Rock Star: INXS, August 28 – Good & Bad Times

Welcome once again to the Sunday night edition of Rock Star: INXS. Last week was a refreshing vacation from all-J.D.-all-the-time – will it continue this week? What will be the newest clinic? Who will fight for songs? The only way to find out is to keep reading.

We arrive at the Rock Star mansion as several of the remaining contestants have just returned from the Wednesday results show. They gather around to listen to a song that Mig and the now-departed Deanna had been working on the night before. Wow – their creative juices must have really been flowing once they had to write a song for themselves! It’s a slower song that Mig describes as hauntingly beautiful and tears seem close to flowing from several of the others.

One of the sad rockers is Jordis, who is still upset that she wasn’t in the bottom three when she felt she should have been. She was “shocked” that she wasn’t there and feels like she put her supporters in a position to bail her out because of a bad note. Oh, come on, Jordis, don’t say that. It wasn’t just one bad note – there were plenty in there! Seriously, though, I have to wonder how familiar Jordis is with American Idol voting, because that happens fairly frequently on that show – supporters often seem to vote more when their favorite screws up than when they do well!

Suzie says she’s going to miss Deanna, but at the same time she just wants to celebrate! She went from the Queen of the Bottom Three to the Queen of the Top One.

Dave Navarro shows up with some sheet music, which Ty says must have something to do with their next clinic. No, you think? Dave also states the obvious, noting that they are the top six (while Ty’s tongue makes another appearance as he sticks it out and runs it along his lower lip – God, that’s annoying).

He gets to his point – it’s time to look to the future. One of INXS’s new songs is called “Us,” and each of them are going to go into the studio and record the vocals for it. More than likely, it will be on the record (that is, the winner’s version). Dave doesn’t mention it, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if this song is the first single, since that way they can have it ready for distribution shortly after the winner is picked.

Suzie points out that this can show the band their studio capabilities. Dave agrees, saying that singing live can sometimes sound totally different than singing in a studio. Overall, the rocker wannabes are pumped.

Later, Marty says it was difficult to go from the top to the bottom. This clinic will give him the opportunity to show how he can merge their music and his vocals. As he talks to Jordis about the song, he appears to read something about the song that indicates it is a ’60s funk style. He wonders, “What’s ‘60s funk?” Hmmm.

Suzie points out how important this is because they will each be directly compared to each other on the same song. Another good point for Suzie. Then we see five of the six contestants working together around the piano. Of course, #6 who is not there is J.D. – he’s alone in his room with a beer.

Marty is getting a bit concerned now that he’s figured out what ‘60s funk means. He’s never done a song like this and it’s not about the power of the vocal but rather the sensitivity. In other words, like INXS said last week, more singing and less screaming.

Ty, with his tongue hanging out once again, says this will really expose people. Doing a song live is one thing, but going into the studio is different because, if I understand him right, people will hear it more than once. Not sure what that has to do with anything, but okay.

Bedtime for most of the rockers – apparently, Jordis sleeps fully-clothed, or she just wanted the cameraman the hell out of her room. Marty is still up practicing, though. And, um, it sounds more like screaming than singing. He admits he’s really struggling with it, trying to find balance between his modern rock outlook and this song.

Next morning, the contestants arrive at the studio (which looks more like a living room), where Dave, Andrew, and Jon await them. Andrew says it’s exciting because they’re moving forward. Jon says they know all the contestants can sing, so the question is who can sing best for INXS.

Suzie goes first, but has “a lot of morning phlegm.” Thanks for sharing that with us, Suzie. She tells Andrew and Jon that she’s finding it hard to breathe because of her chest congestion, but she goes ahead with it anyway. Andrew is a bit worried from the get-go because of it, and I have to say that this was really dumb on Suzie’s part. Don’t make an excuse before you even go in, because then they might look for anything bad! Give it a try and if it doesn’t come out well, then explain the problem if you feel you need to.

Suzie begins and Andrew and Jon appear impressed, saying she has incredible pitch. Andrew was amazed in just one take and wants to know what she would be like if she weren’t sick! OK, so maybe it wasn’t such a horrible move after all.

Jordis is next and tells the guys she wants to know what they think of the way she’s going to do it, which is a bit “different.” Andrew tells us that a new song has been written a certain way for a reason. Indeed, Andrew and Jon notice that Jordis has moved the melody around. Jon tells Andrew he prefers it the way Andrew wrote it. Jon tells us that he doesn’t dislike what she did, but doesn’t think it did the song justice. Uh oh. Plus, I have to say that from what little we hear, I don’t really like Jordis’ voice on this at all. However, when Dave asks Jordis afterwards how it went, she calls herself the “one-take wonder.” Yeah, like INXS “wonders” what they’re going to do with that one take.