The Boys Sing for Your Votes on AMERICAN IDOL [Video]

If you ask the majority of my Facebook friends (and me, for that matter), this year's crop of guys on American Idol totally disappointed last night in their first live performances.  There has been a ton of talk about how talented this year's Top 24 (or, check that, Top 26) are, but you would have never known that by tuning in last night.  So, what did our Idol expert Steve Thompson think?  How did he rank the performers?  Keep reading and Steve will share his thoughts about who's singing to stay and who deserves to go!

This morning, Steve and I chatted about last night's true standout, one HUGE trainwreck, and Idol's resident country boy!

From WBKR's Idol expert, Steve Thompson:

• While settling in to watch tonight's episode, I was struck by this question: Do you ever think Seacrest gets paid by the word?  That boy can talk more and say nothing better than anybody currently running for President.  I'm still concerned that our judges have lost the ability to actually judge.  I had hoped the malaise that had struck them last year had been corrected.  I'm beginning to think the only correction now will be to have another regime change.

• What did we learn from tonight's program?  Evidently everybody is wonderful and beautiful and has the oportunity to win the whole enchillada.  Why not just cut to the chase and give all our contestants the trophy? After all, we tell children that you can play the game without keeping score...

• Well, somebody has to tell the Emperor if they're wearing clothes and it might as well be me...  Here are the thirteen we saw tonight in order from worst to first.

• 13.  Deandre Brackensick sang Reasons by Earth, Wind & Fire.  Ladies and gentlemen, here is an example of a singer who has an interesting style picking a really terrible song.  I'm not convinced America is ready to vote through a male singer who has the range of the late Minnie Ripperton.  I'm not saying the song itself is terrible-- just his rendition.

• 12.  Eben Frankewicz showed his youth in trying to sing his version of Set Fire to the Rain by Adele.  I don't know what he may have been thinking, but there are dozens of failed contestants on every talent show who have impaled themselves on the songs of Adele.  As much as the producers may want Justin Bieber 2.0, they better pray for either a judge to play his wild card or the teenagers to vote him in.

• 11.  Reed Grimm sang Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5.  In the words of the great Paul Simon: "He's a one trick pony, One trick is all that he can do."  For the first time in my life, I'm going to give Adam Levine a compliment.  His group, in comparison to Reed's performance, makes this irritating little song sound like I Can't Get No Satisfaction. I'm also tired of Randy trying to compare Reed to Casey Abrams.

• 10. Aaron Marcellus sang Never Can Say Goodbye by The Jackson 5.  Aside from lining the pockets of Clifton Davis with more money, I really didn't see the point of this cover.  Aaron seemed a little out of breath in several parts of the song and I saw absolutely no reason whatsoever for anyone not under the influence of drugs or being fired by the producers to participate in a standing ovation.

• 09.  Adam Brock sang Think by Aretha Franklin.  I still think of this guy as Danny Gokey 2.0, only a tad less obnoxious.  He calls himself White Chocolate?  Well, regardless of that , he had a few bright spots in his delivery but no one in their right mind would confuse him with being a potential winner of this program.

• 08.  Creighton Fraker sang True Colors. This was neither Cyndi Lauper poignant nor Phil Collins smooth.  Choppy would be a better phrase.  I've always liked this song-- until tonight.  Unless he has a wild card coming his way, he may be back to street performances.

• 07.  Heejun Han sang Angels by Robbie Williams.  I still kind of like this guy, but maybe more as a personality instead of a singer.  I wasn't crazy about his choice of song but the biggest problem seemed to be a lack of energy.  Perhaps it was his nerves kicking in, but he had performed better in the group rounds.

• 06. Jermaine Jones sang Dance with My Father by Luther Vandross.  Yes, Jermaine was the singer who was saved for at least a week.  It was a nice version and in any other year might have been a solid performance.   However, there were at least five guys who were better.

• 05.  Jeremy Rosado sang Guilty by Sara Bareilles.  Interesting that Jeremy chose a song by the lady who is currently the only female judge on a talent show who knows what she's talking about.  (The Sing Off, for those of you who may not be fans.)  This was a decent version and might get some support given that he's still in his teens.

• 04.  Chase Likens has been a mystery man in this competition.  As it turns out, he does a respectable version of Storm Warning by Hunter Hayes.  Will he be the great country hope this year?  Doubtful.  If there's a country winner this year, we'll hear her Wednesday night.  However, never underestimate the teenage voters.

• 03. Colton Dixon sang Decode by Paramore.  As much as I didn't want to like this guy, this was a very good version.  Having been very familiar with the Paramore version, (once again, thanks to the granddaughter,) I was impressed that he did so well.  He might even get the Twilight vote since the song was featured in one of the movies.

• 02.  Phil Phillips sang In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins.  I said this back in his audition phase, here's old school Idol.  The guy who takes a song we all know and changes it from stem to sturn.  I rather liked the way he used the familiarity of this against his performance.  It was truly a unique spin-- but a good song is still a good song.

• 01.  Joshua Ledet took Idol to church with You Pulled Me Through by Jennifer Hudson.  Even though I'm not a huge fan of this type of singing, I had to give the man credit for taking a song by J Hud and remaking it in the image of a Gospel song.  I have my doubts that he will do as well in other categories, but left to his own devices I think he is fully aware of his abilities.

• Will these top five be the five who survive to the final thirteen?  Hard to say.  We haven't had a good feel for where the heart of the audience resides before tonight's vote, so this is as big a blind guess as the blind audition rounds on The Voice.  Tonight, we'll see what the girls have in store.