Season Six: Jordin Sparks. Season six winner Jordin Sparks made history when she became the American Idol winner at the youngest age yet: 17 years old. Sparks didn’t stop breaking records there; her single “No Air” has become the best-selling single by any American Idol thus far. In the years that followed, her other big singles were “One Step at a Time” and “Battlefield.” Her first studio album was the self-titled Jordin Sparks (2007), which was followed by Battlefield (2009). There has been talk of a third studio album for a couple years now, but mum is still the word on the release date. We’re more likely to hear Sparks first in her film debut later his year in Sparkle, a remake of the 1976-film inspired by the story of The Supremes. Is it a coincidence that she will be playing the character named Sparkle?

Season Seven: David Cook. Season seven is known by some as the battle of the Davids, with Cook coming out on top of Archuleta. Before Idol, Cook had released an independent album titled Analog Heart (2006). Post-Idol, listeners saw the release of the self-titled David Cook (2008). Last year, Cook released This Loud Morning, which peaked at number seven on the US Billboard 200. He started a 22-show tour for the album on October 9, 2011.

Season Eight: Kris Allen. Season Eight just might mark the beginning of a downfall in the post-Idol success achieved by Idol winners. Allen’s first-week post-Idol album sales were the worst yet ever seen by an Idol winner. However, perhaps his upcoming album, scheduled to be released in spring this year, will do better than his first.

Season Nine: Lee DeWyze. I barely recognize this guy’s name. His post-Idol album, Live It Up (2010), did not gain much popularity. Season Nine is possibly the least successful Idol season so far; no contestants have achieved any significant album sales.

Season Ten: Scotty McCreery. A little over half a year ago, McCreery become the youngest male and the fourth male in a row to win American Idol. His debut album, the notably not self-titled Clear as Day, reached the top spot on US Billboard 200, becoming the first Idol winner to have an album to do so since the Season Four winner Carrie Underwood. We can expect more from the young McCreery, but first we’ll let him finish high school.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

American Idol

Season One: Kelly Clarkson. Clarkson has done extremely well ever since American Idol. She released her fifth studio album Stronger just last year. It debuted at the number 2 spot in the U.S.

Season Two: Ruben Studdard. Studdard beat out Clay Aiken by what was said to be a very small margin. Both artists achieved moderate success after the finale. Studdard has worked with four labels. He is still attached to 19 (the contract from American Idol), but recently left the label Hickory and signed with Shanachie. He is expecting to release an album later this year, but anticipation isn’t exactly running high.

Season Three: Fantasia Barrino. Season 3 is known as the one that brought us Jennifer Hudson and William Hung, though neither even saw the top 5 spots. (And here I thought Hung had a chance.) Barrino, now simply known as Fantasia, was the eventual winner. She’s done pretty well recently, earning her first Grammy last year for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for “Bittersweet”. It’s possible Fantasia will be making some film appearances in upcoming years.

Season Four: Carrie Underwood. Where do we start? Even those who didn’t bother watching Season 4 of American Idol know Underwood’s name. Her first album became the best-selling album in the United States in 2006 and the best-selling country album in the United States in 2006 and 2007. Her most recent album Play On was released in 2009. Since then, Underwood has taken part in duets and has made several television appearances, but there is currently no indication of another album coming out any time soon.

Season Five: Taylor Hicks. Oh yeah, remember this guy? Most recently, Hicks released his second album, the first under his own label, in 2009. It sold a meager 9,000 copies in its first week of release. Some refer to Hicks are the exception that proves the rule that Idol winners generally do go on to “greatness.” If only Chris Daughtry had won; then, we would have had a real rule.  Oh well.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

At first it seems like a silly thing, but then it dawns on you… there are multiple versions of the song. “Oh, it’s no big deal. I’m sure any of those sound good.” But there are three, sometimes four versions to choose from. “US, SF, SC… What do they mean? What if the one I pick sounds like an awful MIDI version you’d find on a Web 1.0 website?” Yes, indeed… what if?

Not to worry. Being the dork that I am, I’ve taken the liberty of checking out a good bit of karaoke for you. That way you and your friends can have a good time without the need to worry about how your drunken singing is going to come across with bad backing tracks.

The most consistent when it comes to sounding like the original, Sound Choice (SC) more often than not gets it right. They may be a tad bit slow with their releases, but they are usually worth the wait. If you don’t recognize any other names (or letters) in the book, SC is usually the way to go. The great thing that I like about Sound Choice is that the lyrics are easy to read and the count-ins are spot-on. There’s no real guesswork as to when you should (or shouldn’t) be singing.

A close second is Sunfly (SF). Their tracks almost always sound great and they tend to release their stuff very quickly after the song hits the public. This is great, and would put them in first place, however, their lyrics are usually accompanied by corny graphics (think a fly with a microphone) and they don’t usually include count-ins so you may find yourself performing some false-starts.

The rest are a mixed bag. You’ve got Chartbuster (CB), Legends (LG), Karaoke Version (KV) and a slew of others. Some have good tunes with awful lyrics and some are the exact opposite. You’re kind of taking your chances.

Whichever you choose, have fun. That’s the point.

a fan of remastered or reissued albums. Give me the bumps, hiss and feedback. However, after hearing about Pearl Jam’s reissuing of Ten, their 1991 debut, I may have to reconsider:

The standard edition sounds like you get a copy of the album that has been remastered, then a copy that has been mixed a little differently by producer Brendan O’Brien. However, it sounds like the deluxe version may be worth the money as you get the two disc set, a DVD of Pearl Jam’s rare MTV Unplugged performance from 1992, four vinyls (one of Ten, one remixed copy and a two LP set of a 1992 concert called ‘Drop In the Park” recorded in Seattle), a replica cassette of Pearl Jam’s demos “Alive”, “Once” and “Footsteps”, an “Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament”, a vellum envelope with era-specific ephemera from Pearl Jam’s early work and finally a two-sided print commemorating the ‘Drop In the Park’ show.

Breathe for a second, this sounds like a reissue that would be worth every penny. No word on price, late March is the drop date. This is what a reissue should be: tons of unreleased material. A lot of the time bands use a reissue to get rid of B-sides and covers, and if you are a diehard fan you probably have all the singles and compilations with those tracks, so who needs that? What the fans really want is rare material. Stuff you know you can’t get anywhere else, except for some cruddy bootleg. We want the hard-to-find, out-of-print stuff. Dig out the Doc Martens, flannel shirts, and don’t get all ‘plastic’. With any luck this won’t cost an arm and a leg.

After their last performances of Tuesday, it seemed that if the voters followed Simon’s advice, Archuleta would be our idol right now. Cowell praised Achuleta on his brilliant song choice. He also, however, stated that he didn’t care who won. He felt that both of the contestants were equally deserving of the title. It seems that some users of Youtube agree. I was watching a Youtube video of David Cook’s performance of “Billie Jean”, and a lot of the people that posted mentioned that they thought the title for the 2008 American Idol should be shared. Do you think American Idol can ever end in a tie?

This year, the voters definitely decided that they didn’t want Archuleta to share the glory. Though 54%, Cook’s percentage of votes, doesn’t seem like a huge win, if you think about the number of voters, that seemingly small percentage can turn into some large numbers. Cook actually won by about 12 million votes.

Archuleta, just 17, probably got a lot of the younger crowd. He has a winner’s smile and a great attitude. Best of all, he’s not a sore loser. It’s said that he told reporters that Cook really deserved to win.

Nevertheless, Cook was always my favorite. He’s got the voice of a real rocker. I guess it might make sense that I favor Cook over Archuleta because I prefer rock over pop. It’s true, Archuleta did some great work with tough rock pieces, but it was never really his zone.  Cook, on the other hand, has a voice that reminds me of the lead singer of Three Days Grace or maybe even Benjamin Burnley. (I love both of them.) When his newest CD comes out, I’ll be sure to buy it.

Who do you think should’ve won?

If you missed Tuesday’s show, here’s a little update before the big show this week. On Tuesday, each contestant had to perform three songs. One song was picked out by a judge, the other by the performer, and then the other one was chosen by the show’s producers. The judges didn’t feel that Syesha’s performance was all too impressive. To them, she seems more like a Broadway star than a pop star. I wish her all the best of luck; the top contestants tend to score their own record deals as it is! I mean, look at Daughtry.

So which David will it be? Will it be twenty-five year old guitar playing rocker David Cook? Or will it be seventeen year old piano balladeer David Archuleta?

Watch the two night season finale starting Tuesday 8/7c! Generally, on the first night, the contestants sing two songs. One is usually a re-do of a favorite past performance, while the other is the debut of the “single” that will be released by the winner. There have been some jokes about having to sing the phone book this week! That would be interesting and would show talent! On Wednesday, all of the top 10 contestants from this season will get together in a big music extravaganza. At the end of Wednesday’s two hour show, the winner will be announced.

I will admit that I have not been watching American Idol all too closely this year, but these past few weeks have proven to be interesting.

With Brooke White gone, the season is now down to three guys and one girl. Many people believe that this is because the majority of American Idol viewers are girls/women. That being said, the girls vote for the guys! Of course, it didn’t help that Brooke sang a pretty bad version of “I’m A Believer” in the first round, but still, the guys definitely seem to have an “ups” in this competition. Syesha’s going to have to work hard to pull through this! Even David Archuleta, loved by the younger girls and soccer moms (no offense!!), may need some help this next week as it is “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” He’s not exactly a rock singer, but hey, maybe he’ll pull through!

However, here’s the biggest news that I thought was interesting. If you haven’t heard about Paula’s slip, I’ll give you a little update. On Tuesday, the judges were to hold their comments until after the second round of songs, but after the first round was over, the judges said some quick comments. While she was reading off of her notes, Paula completely messed up and criticized Jason for BOTH of his songs. Jason was criticized for something that he hadn’t sung!

This kind of gives the notion that this whole contest is already set. Some conspiratists believe that this is why Idol never reveals the actual voting totals. Do the judges and producers already know who the winner is going to be? Hopefully this isn’t the case and people’s votes actually mean something, but you never know!

Next week’s competition should be interesting!

Ignoring hair — Jon Bon Jovi has always had great hair and Chris Daughtry goes with a chrome-dome do — there are a lot of similarities between these bands. Both bands have a charismatic lead singer with a great voice. In the case of Daughtry, his voice is stronger and richer than Bon Jovi’s, but then again, he’s also at least twenty years younger.

Both bands are named for their charismatic singers. In the case of Bon Jovi, there is more to the band than just Jon. But in 1983, when Bon Jovi hit the charts, it might not have seemed like it. Daughtry has a full band, loaded with musicians who are both talented and attractive. That we don’t know their names yet might be the result of them only having the one album out so far. It took a few years — and Heather Locklear — for Richie Sambora to be as well-known as Jon Bon Jovi.

More importantly, both bands make music that connects with a broad spectrum of listeners. These bands just finished touring together, with Daughtry as the opening act. The fact they sold out huge arenas everywhere they went could probably be attributed to Bon Jovi alone. But most of those audiences were in place to catch Daughtry, in higher percentages than for many other “first album tour” bands.

The Bon Jovi audience is made of up all ages. Daughtry, by benefit of American Idol, also has a much wider audience than most beginning rock bands. And Daughtry just played to all of Bon Jovi’s fans. In addition, in a clear case of the older, experienced guy handing off to his younger protege, Daughtry dueted with Bon Jovi on “Blaze of Glory”. It was a great live performance, and Daughtry held his own and, in some ways, was better than Jon.

Will Daughtry steal Bon Jovi’s fans? Never. Will Daughtry gain those fans as his own? Chances are better than good. Barring the sophomore album stinking, this is a band that’s going to stick around … just like Bon Jovi.