American Idol, Episode 8-35

So this week had a twist where the remaining competitors performed an Intersection a rock duet, truly a strange theme for a duet, but as long as we don’t get Huey Lewis/Gweneth Paltrow-style duets I’m OK with this. There was also an issue with the Idol stage props this week and we get no acknowledgment of any injuries. Hopefully noone is as hurt as the poor guy at the Dallas Cowboys training camp.

Slash was the guest mentor this week and he wasn’t giving out singing lessons, because let’s be honest – Slash doesn’t sing. Rather he simply gave advice on how to rock out. But let’s think about this for a minute. Waaaay back when, there was a Christmas competition called World Idol. Belgian winner Peter Evrard sang Nirvana’s “Lithium”, and Simon thought the idea of singing a rock song in a pop competition was ridiculous. And now, we have Slash mentoring the singers, and some of the more notable Idol alumni are Bo Bice, Chris Daughtry and David Cook. Ridiculous indeed.

I should also point out that this week we had yet another reality singing show connection, as Rafael “Hoffa” Moreira from House Band on Rock Star was lead guitarist this week. I may be the only person to notice this, but then again I actually enjoyed Rock Star.

1. Emo Boy – Adam needed to be in the B3 last week. I think he was getting a bit too comfortable being on top, and it never hurts to have a kick in the butt to remind you that you can’t slack off. His duet with Allison was excellent, and Led Zepplin was right in his wheelhouse, so you knew that this was a perfect time to bounce back. 8/10

2. Allison Iraheta – Like Adam, Allison was very comfortable with rocking out. Even better, Simon pushed her to speak out more, and she did, which will probably get her a couple more votes from dialers. And she needed to do this – being seventeen, I think she still tiptoes around the adults too much which in real life is a good thing, but not so much in Reality TV World. And she’s right about one thing – Piece of My Heart has been done to death. 7/10

3. Kris Allen – Kris is simply good at what he does, and once again Mr. Consistency stands as the gatekeeper between good and not so good 6.5/10

4. Danny Gokey – Speaking of which, we’ve got Danny. “Dream On” is NOT the song you want to tackle in a singing competition, because it’s near impossible to nail. Danny proved himself unable to do so, and hopefully that’s enough to send him packing. 4/10

Predictions
Bottom 3:

Kris
Allison
Danny

Eliminated:
Danny

See you next week.

Kevin has been an Insider since 2003, writing on a variety of topics ranging from The Amazing Race to Mixed Martial Arts. His current hobbies include Fantasy Football, Sporcle, travelling, making liberal use of his DVR and wondering what the heck he's gonna do when his two daughters are old enough to date. You can follow Kevin on Twitter (@starvenger).