‘Idol’ Banter: ode to an Overmyer
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Hey, “Idol” dialers -- if you’re voting for Amanda Overmyer, can you drop me a line? I’m really curious about her fan base. Overmyer is emerging as the biggest exception in “Idol” history, a contestant who continues to succeed despite her refusal (and in some ways, inability) to fit within the show’s parameters. She’s had her rough moments -- let’s not mention Kansas -- but tonight she applied her sandpaper voice to a Joan Jett rave-up and won everyone over, even Simon. Even then, his lavish praise brought only a half-smile to her deliciously deadpan face. It would be way too “Idol” for Amanda to act like she cares what the judges think.
Her cool -- which is very different than Danny Noriega’s nervous sass, or his BFF Ramiele Malubay’s ‘Gossip Girl’ smirk -- is one quality that makes Amanda the most unlikely “Idol” finalist since Taylor Hicks. She genuinely does not seem to care what the judges say. If Simon skewers her, she shrugs it off; if Paula encourages her, she shrugs it off. It’s extremely believable that she’d be just fine getting voted off the show tomorrow.
Her stoicism seems half-connected to her unpretentious Midwestern background, and half about her commitment to old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll hauteur. I once saw Joan Jett perform a club show in front of a crowd of jeering, gobbing Seattle meatheads; she only paused to flip an occasional finger. I’ll bet Amanda’s had similar experiences on the Indiana club circuit. At least Simon keeps his spit in his mouth.
Then there’s Amanda’s lifestyle, or what we know about it through the tattered veil “Idol” throws over its contestants. Nude photos are so passé, but repeated auto mishaps, at least one involving alcohol and jail time -- that’s rougher stuff. Overmyer’s not some starlet driving the wrong way down the 134 in her sports car, either; she projects the nonchalant steel of a career tough mama. While the other gals talked about second-grade crushes and church mishaps in the “Most Embarrassing Moments” segment, Overmyer chuckled about accidentally setting her deck on fire.
Is it really possible that we could go from virginal Jordin Sparks to this? And don’t claim Chris Daughtry’s the middleman. Daughtry was in a Christian rock band, Absent Element, before going ‘Idol.’ His role model is Live frontman and noted New Ager Ed Kowalczyk. Amanda, conversely, is totally old school; if she ran across those modern rock wusses, she’d smack ‘em down with a vinyl copy of “Exile on Main St.”
That pleasant image leads us to Amanda’s Keith Richards-esque singing, allegedly still the most important factor in the competition. This is where she really doesn’t fit. The prototypical “Idol” rocker, male or female -- and it is a category now, especially after Daughtry proved to the show’s producers that the role could be commercially viable -- boasts a broad vocal range and a clear tone like Carly Smithson’s, as suitable to Celine Dion’s catalog as to Queen’s. Grit cannot factor in; it would get in the way of the predictable pyrotechnics that late-season contestants must deliver.
But grit is what Overmyer does best, though her “Idol” turns don’t recall her heroine Janis Joplin as much as Vince Neil in Motley Crue circa 1988. That’s the amazing thing about Amanda: not only does she have a striking style that’s not even a bit pop, her rawness has only worked for a very select group of singers in hard rock. Overmyer’s taste may be more classic than au courant, but her singing is genuinely edgy.
Edgy singing can move the masses, as the work of the late, great Janis Joplin reminds us. (Imagine an “Idol” singer delivering a first note as ear-shattering and emotional as Joplin did on her version of the R&B chestnut “Cry Baby.” Simon would have a seizure!) It can turn bohemian cool into Top 40 fashion, as Rod Stewart proved in his whisky-voiced early days. It can introduce new ways to think about a genre, the way Macy Gray did for soul, or Tom Waits did for songwriter-oriented rock. But it probably can’t win “American Idol.”
Hard rock has always been a difficult field for women, and I can’t blame Overmyer for jumping the metal fence into pop’s biggest gladiator ring. I worry, though, that if she does ever listen to the judges, she’ll forget her past in bands with awesome names such as Steeleto and Ruinaces, and become the 21st century Bonnie Tyler. Remember Bonnie Tyler? She’s actually a good blues singer, but her fame’s mostly associated with songwriter Jim Steinman’s attempts to turn her into the female Meat Loaf. Amanda, that’s not what the world needs from you!
P.S.: Obligatory plagiarism shout-out -- Simon used the forbidden word, “original,” to describe Brooke White’s effective if vocally tinny acoustic take on Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield.” Well, Pat herself has been performing that song acoustically for years, accompanied only by her husband and longtime guitarist Neil Giraldo. And you know what? Even at 54, Pat still sings the daylights out of that song.
The clips:
Pat Benatar YouTube clip
From ‘The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn’
--Ann Powers