10) Danny Gokey's scream heard 'round the world
Danny Gokey was responsible for many good performances during his run on the show this season. Top 4 week was an exception, however, as his ending to Aerosmith's "Dream On" was an ear-piercing screech that was enough to send dogs and cats all over the world into a panicked frenzy. At first Danny was oblivious to what had just happened, but upon watching it back on TV he realized his gaffe.Danny commented on the scream on the results show the following night and multiple times after being eliminated, and he found ways to laugh it off time and time again, much to the dismay of many of his haters. Still, the moment garnered one of the strongest reactions from the public from any on the show this season, as people posted parodies on YouTube and dubbed the performance "Scream On." Danny will probably go on to have a successful country career, but this moment will forever hold a place in Idol history.
09) Joanna Pacitti disqualified prior to semifinals
Most Idol fans will remember Joanna Pacitti as the "failed pop star" who wanted to give a career in the music biz another shot. She auditioned in Louisville and was considered by many to be the leading female front runner. When it came time for Joanna to make the Top 36, however, she was disqualified and replaced by Felicia Barton. The reason: she knew a few 19E personnel and the producers didn't want to open the show up to accusations of favoritism.
There had been calls for Joanna to be canned for weeks because of her past experiences in the business. Before making a splash on Idol, she was set to star as Annie on Broadway after performing in the musical's national tour but was replaced just prior to the Broadway run began. Joanna then went on to release an album in 2006 to little success. Joanna's lengthy past had already been covered heavily in the national media, but it came to a point where they really couldn't hide details of relationships that were leaking out. I mean, when Yahoo! Music's Lyndsey Parker accuses Joanna of "polluting Idol," those are some strong words.This decision was of course not popular with everyone, but it was something that was necessary for the season to leave behind its earliest (but definitely not last) controversy. Still, it was the show's own fault for allowing Joanna to make it as far as she did in the first place if producers were just going to turn around and DQ her anyway.
08) Kelly Clarkson takes on Ryan Tedder over "Already Gone" / "Halo" controversy
Unless you were living over in the Sahara for the past nine months, it's very likely that you've heard both Beyoncé's "Halo" and Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone," both of which were singles written by Ryan Tedder that did fairly well on the charts this year. Before Kelly's song was released, however, there was a war of words that went public between Kelly, her record label and Tedder after some accused Kelly of "copying" Beyoncé because the two songs sounded so similar.
What actually happened was Tedder let Beyoncé listen to "Already Gone" when he was writing for her and she told him he wanted a similar song, and so even though "Already Gone" was penned months before "Halo" it was the latter that was released first, and so Kelly came off looking like she copied Beyoncé. Kelly was understandably not happy with the situation, and when RCA went ahead and decided to release the song as her next single this summer she told the CBC:"It sucks, but it's one of those things I have no control over," she told the CBC. "I already made my album. At this point, the record company can do whatever they want with it. It's kind of a sh---y situation, but ... you know, you learn."Of course Tedder wasn't one to just sit on the sidelines, as he responded via a MySpace blog post:
"They are two entirely different songs conceptually, melodically and lyrically and I would never try to dupe an artist such as Kelly Clarkson or Beyoncé into recording over the same musical track, the idea is both hurtful and absurd."Of course, IDOL LIVE sided with Kelly during this ordeal, and even though she didn't want "Already Gone" to be released as a single, it's a good thing it was because it managed to peak at #12 on the Hot 100 and just officially went platinum. Next year should be another good one for Kelly, but the odds that there won't be more controversies along the way are pretty slim.
07) Carrie Underwood has another good year
As if her career has not been spectacular already, Carrie Underwood continued to defy the odds in '09 with more number ones, award wins and other surprises. She graced the covers of many magazines including Country Weekly, Lucky and Self, all the while handling her relationship with Ottawa Senators hockey player Mike Fisher with delicacy. In fact, Fisher proposed to Carrie earlier this month, which topped off her stellar year.
Carrie kept her bond to Idol as strong as ever, as she performed twice during the show's eighth season and recorded the send-off song, "Home Sweet Home," which peaked within the Top 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. She also was in attendance at the opening of the "American Idol: The Experience" attraction at Walt Disney World along with many of her fellow alums in addition to countless other appearances, shared hosting duties with Brad Paisley at the 2009 CMA Awards and had her own two-hour variety special on FOX.Even though she lost out to rising country star Taylor Swift in a host of categories at various awards shows including the CMAs, CMT Awards and AMAs, Carrie took home the prestigious "Entertainer of the Year" award and the "Female Vocalist of the Year" nod at the ACMs in April as well as a Grammy for her single "Last Name" and three People's Choice Awards in January. Carrie also saw her third studio album Play On be released and go platinum before year's end, and she tore up the charts with her #1 hit "Cowboy Casanova" and the #2 duet of "I Told You So" with Randy Travis. All in all, not a bad showing for the final year of the decade.
06) Adam Lambert's "Ring of Fire" performance
Adam Lambert made many waves on Idol's eighth season with his song choices and performance arrangements, but he raised eyebrows early on in the season with his middle eastern-tinged take on Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" during Top 11 week for "Grand Ole Opry" night. The performance was anything but country and garnered either "love it" or "hate it" reactions from the audience. This was probably the moment when his fans really grew attached to him, because as Paula said it was "Adam being true to himself," while a lot of people subscribed to Simon's "indulgent rubbish" opinion of the showcase.Regardless of what people thought, this performance is what showed Adam was not out to please any particular group but instead he was out to convey an image he was happy with. And for this reason, it was one of the most memorable moments of the year for the franchise.
Stay tuned for the remainder of IDOL LIVE's Top 10 most memorable moments of 2009, as moments #5-1 will be revealed tomorrow. Do you agree with the choices for moments #10-6? And what is your prediction for the most memorable Idol moment of 2009?
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