Remember, next week is our last in this series—so if you want your “Z” song selections heard, comment now or forever hold your peace.

’60s: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – Rolling Stones

’70s: “You’re The One That I Want” – Grease

’80s: “You Make My Dreams Come True” – Hall & Oates

’90s: “You Oughta Know” – Alanis Morissette

’00s: “You Know I’m No Good” – Amy Winehouse

We’ll start off with the tense moments when Ryan had Crystal and Lee on the stage before announcing the winner:

There’s no denying Lee was genuinely choked up. And, somehow, the rush of emotion enabled him to give a far better performance of U2’s “Beautiful Day” than the one from Tuesday night. But we just kind of want to fast forward to the part where he releases some original music already—so we can rant on about how much better Crystal’s album is!

Oh, we kid. We kid. (Sort of…) But before moving on to all the performances, here’s another highlight from last night—the return of Paula Abdul, and her farewell speech to Simon Cowell!

Top 12 Contestants, Orianthi and Alice Cooper, “School’s Out”

Kris Allen, “The Truth”

Siobhan Magnus, Aaron Kelly and Bee Gees, “How Deep Is Your Love”

Michael Lynche and Michael McDonald, “Takin’ It To The Street”

Top 6 Girls, “Beautiful/Fighter” and Christina Aguilera, “You Lost Me”

Top 6 Guys, “I Can’t Go For That/Maneater” and Hall & Oates, “You Make My Dreams”

Crystal Bowersox and Alanis Morissette, “Ironic/You Oughta Know”

Carrie Underwood, “Undo It”

Casey James and Bret Michaels, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”

Lee DeWyze and Chicago, “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is/If You Leave Me Now/25 Or 6 To 4″

General Larry Platt and William Hung, “Pants On The Ground”

Janet Jackson, “Again/Nothing/Nasty”

Lee DeWyze, Crystal Bowersox and Joe Cocker, “With A Little Help From My Friends”

8:01 p.m. We begin! And Lee is dressed like he’s an extra from Dead Poets Society.

8:04 p.m. Our bad—we just caught sight of Crystal’s plaid shorts and blazer. Are they both going to the Hogwarts homecoming dance?

8:06 p.m. The Idols perform “School’s Out”… and Alice Cooper shows up! Thankfully he is spared from wearing the embarrassing uniform.

8:12 p.m. Kris Allen begins singing his new single “The Truth” and is rudely interrupted by Ryan Seacrest’s mic still being on. Live TV, folks! We only wish Ryan’s mic accidentally stayed on so we could have a moment of comedy gold where he starts badmouthing Kara or something.

8:15 p.m. We were Team Glambert last year, but we have to admit, Kris Allen has earned his Idol crown. Solid performance.

8:17 p.m. Simon Cowell Insult Montage! Can this be turned into its own spin-off show? American Insult?

8:19 p.m. Siobhan Magnus and Aaron Kelly duet on “How Deep Is Your Love.” If Siobhan doesn’t add a screech by the end of this, I’m going to be pissed.

8:20 p.m. Hey look! The surviving Bee Gees showed up to lull us to sleep. Zzzz. Siobhan’s screech will be our alarm clock to wake us up.

8:21 p.m. No screech? Fine, Siobhan, be that way.

8:26 p.m. Michael Lynche sashays down the staircase, singing “Takin’ It To The Streets” with Michael McDonald. We’re sure this was Big Mike’s absolute first choice of who he wanted to duet with and what song he wanted to sing. You know, not a gorgeous R&B number like every song he picked while on the show.

8:30 p.m. Dane Cook doing stand-up on stage right now is about as funny as if Lee DeWyze was doing stand-up with his guitar right about now.

8:31 p.m. Whoa, whoa, whoa, what just happened? Bad auditioners from seasons past and present coming on stage to harrass Simon? And it lasted all of three confusing seconds?

8:35 p.m. All the Top 12 girls come out to sing Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” like it’s a camp song. We wish Crystal had actually performed this song on the show, since it would be a change of pace from the predictable Etheridge/Joplin songs she kept picking.

8:36 p.m. Now they’re singing “Fighter.” How scared do you think Paige Miles is to perform tonight? Last time we saw her she was terrifying awful.

8:38 p.m. Christina Aguilera comes out to belt the last few notes of “Fighter” and put everyone on that stage to shame. Also she sings “You Lost Me,” and we are overjoyed she is not making us suffer through “Not Myself Tonight.”

8:40 p.m. By the by, “You Lost Me” (co-written by Sia) is one of the best tracks on Bionic, if not the best. Christina is redeeming herself right now for all the ball gag theatrics and vagina-talk she’s been doing lately. Well done, lady!

8:43 p.m. Even Ricky Gervais is having trouble being funny on this finale. Ugh.

8:48 p.m. The Top 12 Guys sing the incredibly modern and relevant Hall and Oates songs “I Can’t Go For That” and “Maneater.” Big surprise! Hall and Oates come out. We’d make another sarcastic comment about them singing “You Make My Dream Comes True,” but no joke, this song is fantastic. (Especially when it’s sung by H&O.)

8:51 p.m. Crystal dad’s is all kinds of awesome. Anyone else notice he has Mr. Bill tucked away in his front pocket?

8:53 p.m. We love Crystal singing Alanis Morissette, but Alanis has literally hundreds of other songs to choose over “Ironic.” And without an Alanis cameo, we’re not loving it—OH MY GOD ALANIS SHOWED UP. Criticism revoked. We. Love. This.

8:55 p.m. Lilith Fair is literally happening on stage before our eyes.

9 p.m. Carrie Underwood performs “Undo It,” wears leather and continues to be perfect. Ryan mentions that the song was co-written by Kara DioGuardi. Seriously, why can’t Kara write a good song for an Idol to sing? Instead they get dreck like “No Boundaries.”

9:05 p.m. Kris Allen presents Crystal and Lee with the keys to their own custom-designed Ford. They could not be less enthusiastic. Seriously, guys, try to crack a grin or something, it’s a free car!

9:07 p.m. Casey James performs an acoustic version of Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”… and the band kicks in when Bret Michaels walks in! (Sidenote: Isn’t it funny how like, two months ago Bret Michael was synonymous with skanky girls and lowest common denominator TV programming, and now he’s a celebrity musical guest on America’s most popular show? Just a thought. Discuss. Glad you’re back in good health, Bret!)

9:15 p.m. Lee DeWyze sings a medley with “Chicago” (his hometown and audition city). Um, Idol producers? Are you specifically gearing towards the 45+ demographic? Hall and Oates, the Bee Gees, Chicago? What’s with all these older-skewed choices for musical guests? Are you making up for having Ke$ha on?

9:18 p.m. Who else wants an Andrew Garcia/Paula Abdul duet of “Straight Up” before the end of the evening?

9:20 p.m. Dear god, they gave Bikini Girl one more second of fame during this Simon Is Narcissistic And Horny montage.

9:21 p.m. PANTS ON THE GROUND! We knew it was coming, but we didn’t know it would be this amazing. You know it’s been a long, uninteresting season when the most celebrated and memorable performance was from The General Larry Platt during the second episode.

9:22 p.m. WILLIAM HUNG! All we’re missing is Sanjaya and Norman Gentle and we’ve got the next chart-topping boy band.

9:30 p.m. Paula Abdul shows up to say goodbye to Simon, and gets more respect now than she did during her 8 season of being a judge. Paula looks incredible, but it’s kind of awkward with her up on stage – like she’s doing open mic night. “There’s a baby backstage with your haircut, and it’s your time to change him.” Paula, you peaked at your entrance. Go sit back down.

9:32 p.m. This beyond awkward stand-up is still going on! We have no idea what Paula is talking about! Oh, how we missed how bats*** crazy she is.

9:34 p.m. Yet another Simon montage, this time set to “My Way.” Simon’s hair has maintained its square shape throughout nine years. Wow.

9:35 p.m. Wow, they got every American Idol winner… except David Cook! Where’s our Cooksie?! This is incomplete without the Season 7 champ there.

9: 38 p.m. Ack! A Justin Guarini sighting! He lives! Also, all these past Idols are all wearing white, and it’s kind of creepy…. Are they supposed to be dead?

9:39 p.m. My god, Kelly Clarkson has changed since she won back in 2002. She’s all growns up! We’re digging the short haircut, too.

9:40 p.m. Simon Cowell gets up to make a speech. Are they going to knight him right then and there?

9:41 p.m. We’re hearing David Cook was booked for a charity event, which is why he wasn’t on stage with the rest of the Idol winners. Okay, we’ll let his absence slide this time, because otherwise we are horrible people.

9:44 p.m. The Top 12 Idols sing Janet Jackson’s “Again,” and reminds us how much we effing love this song. Janet Jackson rolls out with an intergalactic geisha outfit and some seriously close-cropped hair. Seriously, that haircut makes each one of her boobs look bigger than her head.

9:50 p.m. Janet performs “Nasty Boy”—trivia! Paula Abdul choreographed the music video back in the day. Which would be slightly more relevant if Paula was still a judge.

9:52 p.m. Just so you know, Janet Jackson is 44-years old. Altogether now: DAYUM.

9:53 p.m. “Tonight is about Lee and Crystal.”—Ryan. Really? Because it seems like it’s about Simon Cowell and old people.

9:54 p.m. Did you know Lee was a paint salesman?! Or that Crystal was a mom?! Well Idol is reminding you yet again!

9:55 p.m. Lee singing Joe Cocker = perfect. (Crystal’s good, too, obviously, but when isn’t she?)

9:56 p.m. Joe Cocker just unleashed the smoke monster out of his throat.

9:59 p.m. Um, Idol? Did you let Paula ramble too long? You’ve still got the matter of who-won-first-place to get to. And about 15 more Simon montages, too.

10 p.m. Okay, here we go! We’re calling it….. Crystal. Let’s see! (Honestly, we’re just happy if the winner breaks down in tears. We love to see a good, happy cry of joy.)

10:02 p.m. Our American Idol is… (cue dramatic Ryan Seacrest-sized pause)

10:03 p.m. ZOMG THE PAINT SALESMAN WON. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” says Lee. He can barely focus. Okay, so we wanted Mama Sox to take home the big prize, but we’re getting a little teared up watching how shocked and happy he is. Aww.

10:04 p.m. We’d like to think that Lee’s off-key vocals on “Beautiful Day” is because he’s just too excited to deliver some killers vocals, but sadly, we know that’s not the case. Congrats, America! This is your American Idol Winner we’re going to have perform back on the show pretty much every year til the show gets canceled! (ie. 2012)

10:07 p.m. And it’s over! Are you guys disappointed? Elated? Leave your thoughts of Lee DeWyze winning—the third male winner in a row, mind you—in the comments. Thanks for joining our live blogging! We’re going to go mourn the loss of both Simon as judge and Crystal as Idol champ over a glass of Merlot.

#7. Beyonce

Glee already rocked “Halo” this season, but now we’d love to see some “Independent Woman/Survivor” action from Beyonce’s Destiny’s Child days, and the cherry on top would be the New Direction girls doing “Irreplaceable” (above).

#6. Green Day

Does it get more perfect than a Green Day graduation episode, complete with Finn doing “Good Riddance” on the acoustic guitar?

#5. Gwen Stefani/No Doubt

Where do we even begin with this one? “I’m Just A Girl”, “Cool”, “Hollaback Girl” complete with the Cheerios dressed up like Harajuku girls? The only thing more perfect would be Rachel Berry belting out “Bathwater” (above).

#4. Justin Timberlake

We’d love to see another episode filled with Madonna-esque obsessiveness, only this time with Mr. Schu narrating, journaling, and discussing his love for all things JT (see also: Mr. Schu’s wardrobe for complete Timberlake admiration). Perhaps (yet another) scorned lover episode complete with a “Cry Me A River/What Goes Around” mash up?

#3. The Beach Boys

Why? Because it would be fun, fun, fun. The real reason why:  “God Only Knows”.

#2. Hall & Oates

Daryl and John are back in the zeitgeist (did they ever really leave?). We want to see some New Directions choreography to “You Make My Dreams Come True” that completely squashes Vocal Adrenaline.

#1. George Michael

A touch of “Careless Whisper”, a dash of “Faith, a sprinkle of “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, and of course a healthy helping of “Freedom 90″ would make for the ultimate Glee episode.

Got another artist in mind? Disagree with our choices? Chime in below. We welcome all comments from the peanut gallery.

Did you hear?

:: Ke$ha unveiled the glitter-gel artwork for her third single, “Your Love Is My Drug,” which looks like she made it her summer camp arts-and-crafts class. [Just Jared]

:: Check out a preliminary list of the Best Songs of 2010 so far. How come “Pants on the Ground” isn’t on this list? [Spinner]

:: Still reeling from the Auto-Tuned-to-death “We Are The World” re-recording? It could be worse. Here’s 20 other horrible charity singles. [Stereogum]

:: Nicole Scherzinger denies that she is romantically involved with her Dancing With The Stars partner, Derek Hough. If she wants these rumors to stop, maybe she should reconsider her less-than-modest wardrobe. [Wonderwall]

:: Remember Coolio? Well, even if you don’t, the law does—the “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper has been hit with a $10,000 bench warrant for failing to appear in court, stemming from an incident from March 2009 when crack cocaine was found in his luggage at LAX. [The BoomBox]

After the jump: whoa-oh, here he comes—it’s John Oates’ birthday.

Music On TV Today:
:: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC) – Corinne Bailey Rae
:: Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC) – Public Image Limited
:: Last Call with Carson Daly (NBC) – Angels & Airwaves

VIDEO REWIND OF THE DAY: It’s John Oates 60th birthday today, and we’d like to take a moment to put the spotlight on the mustached musician. Although John has released solo material in recent years, he’s still best known as one half of the rock duo Hall & Oates, which has had a resurgence in pop-culture lately—their song “You Make My Dreams” was featured in a memorable dance sequence in last year’s 500 Days of Summer, and The Bird And The Bee released an entire tribute album covering of Hall & Oates’ biggest hits (we exclusively premiered the duo’s quirky take on “Kiss Is On My List” here on Idolator).

Our favorite music video in the Hall & Oates’ canon has to be their seductive clip for 1982’s “Maneater,” featuring one sweet saxophone solo… and a jaguar. Thankfully for Hall and Oates’ safety, the jungle cat was not literally a man eater on set.

Seems odd that none of the Disney soundtracks (Hannah Montana, Camp Rock, etc.) were mostly glossed over in this roundup. And there have always been sorta-crappy tie-in soundtracks that haven’t sold very well—the cutout bins at the Princeton Record Exchange would seem to bear that out!


More specifically… the Linkin Park song from Transformers 2 wasn’t as big of an event this time as it was last year, because a) that was their first song in a while and b) the new song sounded a lot like it was conceived as a single to the first one. And isn’t making the Twilight soundtrack album-only, which one of the sources said was not a great idea, a savvy way of capitalizing on a rabid fanbase? There’s a reason Paramore’s “Decode” keeps winning every voted-by-fans award, and it certainly isn’t the quality of the music relative to other pieces of Paramore’s catalog. I suspect the Diablo Cody movie’s soundtrack will do well, too, because it’s pretty focused to people who are into the whole Fueled by Ramen thing.


Anyway, any thoughts you might have would be great! This article just smelled like a heap of “reported” bullshit to me, especially since last year we had the Mamma Mia! soundtrack, High School Musical, and Camp Rock all finishing the year relatively strong.

Courtney replied:

This article is incorrect—the main reason soundtracks are not sold as a la carte downloads on download services is because publishers and the labels who own the master rights don’t want them sold that way or demand a high premium for that licensing usage. They’d rather the movie drive to album sales for the artist than the soundtrack, especially if they aren’t the label releasing the soundtrack. It’s very typical.


A lot of this article strikes me as looking at it the wrong way. A lot of the movies they’re talking about are not music-driven films. In fact, most of the past examples they site as releasing seminal, best-selling soundtracks—Titanic, The Bodyguard, Hannah Montana movie, Twilight—these are chick flicks, and the latter two are heavily invested with a music element. The proper comparison is Mamma Mia!, whose soundtrack did gangbusters. To compare them to Watchmen or Bruno is silly.


Also why would I or anyone buy a Bruno soundtrack? That movie failed to meet monetary expectations at the box office to start with and it has a soundtrack full of things everyone owns already. It would have been flatly dumb for a studio to bother releasing a soundtrack to that film. I’d ask the same thing about a Transformers 2 soundtrack—why would anyone buy that? The target market, young men, are less inclined than any other audience to rebuy (or buy in the first place) stuff they already own (or can get for free). Also, that Linkin Park are leading the soundtrack is folly—it’s playing it safe. The Pew Internet Study of 2008 said people’s No. 1 place to discover new music was in movie and TV soundtracks. That is, not to discover artists they’ve known about for 10 years. New music. Honestly, how can your soundtrack not fail if your lead marketing tool is a band who have been fizzling for the last five years.


The 500 Days of Summer vs. Garden State argument is more interesting, although the piece could have swapped in Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Juno—why does one do better and the other flop when they should essentially be the same thing in terms of how and to whom they were marketed? Because the first one to the market wins. An idea is only original once, so to remarket basically the same concept and expect it to have the same social impact the second time is a faulty plan. Plus, maybe in both those cases the originals were just better and had a more lasting impact.

Indeed, comparing Transformers 2 to something like Titanic seems like something of a stretch, and if anything the Linkin Park song is not doing that badly on the Hot 100 (it’s currently No. 19) for being a fairly lackluster song by an older-than-most band that doesn’t really slot in well to the increasingly rhythmic direction of current chart-pop. And the success of Garden State and its attendant album, if I remember correctly, was a much slower burn than that afforded to 500 Days at this point—the Zooey Deschanel vehicle may seem like it’s been out for months because it’s been marketed from here to next week, but it only went into limited release in mid-July, as did its very oldies-heavy soundtrack, which has scanned 12,000 copies through last week’s charts. It kind of makes sense—after all, who wants to buy another copy of Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” when there are Michael Jackson retrospectives to get, am I right?


Slumping CD Sales, iTunes Policies Take Their Toll [The Wrap]

Steven, the man behind the TrunksXV username, enjoys Metal Gear Solid, both All Dogs Go To Heaven films and, of course, love. And he’s working towards a career in the film industry! How could someone not snap him up with clips like these?

Marvin Gaye, “Sexual Healing”:

Daft Punk, “Digital Love”:

Hall & Oates, “Kiss On My List”:

The La’s, “There She Goes”:

God bless you, TrunksXV. Sure, I hadn’t spent much time thinking about The Aristocats recently, but when I see out-of-context clips of the lead characters set to a Hall and Oates track, all those great memories come rushing back.

TrunksXV’s Channel [YouTube]