Rolling Stone: The Lonesome Death of 'American Idol' Show "Adam Lambert, The Greatest Idol Singer Ever"
Filed Under () by glitzylady on Friday, April 8, 2016
Posted at : Friday, April 08, 2016
From Rolling Stone
LINK: The Lonesome Death of 'American Idol'
"The Fox show said goodbye with a finale that reminded you of how wonderful — and WTF — this pop juggernaut once was"
Interesting, thought-provoking article/commentary/retrospective musings from Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield on the Season 15 "American Idol" Finale and his thoughts on the show as a pop culture phenomenon. How it worked, how it slowly failed, and why... With multiple Adam Lambert mentions (all good!!!)..
And at the end of the day (or in this case, the end of the 15 seasons of "American Idol"), if nothing else we as Adam Lambert fans (some from the very beginning, some more recently smitten, but all massively impressed with his talent, his all around fabulousness, his joy in what he does, his humility, and more) are eternally grateful to Idol for giving Adam Lambert the opportunity, the perfect platform for him to shine to a worldwide audience with his stunning voice and that beautiful smile, that wonderful personality, that gracious heart and generous soul, that we all have come to love..
Thank you American Idol!
INTRO:
"American Idol has a lot in common with the country it's named after — a swift rise, fueled by lofty populist ideals and naked aggression, world conquest, such giddy heights, then the tragic skid into despair and and it's all somehow Fox's fault. The end of the Idol empire should have been a much bigger deal. It should have been an event. But instead, last night's farewell episode just kind of dribbled away, like the final season overall. "Let's do a Bowie tribute, except instead of Adam Lambert or Fantasia, we'll have five folkie bros with matching acoustic guitars bore the living fucklights out of us all" — yeah, that's the kind of brainstorm that might help explain why Idol was finished. It was as dreary as everything "Starman" was rebel-rebelling against in the first place."
ADDITIONAL EXCERPTS pertaining to Adam Lambert (but worth reading the entire article)
LINK: The Lonesome Death of 'American Idol'
"The Fox show said goodbye with a finale that reminded you of how wonderful — and WTF — this pop juggernaut once was"
Interesting, thought-provoking article/commentary/retrospective musings from Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield on the Season 15 "American Idol" Finale and his thoughts on the show as a pop culture phenomenon. How it worked, how it slowly failed, and why... With multiple Adam Lambert mentions (all good!!!)..
And at the end of the day (or in this case, the end of the 15 seasons of "American Idol"), if nothing else we as Adam Lambert fans (some from the very beginning, some more recently smitten, but all massively impressed with his talent, his all around fabulousness, his joy in what he does, his humility, and more) are eternally grateful to Idol for giving Adam Lambert the opportunity, the perfect platform for him to shine to a worldwide audience with his stunning voice and that beautiful smile, that wonderful personality, that gracious heart and generous soul, that we all have come to love..
Thank you American Idol!
Adam Lambert at his American Idol Audition for Season 8 (2009) in San Francisco in summer 2008
Adam Lambert joins the Judges panel as guest judge in NYC auditions in Sept. 2014
Adam Lambert's final performance on the American Idol stage on March 17, 2016
INTRO:
"American Idol has a lot in common with the country it's named after — a swift rise, fueled by lofty populist ideals and naked aggression, world conquest, such giddy heights, then the tragic skid into despair and and it's all somehow Fox's fault. The end of the Idol empire should have been a much bigger deal. It should have been an event. But instead, last night's farewell episode just kind of dribbled away, like the final season overall. "Let's do a Bowie tribute, except instead of Adam Lambert or Fantasia, we'll have five folkie bros with matching acoustic guitars bore the living fucklights out of us all" — yeah, that's the kind of brainstorm that might help explain why Idol was finished. It was as dreary as everything "Starman" was rebel-rebelling against in the first place."
ADDITIONAL EXCERPTS pertaining to Adam Lambert (but worth reading the entire article)
It wasn't a gradual decline — as soon as Paula Abdul left, the magic was gone. You could always count on Paula. Say what you like about the "Forever Your Girl" kid, she was excited to be there, getting up to dance or weeping her lashes off or just gushing her own special Paula-ese. You could trust her to tell Jordin Sparks, "You are in great, great vocal voice tonight!" Or inform Melinda Doolittle, "It's awesome when you're fantastic!" Or assure the greatest Idol singer ever, Adam Lambert: "Adam, you dare to dance in the path of greatness!" While the other hosts would get that shellshock-fatigue look in their eyes, Paula's gung-ho enthusiasm and vocal voice never flagged. She dared to dance in the path of ridiculousness.
And when Idol had an actual creative force on its hands, there was a night-by-night excitement — especially in 2009, the season Adam kept ripping shit up, with his "Mad World" and his "Feeling Good" and whatever the hell he was doing to "Ring of Fire."
Posted by @glitzylady for ADAM LAMBERT 24/7 NEWS
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7 comments:
Great post by RS and I totally agree. I thought the Bowie tribute so bad I cringed... Whose idea was that hot mess?
The Bowie tribute was terrible, don't know who was put in charge of that fiasco, but they totally did not know who Bowie was.
In one way glad Adam wasn't there, he has stated before that he doesn't like to do group numbers, not sure if they would have given him a solo part, but they did let him have a solo night a couple of weeks ago. The 3 original judges part, was also botched up, which was partly their own fault, obviously they had not talked together before hitting the stage. They talked and interrupted each other, like they had never made a stage appearance before. People say that the show started to go down when Abdul left, also Adam has the same honor, it was never the same after he left. Glad it's all over now, has anyone made it big since Adam left in 2008?
I was happy for Trent, he was my first choice. The 2 top people get the same prizes
a healthy $$$ amount, Adam got $300,000, plus a car and a single, plus an album and also a 3 year contract. Not too shabby. Kris Allan got the same and $350,000.
Applause!, Applause! for Rolling Stone for this write up!
(oh was that a Bowie tribute? I thought it was a display of Idol's fav WGWGs and I got a good laugh out of it)
What is Idol's connection with David Bowie and why did they pick him out for a tribute???
I could understand a tribute to Michael Johns --- one of their own.
I was very disappointed with the Idol show last night. The entrance of Mr. Dunkelman was not funny,in fact it was a very uncomfortable skit. The show just didn't have that wow factor that I was expecting and was,for me,somewhat boring. I wish it had gone out with a bang. Adam's name should have been mentioned along with the reason he was not there like they did for Kelly Clarkson. In so many of the interviews he does and journal items in papers etc. Idol is mentioned and he always is complementary when he discusses his time there and has never talked trash about the show like some others have. Yet, he was left out. It was disappointing. As to the tribute for D. Bowie, that was just bad, really bad.
I was going to watch Idol I only watched the first hour hoping to see/hear some mention/video of ADAM but when it got to the Clay solo ... Lord forgive me ... I changed the channel so I guess I missed all the 'action' ... now I'm doubly glad I did!! I did watch the April 5th show where they showed some of the former Idols & I'm so happy I did. ADAM got a lot of air time on that segment ... so farewell American Idol ... Thank You for giving us ADAM LAMBERT ... the Greatest & the Best on your show in 15 years!!
tess4ADAM(LAMBERT Outlaw)
My 2 cents on the Idol Finale: I too would have loved some mention of Adam, perhaps a brief video from him from the Rocky Horror set, etc.. which would have not only given viewers that one last view of Adam and could have given him the recognition for being one of the top American Idol contestants in the history of the show, but it would also have given Fox Network a quick plug for the TV movie/musical airing in October 2016.. But oh well, didn't happen.. We always want more of Adam, more recognition for him, and I'm certainly guilty of that!!! I know that Adam was given this AMAZING opportunity on March 17th, when he performed "Mad World" and his new single "Welcome To The Show".. And he was given a lot of airtime on the Idol retrospective aired earlier this week. However, the finale is the most watched show of the season so just one more *little* chance to be recognized as an Idol "great" would have been more than wonderful.. But... anyway.. Just call me greedy!!
The second comment I have concerns the format of the finale.. As an Idol watcher since the beginning (at least watching the finales every year) and beginning with Season 7 (the year BEFORE Adam was on) watching complete seasons, I was slightly disappointed that the show was all about the contestants from previous years, the judges, etc.. and it did not give any of the current season's contestants much of a chance to perform on the Idol stage again, for the last time. Yes, there were a couple of group performances but that's about it.. Even the 2 finalists were largely ignored, their participation and performance opportunities greatly minimized.. Very very unusual. I realize this was the last year, the last finale, the final hurrah, but in some ways it fell slightly flat to me.. And with no Idol tour this summer, that was it for the contestants this season. My husband (also an Idol fan..and a big Adam Lambert fanboy!) had the same feeling that I did. I know many fans stopped watching Idol after Adam's season, but we continued to watch and enjoy.. and vote. We even have gone to a few of the summer tours over the years.. And enjoyed..
My personal opinion (not that it matters to anyone else!!!) is that it might have made sense, at least to me (maybe to no one else!), to have the more traditional finale, with some performances by the top 5 Idols from this season at least, perhaps performing with past Idols, with a few selected top past Idols performing individually, and then produce an Idol special show later this year, perhaps early fall, with all of the big name success stories, performances by the top Idols, including our fabulous Adam Lambert: a showcase as it were.. Hoping this might happen.. Who knows.. Sorry, just musing a bit..
Lastly, I'm so grateful to American Idol for giving Adam Lambert the platform to become known to millions upon millions of viewers worldwide.. We wouldn't be here chatting about him otherwise!
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