American Idol Fan Site | Who got voted off American Idol

This is the year American Idol came of age.

Even though Fox’s singing contest has been camped atop the Nielsen heap for three years, in the past Idol has always been considered a cheesy, teenybopper fad. But as its audience has continued to expand (up again this season 14 percent), the ultimate karaoke party has become a legitimate monster.

“A confluence of cultural factors have made this show not just a hit but a supernova in the TV universe,” says John Rash, media buyer for Campbell Mithun, a Minneapolis advertising agency. “First and foremost, the show’s relative simplicity allows everyone to take part in the same locker-room or water-cooler dialogue. That’s an attractive commodity in today’s fractured media landscape.

“Secondly, the show is representative of Ameritocracy. It says talent can win out,” he continues.

“Third, it’s one of the few programs that allows for multigenerational viewing both with its relatively clean content and with the clever cultural device of having young people singing their parents’ songs.”

Until recently, the music industry had treated Idol as a feeble and amateurish joke. When performers deigned to appear on the show, they tended to be washed-up or obscure, like Verdine White, Earth Wind & Fire’s kooky bass player.

The industry’s condescending attitude toward Idol has done an abrupt about-face of late.

First, Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson walked off with two Grammys in February, ending the widely held belief that Idol would never produce a bona fide star with a viable recording career. At the same time, Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood was enjoying an 11-week run atop the country chart.

More important, record companies have recognized Idol’s remarkable power as a promotional tool. Its ability to boost sales harks back to the glory days of American Bandstand. Twice a week, Idol is delivering more than 30 million viewers, many of whom are passionate about pop music.

So it’s hardly surprising that the music business, which has been struggling mightily in the digital era, is suddenly clinging to the Fox series like a life raft.

This season, established singing stars from all genres - from Kenny Rogers to Shakira, Stevie Wonder to Andrea Bocelli tonight - have lined up for Idol face time. And the results are dramatic. After his March appearance, Barry Manilow saw his new CD, The Greatest Songs of the Fifties, jump up 20 spots on the charts and into the Top 5. Only Prince, bless his eccentric little heart, has publicly declined an invitation to guest star on Idol.

Artists have discovered to their delight that they do not even have to appear on the show to reap the Idol windfall. Earlier this season, Idol took to using “Bad Day,” a jingle by little-known Canadian singer Daniel Powter, as the soundtrack for the clip montage it assembles for contestants who have just been voted off. When Powter’s eponymous CD was subsequently released, it debuted in the Top 10, and “Bad Day” spent a month atop Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.

Another factor in the show’s recent ascent to cultural-touchstone status is that the talent pool has never been as deep as it is this season.

As we head into the stretch run, there is not much separating Chris Daughtry, Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, Kellie Pickler, Paris Bennett and Taylor Hicks.

By way of comparison, consider that in previous years, the final six included such flashes in the lens as Nikki McKibbin and RJ Helton (Season 1), Josh Gracin, Trenyce and Carmen Rasmusen (Season 2), Jasmine Trias, George Huff and John Stevens (Season 3), and Vonzell Solomon, Scott Savol and Anthony Fedorov (Season 4). This year, it’s likely that all these kids would have departed Idol about the same time as the Brittenum twins.

Losing doesn’t sting as badly anymore, either. In the past, if you got booted from the finals, you disappeared until the summer tour package. Now, dismissed singers like Bucky Covington and Mandisa are on the chat-show circuit the very next day, booked on everything from Ellen to Live With Regis & Kelly.

Madison Avenue has certainly embraced this wanton Idolatry. In previous years, it seemed the show had only three sponsors, Coca-Cola, Ford and Sprint. Now, everybody wants to get into the act. A 30-second spot on May 24’s season finale will cost advertisers $1.3 million, the highest price for any series spot this year.

Now if only we could coax announcer Ryan Seacrest into bringing back his trademark sign-off, “Seacrest… Out.”

Then American Idol would truly be a juggernaut.

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