and would make a wonderful replacement to wacky Paula Abdul.
How naive I was then. Of course, watching Paula Abdul's slow-motion implosion was one of the many reasons people tuned into the show. And for Simon's cruel berating of "delusional" tryouts, who were lied to by show producers about possibly having a chance when in fact the producers knew full well they were only advancing them to the judges so that they could be fodder for mockery. I don't know about the new iteration, but the original American Idol was an incredibly mean-spirited show.
p.s. I was writing my comment while Ann posted hers. I see she addressed the very point I was making. Thank you for the feedback.
"Katie wears many different exciting extreme costumes..."
Sorry, it's "Katy," not "Katie."
"Yes, American Idol is much slicker now. Raw, unadulterated singers are harder to find; because of shows like American Idol."
That's a great point. I think the original idea was more that they'd spot the raw material in some young person and then show by show that person would evolve and go on a journey and — because of the judges' advice — they'd emerge into this thing called a pop star.
Now, they're taking people who have much more individual style already worked out and they're not so much about transforming them — more about they're feeling honored to have that special individual appearing on the show. The model for this new view of the show is last season's Alejandro. They keep referring to him this season. It's more: We're letting a true artist teach America what is good and America impresses us when it votes for someone like this.
I liked the Bo Bice version better. But I had to wonder about the staging of Webb's performance. Standing in the middle of huge, bare floor with that idiotic blue thing behind him, no band, no mikestand to play with, no crowd ... that's a hard venue. They gave Bice a lot more to work with.
The Bo Bice version was closer to the original Allman Brothers recording, but I really enjoyed the Jovin Webb arrangement.
I would not have guessed a singer backed by a guitar could fill the venue with music.
Watched Gregg Allman sing that song (still in embryo) for free in 1969 at Willobranch park in Jacksonville just after the the two blondes (Blonde on Blonde?) joined a local band the Second Coming and renamed themselves the ABB. Bo does a credible version and he looks the part. Hope he keeps moving up...
“ I liked the Bo Bice version better. But I had to wonder about the staging of Webb's performance. Standing in the middle of huge, bare floor with that idiotic blue thing behind him, no band, no mikestand to play with, no crowd ... that's a hard venue. They gave Bice a lot more to work with.”
Different stage of the competition. Webb is at the audition. Big stage comes weeks later.
https://youtu.be/vqp3R1buaaY
There’s Bo Bice at auditions, with no accompaniment at at. That’s also “Whipping Post.”
I also immediately thought of Bo Bice and his performance. All these years later and I clearly recall being insanely turned on by him after he sang Whipping Post. And I am normally very much turned off by rockers and long-haired men; they are usually too effeminate and/or seem pretty unhealthy. Bo showed me that's not always the case...
My favorite rocker from American Idol was Chris Daughtry.
Different stokes for different folks.
Those are both very good and very enjoyable, but I'll take Greg Allman's Fillmore East version over those every time; possibly because I first heard it in my mid-teens back in the early 70's.
Bo Bice played happy hour several times at my old club back in town. Super nice guy and a lot of fun, but the bartenders used to raise hell with him because he was always taking off his shirt while he played!! Again, at happy hour... 😜
Is it fair to say that Bo Bice's appearance in 2005 did not really propel him into "stardom". It looks to me like he has had career (he's now 44 and it looks like he's been appearing professionally since 2005), but not a stellar career. I wonder what people who appear on these shows hope for. Is this good enough? Is this the likely trajectory for Jovin Webb? Are there just 100s or 1000s of singers of this caliber performing throughout the US at Holiday Inn bars?
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