There were two good reasons to tune in to last night’s very special American Idol Gives Back telethon: (1) to secure the relevant telephone number and make a donation; and (2) to witness the debacle that would be Celine Dion’s virtual duet with Elvis Presley. And yet the charity drive special had an irresistible pull on our Coachella-distracted minds. Was it watching Gwyneth Paltrow dancing with Helen Mirren to “Staying Alive”? Or maybe Jack Black’s satirical singing (a first, for sure) of Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose”? (Worth it for Kyle Gass’s reaction shots.) Sounds like fun, right? It wasn’t.
Fuller and Cowell did well to keep the celebrity quotient high, even when their appearances were fleeting (Tom Cruise on screen for a nanosecond to answer the number of funerals he has attended was a bizarre touch). The combination of glitz, celeb performance, and heart-tugging footage of impoverished villages in Africa and destitute victims of Katrina was enough to collect an estimated $30M in donations by show’s end (grand total TK). Not all performances were as awkward as the Elvis-Dion debacle. Kelly Clarkson and Jeff Beck turned in a soulful, stirring rendition of Patty Griffin’s “Up To The Mountain (MLK Song)” which was worth a watch. Below we’ve included YouTube of their performance, along with whatever else we could find (including Josh Groban, just in case we have some tone deaf folks out there). Have at it.
“Kiss From A Rose” (Jack Black)
“Up To The Mountain (MLK Song)” (Kelly Clarkson & Jeff Beck)
“Staying Alive” (Gwyneth Paltrow, Rob Lowe, Kiera Knightly, Helen Mirren, Hugh Laurie, Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, and like a hundred other famous people)
“If I Can Dream” (Celine Dion and Virtual Elvis Presley)
The Simpsons Judge Simon Cowell
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Annie Lennox)
“I’ll Stand By You” (Carrie Underwood)
“You Raise Me Up” (Josh Groban)
There, we just saved you two hours. Donate some money, then go see a movie.
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Simpsons thing was funny
Stereogum – you’ve utterly and completely lost your mind if you don’t think that seeing Elvis perform Live on American Idol is a glorious moment in television history. The performance, the song, the context…you have to one cold-hearted son of a bitch to not appreciate something of this magnitude.
I only saw that for the simpsons intro.
that was classic
Yikes. I don’t agree with the Dion-Presley moment at all. The intrigue factor is high, I’ll give’em that much, but pulling out a dead singer’s performance from 1969 for the ilk that is Idol? Not something I liked.
Elvis is the greatest singer of all time.
Elvis is the greatest singer of all time.
Elvis is not the greatest singer of all time.
“J”… you have to admit it was a little fucking weird.
Doggie – it was definitely weird man…but it was the King, Elvis Fucking Presley. And I thought the technological aspect of it was seamless. I dig Elvis, you know i’ve got his first RCA record, but I’ve never seen him perform, not in that context. I just think it potentially impacted not only older folks who watched the show and love Elvis, but also younger folks who never quite understood what the big deal was with Elvis. Now they should get it. He’s the man…the guy who girls wanna fuck and who guys wanna be.
Doggie…Who is the greatest singer of all time?
Matt Damon is the greatest singer ever.
MATT DAMON!
holy shit, people…..it’s american fuckin’ idol……
what do you expect?
that elvis shit had me putting the bong down and asking the spouse HOW THE HELL ARE THEY DOING THAT?
it was simply amazing…..
and i’d like to know more about how they pulled that off….
it was a television first for me…..
elvis kicked ass……and so did celine, for that matter…..
how did they do it?
and don’t say it was magic.
ps – the simpsons are genius.
to hell with elvis. ill take sanjaya over elvis.
who cares about american idol? (especially with sanjaya gone) check out conan o’brien on may 4th for a show that will have snoop doggy dog AND tom waits. one can only hope for a duet
I don’t think anyone asked Elvis if he wanted to sing a duet with Celine Dion. I think he would’ve declined.
Jose Reyes is THE best lead off hitter in the maj…shit wrong blog…
Kelly Clarkson has a big butt and i can not lie…
that show was crazy boring. that elvis/celine thing was wrong on so many levels. idol made the dumbest move of all time by throwing sanjaya off the show. they should have shoved him on stage for two hours and said, “sanjaya, do whatever you want because you are cooler than every celebrity on this show put together and every molecule of your body oozes with entertainment.”
This is what’s great about Stereogum…they can blog about how a former bass player of the Stooges is helping Kelly Clarkson on her new album…but when Elvis sings on Idol they think it’s boring. It’s great to check news here now and again, but the opinions are boring.
J, Kurt L … suck it. Elvis? Gimme a break. You’re transparent.
Anything to play cool I guess.
I thought it was kind of special to see Elvis “appear” on the most popular music television show of our time. Makes one wish he had been in our time instead. There, I said it!
i’d rather see your mom singing than celine dion. holy sweet lord she’ws awful.
It struck me as a pompous bit of self-promotion for a franchise that has returned a fraction of what it has taken in – or nothing, if you ask me.
What they gave back isn’t even a third of their ad revenue from one show. Meanwhile, they are in their sixth season of stealing money from viewers, phone voters, advertisers and the general public.
And, what a shocker … no one was eliminated, which means that all the votes were for naught, since they get to milk this nonsense for another week of prime-time advertising revenue.
exactly, anthony….
it was perfect….
and i watched it.
pop culture at it’s finest….
can’t wait to see a James Brown hologram….
elvis looked like obi wan…..
this shit rules.
i guess i’m a cold-hearted son of a bitch because nothing about that performance moved me in any way other than to visit the toilet. we should leave the dead where they are. have we learned nothing from those ultra creepy orville redenbacher commercials?
In reply to j, while it’d be nice if it helps younger folks know about Elvis (is there danger of him being lost though?) let’s help it doesn’t encourage them to buy more Celine Dion records. I didn’t watch it, but I think the beauty of live performances is that it’s people. flesh and blood, and the knowledge (though perhaps never intentionally thought at first thought) that one day that greatness will be gone. And I don’t like the fact that modern technology can try to emulate that.
Being Australian, I’ve got no idea what this post is about so I think I’ll just throw in a comment about one of the Australian Idol special episodes that was on last year. I think the whole concept of Idol is ridiculous, but I actually watched this episode. All the contestants still in the competition got to perform one of their own songs, one that they’d written. There were some really talented songwriters, and for about an hour and a half the usually bullshit Australian Idol turned into a kind of cool ‘Indie Idol’. So there… now you know about an episode of Oz Idol.
Sorry Pippa, but i gotta say from experience that Oz Idol sucks.
These people don’t want to become hard-working musicians, they want an easy leg-up to becoming a celebrity.
Nothing more, nothing less.
This is what’s great about Stereogum…they can blog about how a former bass player of the Stooges is helping Kelly Clarkson on her new album…but when Elvis sings on Idol they think it’s boring. It’s great to check news here now and again, but the opinions are boring.
Posted by: Kurt L at April 26, 2007 8:23 PM
THE BASS PLAYER FOR THE STOOGES IS WORKING WITH KELLY CLARKSON?!?! Maybe she should have helped them with their new album. From what I hear it sucked ass.
Also, does anyone else have a thing for Helena Bonham Carter?
EVERYONE SAYS TO DONATE BUT ON LINE BUT THEY DO NOT GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION ON HOW TO DO IT. WA NOT ABLE TO GET IN BY PHONE
EVERYONE SAYS TO DONATE BUT ON LINE BUT THEY DO NOT GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION ON HOW TO DO IT. WA NOT ABLE TO GET IN BY PHONE
How anyone could think that sanjaya has any reason,right or talent to be an american idol obviously has no taste.Sanjaya is totally untalented.The only thing he has going for him is his girly looks and hair!As for the Elvis/Celine performance let just say THERE IS NO ONE IN MUSIC HISTORY WHO CAN HOLD A CANDLE TO THE KING THAT IS ELVIS!If you don’t like Elvis,you don’t know Elvis.