Wednesday, February 1, 2012
American Idol contestant sings Rush's Tom Sawyer
UPDATE - 2/2@3:26PM: From the CBS News Celebrity Circuit recap of American Idol (thanks Power Windows):
... From the rushes came David Weed, who looked like Napoleon Dynamite's best friend and sang, well, Rush. After he had finished his finely high-pitched attempt at mimicking Rush, Jackson asked him if he really thought he sounded like Rush's lead singer, Geddy Lee. Weed explained that he hoped he sounded a little different. Jackson retorted that yes, Lee is good. ...
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UPDATE - 2/2@11:36AM: From Rolling Stone's recap of the episode (thanks John at Cygnus-X1.net):
.... Next up is David Weed, who thinks that singing Rush on a show built on the songs of Katy Perry and Stevie Wonder is a good choice. The only thing his version of Geddy Lee will win him is a lifetime of never getting laid. ...
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UPDATE - 2/2@6:25AM: Here's the video of the audition:
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As a fitting tribute to 2.1.12 Day, a contestant (David Weed) on this evening's episode of the reality show American Idol attempted to sing Rush's Tom Sawyer for his audition. After his very poor performance (in the judge's minds at least) judge Randy Jackson asked him if he thought Geddy Lee sounded like he did and the contestant said I'm hoping I don't sound exactly like him. Jackson then said yeah...he actually sounds really good. They then played Tom Sawyer in the background as the contestant walked out of the audition. Thanks to hermy for the heads up.
Comments
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of course it should have been 'unfortunately', sorry.
PS #49 unfortunaly I know several people in my surroundings, also over 40, who have never heard of RUSH. Maybe partly due to lack of airplay which is common for RUSH over here. I think there's only one person here who plays them, and for that fact alone I should mention him, Kees Baars (did also some articles on Rush and maybe even an interview, see the Cygnus website for the Brief History of Time catalogue).
Okay that was a bad one, I respect the man even while I can't stand his band since their "come back". But J. Lo... what a great lesson for her to get to know RUSH through a show like American Idol.
Not so sure why some people here are assuming that Jennifer Lopez wouldn't know of Rush (or Tom Sawyer, for that matter). I mean, she's 42 and grew up in the Bronx. I don't know ANYONE who's 42 that hasn't heard of Rush...
The silent old gypsian woman in the jury reminds me a bit of the character in Drag Me To Hell, the movie.
I thought he had a nice voice and he gets an extra 2112 points just for attempting a Rush song!
As an aside, a few years ago I sang Tom Sawyer karaoke to the Veteran's of Foreign War outpost in Moab, Utah. And I doubt I did much better than him. But we are both awesome for trying!!!
Rush On, my Idol wannabe brutha! ☺♥
My fellow Dutchman John De Mol is to blame for this whole Idol concept... commercially a big succes (not so artistically/originality) apparantly because it's sold to many countries, like other TV shows. Another Dutch "succes" this is, since the days of another Dutch invention, Big Brother. Sorry guys! (okay maybe I shouldnt be sorry just to be from the same country). Now there's this Voice of Holland too, which went international (from De Mol too I think). The "careers" these singers have afterwards is usually quite short. Not that all participants lack talent, but if there is talent it's made mediocre by the whole process/concept.
#16 - "...wearing Rick Santorum clothing" HA HA HA
not just clothing - he also kind of looks like Santorum physically in this pic from his 1976 high school yearbook
link
I agree with those who are saying to "cut the guy some slack" or he wasn't that bad. I couldn't do any better myself. It's not that, that most people have been saying. For me, anyway, it's the show itself. And as much as I love Rush....Tom Sawyer on American Idol? C'mon. If I was to criticize the guy who sang, I'd criticize him more for picking a song that is just not suitable for that kind of "format" (which is a crappy format, actually). I mean, if he was going to be intent on picking a Rush song...ok, fine. But wouldn't one of their slower tempo ,more balad-like songs have come off better? Either way, I think it's a crappy show. I sure don't have anything against the guy for his singing (or lack of) talents. But his choice of song was not the smartest. Plus, Jennifer Lopez most likely isn't familiar with much Rush music (if any), so considering she's one of the "judges", wouldn't you consider picking something that you might actually be able to pull off singing, since she wouldn't have a clue what song it was?
#21 and #23 Good postings! The first thing I thought when I heard this guy sing Tom Sawyer was "that's really terrible, but I couldn't do much better - it's a difficult song." The second thing I thought was, "This guy is probably a Rush fan. Maybe he's even on RIAB! Maybe he's one of us!" Come on people, lets cut the guy some slack and be a little kinder to one another.
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