He did! I swear, they played that recap of Sundance just to prove he said King Jeremy the Wicked ruined his world.
Night’s favorites:
Sanjaya
Brandon
Unfavorites:
Chris
Sundance
…and bad at resisting the pull of American Idol. Glad you stayed up with us. 
Having to switch out the actual f-word with “harmless little punk” must’ve messed him all up.
S’alright. Because I know that, whatever our differences, we really having something very important in common: at least we aren’t Mets fans. 
(Unless you’re a Mets fan, too, in which case … um … at least we aren’t Braves fans … ?)
I would rank Blake and Sligh as the best. Sundance and Stacey as probably the worst. Cris R blew chunks too. I’d guess that Jared might go, though, because I think he’s got pretty low recognition and wasn’t that great. The other one to go is a tossup. The only ones I think are safe are Sligh, Blake. Sundance and Sanjaya (the latter two because of VFTW).
Yep, loved my moppet Sligh, was most annoyed by Phil’s breathiness and weird “hey, wow, I’m bald! I’m just so baldy bald bald! I wear a succession of funky headwear so you might not have noticed, but me? I’m bald!”
I am so torn…VFTW is keeping my beloved Sanjaya in, yet I hate them for subjecting me to more Atonalla.
Without reading any of the other response on this thread, these are my thoughts, written down as they performed, then the judge that I agreed most with:
- Blake - I like his style, it’s cool. A little flat in spots, though. I agreed most with Simon.
- Sanjaya - OK, I’m bored from the start. He’d better do something interesting to keep my attention…Didn’t happen. Oh, and the hula? A little weird. But he’s just so cute! Simon
- Sundance - Not getting me at the start - not melodic. Too hard rock. It’s his style but not mine. And he was a bit flat. Simon.
- Chris R. - Ooh, flat. Getting better in the chorus (the part everyone knows and sings along to). Not exciting, just meh. No one.
- Jared - I just don’t like him much because he’s so generic. It’s kind of karaoke. It grabbed me toward the end, though. Good rendition. Randy.
- Brandon - Classic piano - impressive. Celebrate - not so much. he’s on key, but he didn’t make it his own. Simon.
- Phil - didn’t like the start. It’s getting better. He really grabs me with his singing out and falsetto. Randy.
- Chris S. - Good start. What a nice voice, and not a bad song. A little boring compared to the past, but still one of the best. Simon.
It looks like I agree with Simon most of the time. He’s cruel, but I think he’s usually right. I would rank the boys tonight as:
- Chris S. - definitely the best vocals
- Phil - good vocals
- Sundance - I like his style, but not necessarily his songs
- Blake - he’s different, stands out, talented.
- Jared - good voice, karaoke
- Brandon - on key but boring
- Chris R. - boring, a little flat
- Sanjaya - cute kid, but doesn’t belong in this competition.
Reedy. That’s the word for Chris R. Someone mentioned it upthread.
I was doing Goat Boy impressions while he was singing and, here’s the scary part, my husband preferred it to Chris’s singing. That’s a bad sign.
Chris S sounds like someone. Someone from the 70s. It’s driving me crazy.
And I just want to pick up Brandon and put him in my pocket. Since I said that last week about Melinda, I guess I need two pockets.
Well, I’ve got this crappy episode immortalized on videotape. Lucky me.
Best of the night: Chris S, Blake and Brandon
Worst: Everyone else
Oh, and Blake should probably win something for the best T-shirt of the competition.
Blake’s song had a little pizzazz to it, and was somewhat fun to listen to. His style went well with it.
Chris Sligh did the best singing, though I found the song uninteresting.
All the others did boring renditions of forgettable songs. The key to good song choice is a song that has some strength AND goes with the singer’s style and voice. Most of these fellows can’t get either aspect right, much less both.
There’s more soul in one note of Melinda’s singing than in all eight of these performances put together.
I was entertained for about two minutes of tonight’s show. Bleah.
Similar reactions here: I’m casting votes for Blake and Sligh. But really, the guys’ field this season is quite poor.
Oh, and a note to Sundance and any others who might be considering it: There may very well be a Pearl Jam song that one could do on this show; however, “Jeremy” ain’t it.
I really want to like Sundance, but the guy just has no range or creativity. I don’t mean range in the octave sense, but in the styles of music he is capable of singing. So far, my ‘book’ on him is that he can belt out R&B power tunes like Mustang Sally. He’s weaker, though still okay on R&B ballads. But I’m not sure he can sing a really emotional song, or something that requires a little more expression in his voice. I thought he’d be able to do straight-up rock, but that was a really, really weak verion of ‘Jeremy’. The original is almost impossible to cover anyway, because the vocal performance is a pretty integral part of the appeal of that whole song. Change it even a bit, and the song loses a lot of its power. And frankly, Sundance just sucked. He sounded like a decent karaoke bar singer, and that was about it. And his interpretation really sucked the life out of the song. Yuck.
I thought Phil was a little better than the judges gave him credit for. The beginning of his song was all over the place, but once he got it going he sounded pretty good.
Overall, a crappy night.
It was interesting that at the end of the night the judges all agreed that there were only four guys who really made the cut. Who would be your picks for the best four? Mine are:
Chris Sligh
Blake
Chris R
Then either Phil or Jared as the fourth. Brandon is just slightly below those two, and Sanjaya is pulling up the rear as the one most deserving to go home. I still think Sundance is a wild card - I think he’s got a great performance or two bottled up inside him, and if he can land one of them soon it might carry him a ways (assuming he doesn’t get booted on Thursday).
I must be the only person around who liked Sundance’s performance.
Though I must admit that I wasn’t keen on his hair. Still, it was only his hair. Brandon looked like a total spaz. White leatherette '80s jacket, shirt in a color that does not flatter him, and grandpa pants. Ugh. And his singing was meh, at best. At least he has his classical piano to fall back on.
Sanjaya doing the hula left me speechless, and not in a good way.
Blake is still far and away my favorite of the guys, by an order of magnitude. He was BY FAR the best of the mediocre night, IMHO.
Also, the song was released in '94… not early '00s or late '90s.
Sundance was godawful. I like Pearl Jam, but even I sing Jeremy better than that, at the karaoke bar. Seriously. My wife even agreed 
Again, I think Sundance and Sanjaya should be the two to go, but call me a cynic, I doubt it. I’m betting on Brandon (whom my wife loves), and Phil “Powder” Stacey.
I thought they all sucked. Just plain sucked.
Wow, Sundance is fantastic! It takes a lot of talent to sound like you’re singing underwater! Yeesh, that was horrible. :rolleyes:
When I saw Blake’s “character” in his pre-song clip, I said, “He may be one of my favorites, but he’s just lost all my votes.” Then he did a 311 song. Even if his singing is uneven, he’s still entertaining and his song choices are inspired. I’ve loved all of the songs he’s done so far and I can’t wait to see what he does next…as long as he never EVER does that Cletus (or whatever) character again.
I wish my computer was in the living room. I had to go to the next room to make a comment to my husband (who has given up on the show this season) and he said, “Maybe you can call your mother and tell her.” Grrrrr. I said, “THEN BUY ME A LAPTOP SO I CAN CHAT ON THE DOPE, DAMMIT!”
Yeah, I didn’t get that either. I thought he was great again. This might be one of those performances that they may change their minds about when they watch it again.
I only got to see Blake and Sanjaya last night. My MIL died last Wednesday, so I’m still kind of wrapped up in family matters and haven’t been watching. I really liked Blake, but I think he should do more of a singer’s song next week and show off that pretty voice a bit. The gimmicky stuff is good if he doesn’t overuse it.
Sanjaya, who I once liked very much, has become Michael Jackson to me. Only without the talent.
And now answer a question for a clueless old person: What’s up with this song Jeremy? I have heard it before (though I don’t care for it) and I knew it was Pearl Jam…that’s about it. Why all the comments about how it doesn’t belong on American Idol? Is there something meaningful about the song?
Sanjaya: People might be surprised to learn that I know how to hula.
Me: That doesn’t surprise me one bit.
Jared makes it look like singing is painful for him.
I actually liked Brandon and his song choice- he seemed very natural singing that song, had the right energy, and I didn’t notice any “pitchiness”.
I find Phil creepy. No way he can be the next AI. No way.
Blake is the best all-around jack-of-all-trades performer. I think he’s very talented and seems like he would be the most receptive to coaching- in the sense that he’s very adaptable and isn’t stuck into a single ‘style’ or ‘type’, but would be sort of malleable and could turn himself into a very marketable product. And I mean that in a good way.
I’m afraid I really didn’t like anyone last night. Blake was my favorite. Sligh was okay but not great.
Re: Simon telling Ryan not to comment on weight. I think he was, in an eye-rolling kind of way, trying to warn Ryan against commenting on people’s weight because he has been criticized in the past for doing so with contestants like Mandisa. In other words, “Trust me, Ryan, don’t dare comment on someone’s weight or they’ll be all over you in the press tomorrow.”
I think Jared’s problem is that he’s speaking the songs in key rather than singing them.