Slash helps ‘Idol’ contestants rock out

A week after Adam Lambert was the second lowest vote-getter on “American Idol,” the show gave him the biggest present ever: legendary rock guitarist Slash.

The former Guns N’ Roses guitarist and current member of Velvet Revolver was the guest mentor for rock week, which gave Adam a pair of advantages. It’s a genre that he could be expected to excel in, and also one that his two main male rivals aren’t ideally suited for. That ensured a week that should bring Adam out of the gutter and back on top of the charts, where he’s spent most of the season.

Adam opened the show with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” and he did well enough that Simon Cowell called him the winner of the night even before anyone else sang. No big shock. All the judges agreed that he should sing that kind of song on his album, which would be great if any Zeppelin songs were on the charts these days.

“It was actually one of my favorite performances you’ve ever done,” Simon said. “The problem is that nobody can top that now.”

“You’re more than a rock star, you’re a rock god,” Kara DioGuardi added.

Adam’s strong start was bad news for Allison Iraheta, who followed him onstage. Though she does have some Janis Joplin-like growl in her vocals, “Cry Baby” wasn’t the right choice for her, and the judges weren’t shy about saying so.

Ironically, what may save Allison this week is that she flashed a lot of personality, something that she’s been criticized for failing to do this season.

Simon criticized her by saying he’d have gone with “the Queen song” instead. He meant “Somebody to Love,” which she said she had considered as an alternative. Instead of just nodding her head politely, she pointed out that she was referring to the Jefferson Airplane classic instead.

That led to an argument about song choice, with Simon eventually trying to end by saying “At this point, just beg.”

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At that point, something in Allison snapped. She denied trying to beg, and retorted, “You always say I don’t talk enough — so maybe I should just talk a lot!”

“The feistiness comes out!” Ryan Seacrest exulted, and that display of passion can only help her chances.

Also helping was her partnership with Adam on their “Slow Ride” duet. Not surprisingly, they looked very comfortable onstage playing the role of rock stars, and it showed in both their vocals and their stage presence.

“In the battle of the duets, you win the show tonight,” Simon said. “And actually Adam, you may have given [Allison] a shot to stay in the competition because of that.”

The non-rockers struggled
On the other hand, neither Kris Allen nor Danny Gokey would ordinarily pick a rock song unless they were at a karaoke bar and many adult beverages had been consumed. Both in personality and vocal skills, they don’t fit the genre at all. Though they made the best of the situation, neither did well enough to feel safe.

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It all started off with their duet to Styx’s “Renegade,” which as Kara pointed out was an odd role to play for a pair of nice guys who likely “help little old ladies across the street.” Randy liked the blended harmonies, but the performance was awkward and resembled a bad talent show.

What Kris probably should have done for his solo effort was to take The Beatles’ “Come Together” and strip it down like he did for the show’s disco-themed week, taking a genre that didn’t fit his style and tweaking it into something that did. Instead, he looked overwhelmed by the presence of Slash — “He’s amazing — I almost wanted to pee my pants,” Kris said at the rehearsal — and gave his best rock impression.

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It wasn’t a great one. Randy, Kara and Paula all patronized him by giving him good marks for trying, but Simon was more brutally honest in his usual strange way. “It was rather like eating ice for lunch — it will leave you with nothing to remember afterwards,” he said. Putting aside the issue of whether ice really constitutes “lunch” and whether Simon’s ever actually had that as a meal, it was an accurate description of a mostly empty performance.

Take the comments that Kris received, change a couple of adjectives and metaphors, and that’s was Danny’s night as well. He took on Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” and didn’t quite hit the notes. But again the judges gave him a gold star for not playing it safe.

“I’m a huge fan of yours anyway,” Paula said. She stood for the entire performance, so her comment wasn’t much of a shock, since it’s obvious at this point that she would love Danny singing the phone book.

“That last note … it was like watching a horror movie,” Simon said. He then added that Danny was probably safe anyway, but for a guy who hasn’t been in the bottom three all season Danny has a lot of reason to worry heading into Wednesday’s result show. If not him, it could be his duet partner Kris who is shown the door.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.

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