Thursday, March 19, 2009
Moving Pictures / National Skyline American Idol's 'Opry Night': Johnny Cash Rolls in Grave
Posted by Adam Gold on Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 4:39 PM
After watching the video posted above, I can now say with unequivocal certainty that I'm a believer in capital punishment. Tuesday night was "Opry Night" on "American Idol," which featured contestants taking on country classics. As if it isn't bad enough for us to witness the ceaseless bastardization of country music that transpires on a daily basis in our fair city, "American Idol" has done us the service of allowing this Hot-Topified turd, Adam Lambert, to corpse-rape Johnny Cash before our very eyes with this deplorably audacious adaptation of "Ring of Fire," which sounds like Jeff Buckley fronting A Perfect Circle.
When I first watched this I was in hysterics, but now that I've had this guy's caterwauling stuck in my head for the last 20 minutes, I just want him to die...in a ring of fire. Simon Cowell's post-performance commentary includes a line about people in Nashville throwing their TVs out the window after watching this, so be sure your monitor is chained to the wall before clicking play. Lambert is obviously a remarkably talented vocalist. But fuck him. This is a travesty.
(Special thanks to Laura the intern for the scoop!)
Comments (27)
Showing 1-27 of 27
What the huh? Ouch. Damnit. My head hurts. Ouch. Dear lord, please let the ghost of Buddy Killen rip that fucktard limb from limb.
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It's not that his voice is that bad, it's mostly that he's just distinctly impossible to like. as a person.
There are times I wish I could be an American Idol judge. I think walking up to him and throwing up on his shoes would make the point.
His interpretation of this country classic makes it seem like the lyrics are a about getting anal from Satan causing a burning ring of fire. get it? cause his asshole is burning from taking Satan in the ass.
I thought he did a pretty good job with the song. A very different interpretation from Johnny Cash's version but I kind of got it.
I found this rendition amazing! I find adam charged with so much sensuality in his voice, in a good way, and I am a catholic mother over 40!
I think Adam is brilliant!! Not only did sing with his incredible vocals, he actually made a spot-on interpretation of the all-consuming passion that was the message of the song. I think Johnny Cash would be proud
Adam Lambert is the best thing to ever happen on American Idol. This show is about talent-he has it massively.
BTW: BEST JEANS EVER
Winner of AI8 by a mile
You had to have an intern inform you about American Idol, one of the most zeitgeisty pop culture phenomenons in the past 20 years? You're an old man, Gold.
The other big story is that Alexis, the white girl from the Bluff City who sounds like Petula's soul record (NOT Dusty, folks, but that Petula in Memphis LP, which is excellent) got voted off after she tried to shoehorn "Jolene" into her seventies soul repertoire.
It failed miserably. If she had spent one second listening to Nashville RCA stuff, she would have known how to sing a Dolly song. The answer was NOT "like Ann Peebles would sing it."
That Lil Rounds is still going, and she's good.
But as far as Alexis goes: MEMPHIS FAIL. Again. West TN: we respect Stax, Ardent, Sun, etc., so stop acting like Nashville is crackertown, or you will be punished.
I think we're seeing the birth of an Icon here, just watch out for Adam Lambert!
Capital punishment? Because of course musical interpretation is a sign of the apocalypse and lord knows Johnny Cash never did anything considered off-the-wall different in his day. Oh, wait...
C'mon! He probably would have enjoyed the hell out of it, whether it was his kind of music or not. He covered Soundgarden and NIN, for pete's sake. We're not talking about Jim Reeves here.
This article and some of the comments afterward personify every stereotype about backwards hicks in Nashville that one could possibly think of. And how ironic there is a blurb about a Daisy Dukes contest right next to it, LMFAO! Johnny Cash sang NIN and Depeche Mode- and he sang them in his own signature style. He never compromised himself for the sake of others. Lambert did that too.
Lambert doesn't have a signature style, unless you consider amateur cabaret a "style."
I dunno, DG. I think you could call massacring a legendary song and dancing on the graves of multiple respected musicians (June Carter, everyone who played on and had a hand in the original recording) is something of a style. Especially since he did it seemingly without realizing how much he looked like an ass.
And LOL at Randy Travis! He was like, "WUT?"
The dude's a chode. Watching this, I finally got my first case of douchebumps. Randy knew it right away too.
However the arrangement does not suck. Johnny would have been amused. He was all about creative interpretation. The nu-metal flourishes were lame but the weird flats of the eastern scales were pretty cool.
Johnny Cash was never a traditional country artist to begin with... but he especially broke from the standard country mold in his later years.
His cover of NIN's "Hurt" swept the CMA's earning him best song, video and album of the year.
Not only would he have likely approved of this cover of "Ring of Fire", if he is rolling in his grave it's only because people are using his good name to incite hate.
Suggesting to readers that Lambert should be killed and that you wish he would die is extremely irresponsible journalism.
What ALWAYS cracks me up is when people misinterpret the Cream as "responsible journalism". :)
Speaking of misinterpretations/interpretations, there's good ones n' bad ones and Cash had years of experience and Rick Ruben at the helm to filter down some tasteful decisions, this nu metal version of Ring of Fire, while interesting in what it attempts, seems like a lame dodge of the genre challenge. Oh Jesus... I hate this show and now I feel like I'm getting sucked in just commenting on it.
Destroy your Idols!
I loved what Adam did, and the vocals are simply out of this world. He took an iconic country song and made it something kids of today could hear on "Twilight" or "True Blood." A well-written song is ageless and genre-less. I think Johnny would be pleased that his music is transcendent and that he's still a burr in Opry's ass!
Shhhhhhhhh. Simon Cowell has a small pee pee platter. How do I know this?
The bible told me so.
I think Johnny Cash was open to all different genres of music, and I personally think he would have liked this version. Every song doesn't have to be a copycat of the original, that's what sets artists apart. I rather liked Adam's version, and I love Johnny Cash.
When someone makes a comment, you learn all about that person, their state of consciousness, their intelligence, their nature. @Nashville Hick Redneck is an example of (A) a throwback or (B) an evolved person. Don't bother answering. One thing, Adam is moving forward, happy successful. While haters are miserable, and it affects themselves bringing them bad luck-it dosen't affect Adam whatsoever, he is happy and having a grand time. So very often, people are their own worst enemies. It all comes down to the man in the mirror.I love his singing,his songs, and his concert is basically sold out every city while lots of artists have cancelled their tours.
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