Contestant Auditions For 'American Idol' By Singing 'Live Wire'

I'm pretty sure Motley Crue has never had to clear a song for the first TV audition rounds of American Idol before last night.

Enter 15 year old Casey Bishop, a cute girl from Florida who claims no performance experience. Bishop affirmed a love of rock music and then said she'd be singing "Live Wire" by Motley Crue for her audition. You could almost see the judges panel collectively cringe. Then Bishop started singing and it was amazing. The completely reworked version of "Live Wire" proves that great songs are timeless and can easily be adapted by equally inventive artists.

Have a watch:

Casey wows the judges with a performance of "Live Wire" by @MotleyCrue & "My Funny Valentine" by Sarah Vaughan!

WATCH: https://t.co/P3OkOx97P0@thecaseybishop | #AmericanIdol pic.twitter.com/gWlH6DxzKf

— American Idol (@AmericanIdol) February 22, 2021

Comments

[crued]

WOW!!!!!

[stu]

interesting take on the crüe. i’d like to hear her work it up with music, starting like that and speeding up the tempo a bit as the song progresses. otherwise it’d be 10 minutes long. but great voice.

[bkallday]

"I'm pretty sure Motley Crue has never had to clear a song for the first TV audition rounds of American Idol"

"she'd be singing "Live Wire" by Motley Crue for her audition. You could almost see the judges panel collectively cringe."

Smh. To be such a horrible band, i have no idea how they sold over 100 million albums, worldwide. I guess that number is just being fudged? Name the other bands from that era that sold that many. I'll hang up & listen!

[bkallday]

Btw, she killed it and that song is a legendary Glam song from a legendary Glam album.

[Jeff]

That was incredible!

[Gary]

Vince, Nikki on line 1.......

[Rita]

That girl can sing. And only 15?? Wow. So impressive. I was eating paste at 15 :) Not really, but I sure didn't have it together enough to do something like that on TV and feel so at ease in front of Lionel Richie and Katy Perry, that's for sure.

But, that doesn't even sound like Live Wire to me. I know it is. I know those lyrics better than the back of my own hand. But she could have done this with any song. Any song can be sung like that. Quite frankly, she doesn't do it justice because it sounds nothing like Nikki Sixx intended it to sound. She could be singing Bon Jovi, AC DC, KISS, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, whatever and it would sound like that.

So yeah, good for her. She can sing crazy good. But why take a Motley Crue song and turn it into something that sounds like that? What is the point? I'd be more impressed if she sounded more like the original.

[Kixchix]

Whoa. Good for her. A cappella is tough. Can’t blame her for changing the tempo. None of the dope judges know the song anyway. All Lionel Richie knows from Crüe is probably Home Sweet or Smokin’ cuz they probably knocked his beloved “Hello” off da charts. Revenge of the dirt bags!!!!

[GNR]

Long ways from the Kermit the Frog voice of Luke Bryan. Good gawd I hate his music.

[Him]

Am I the only one who watches these clips and goes: "The amount of pre-prep and editing necessary to make this look somewhat 'authentic' is equal to or exceeds the actual talent of the people singing"?

It was a unique and original take. That doesn't make it great, even if her ability to sing (to my untrained ears) is clear. Notice how she deflected the Ella request? Oh, and the piano is waiting with the song to which she defers.

And Rita's point also struck me. You can take any song and slow it down, speed it up, change it around, and make it sound . . . well., make it sounds like something different. Metallica on banjos. AC/DC on harps. Who knows? Slayer on the kazoo?

I also don't question her interests. She kinda' gets into a groove in her telling of her musical interests and then veers a bit. But you have to wonder: what's the story? How and why did she decide, as a person who has never sung in front of others (See? I am going to go with the packaging), to do this? Obviously, the answer is a simple one: the love of music. That is why people show up on these shows, right? And that is also why these shows exist, right?

I don't want to slag talented people . . . who can sing and now get an outlet, or who figured out how to package that as entertainment. Both are doing their jobs (I mean, following their dreams). But I don't think I am being a cynic when I say that this sort of amazing discovery is, in fact, a package which they are selling to her. So she takes the ticket. More to the point, she wants that ticket.

And, thus, we find out what Doctor Faustus has in store for both parties (I won't spoil it by saying who I think Faustus is in this scenario, even if I am happy that I got to mention Marlowe in a post on BBG!). But you have to wait. You do. That is your price for watching this. And it is my price, to an extent, for engaging it for a few moments.

Let me end on a lighter note: "Oh, what a feeling. When we're dancing on the ceiling." There. Now everyone is right where they need to be.