Television
'American Idol' Final Four Tackle Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
By Ann Turner

May 7, 2008

The final four of American Idol hit the stage Tuesday night in one of the toughest challenges yet in the competition, David Cook, David Archuleta, Jason Castro and Syesha Mercado battled it out on stage in a frantic push to secure enough votes to make it through to the finals. While Syesha landed praise for Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary”, Jason Castro fell short with a tepid performance of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”.  

For Tuesday’s Idol theme night, contestants were asked to choose two songs from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame song book. David Cook, as usual, managed to garner a mostly positive response for his performances of Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf” and The Who’s “Baba O’Riley”.  

While the first song was given good response by the judges, Cook’s second song garnered true praise. Judge Randy Jackson told Cook he was “great” and Simon Cowell complimented him by saying, “Welcome back David Cook.”  

Syesha Mercado also drew praise for both of her performances. The first, Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary”, prompted Jackson to say that “Syesha has shown up and she is in the zone. You are showing the heat late in the competition.” Paula Abdul also gave positive notes on the performance, saying Mercado is a “magnificent woman with a big voice. Magic happens.” Cowell was a bit harsher, however, saying Mercado’s song was “a bad imitation of Tina Turner.”  

On her second song, Sam Cook’s “A Change is Going to Come”, Cowell changed his tune, however. Saying that he disagreed with Randy’s dislike of the performance, Cowell complimented Mercado’s singing.  

Sweet-faced performer Jason Castro failed to impress with either of his song choices. His first selection, Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”, garnered harsh commentary from Jackson, who said the performance was “a really karaoke Bob Marley. It was just okay. There was nothing special about it.” Abdul commented that she “wasn’t crazy about the performance” and Cowell called it “utterly atrocious. That was a song you do not touch… This was like a first-round massacre.”  

Castro’s second performance, Bob Dylan’s “Tambourine Man” received equally derogatory comments, with Cowell telling him that he should “pack your suitcase.”  

For his first song, David Archuleta selected Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me”. Jackson seemed highly pleased by the performance, saying: “At least there is one guy who is trying to hit every time he hits the stage. He brought the hot-man vocals. That was hot.” Abdul and Cowell backed up Jackson’s positive comments for the song. Cowell told Archuleta the song was a “good choice” and “the best performance so far” for the night.  

For his second song, Archuleta performed Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender”. Jackson called it “another great performance,” while Abdul stated it was “one of my favorite performances from you.” Cowell wrapped up by saying that Archuleta “didn’t beat the competition tonight, you crushed the competition.”