Over at the "scary boards," some claim that the next theme is Alternative, but I cannot find any confirmation. If so, Chris could potentially sing Gnarls Barkley, Muse, Audioslave, the Killers or Ben Folds' solo work. Very cool!

Here are five 90s suggestions to get the speculation started:

"Last Goodbye" - Jeff Buckley
"Black" - Pearl Jam
"Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden
"Wicked Game" - Chris Isaak
"Song 2" - Blur (with a woo-hoo Fro Patro style)

We, the Fro Patro, will like Chris's performance no matter what. When selecting a song, however, he should be more concerned about converting non-fans and wowing the judges. I think we are all waiting for that breakout moment from Chris that will secure his place in the top 4 or 5.

If Chris picks a song from his published list of 100 favorites, I hope he chooses "Brick" by Ben Folds Five. It's a song with crossover appeal, which is important because American Idol is, essentially, a Top 40 show. With just a piano accompaniment, Chris's warm, rich timbre and lovely upper register will have the best opportunity to shine.

Lover You Should Have Come Over by Jeff Buckley - although to be perfectly honest I wonder if Chris would be able to hit the high notes at the climax (most guy's probably could'nt). But if he can then this one's a no brainer. Also condensing the song down to 90 seconds could be a problem

A much easier choice (editing wise and a song much more likely to please America and maybe the judges) would be The Charmless Man by Blur. Song 2's a great one and all but after years and years of listening to the Blur catalogue The Charmless Man might well be their best song - and vocally it'd show Chris's voice off a whole lot better than Song 2. The fact that it's not as overplayed as Song 2 might make it a lot more appealing to Chris as well..........

Radiohead - Creep. I think it would be awesome to hear Chris sing it, and he could have some fun with it.

I'll take Radiohead or REM please

Mike, Carrie and Selena, I like your taste in music.

I just read at MJ's Big Blog http://mjsbigblog.com/2007/03/21/top-11-results/ that the theme for Gwen Stefani week is Pop, not 90s music or Alternative. In that case, I will repeat the suggestion I made downthread that Chris should sing "You Only Get What You Give" by the New Radicals. It's an upbeat, uplifting pop song with hooks galore, a catchy melody and a good range for him.

One U2
Tears in Heaven Clapton

On Chris's list of 100 favorite songs, #30 is "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys, a pop masterpiece. It is one of my all-time favorite songs from one of my all-time favorite albums by my all-time favorite writer-producer-singer-bass player. So I'm biased, but I think Chris could really soar.

Pop?

Oh.

Well if the theme is pop then I stand by my choice of Blur's The Charmless Man. Great, great, GREAT pop song - possibly even the best pop song of the '90's. I'll go a step further: possibly the best pop song of the '80's AND '90's and the new millenium until Clocks came out! If you have not heard it find it and listen to it. Tell me I'm wrong. I double dare you.

Speaking of Blur: howzabout that song the Gorillaz had a huge hit with about 2 or so years ago called Feel Good Inc (although I'd be rather surprised if Blake did not snap that one up for himself though. It'd be a real no brainer for Blake, but if he passes Chris sure outta grab it). I mean that and Coldplay's Clocks are the 2 greatest songs of the new millenium by a longshot and since Chris basically already did Clocks by proxy on Diana Ross night........ I mean is there actually anybody alive who did NOT like Clocks or Feel Good Inc? I'm almost 50 years old and whenever FGI comes on the radio my ass wants to do some serious car dancing!

Beach Boys? If Chris absolutely must do something off of Pet Sounds for some reason go for something just as beautiful but far less obvious and far less overplayed: Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder). Problem is both are reallt slow. Chris'd be better off with something like Sail On Sailor if he going to do any Beach Boys. BUT: What I would not give to have somebody actually have the balls to do a note for note version of the brilliant and god-like Cabinessence! I wonder if Simon's head would explode if someone actually did. I bet Chris would love to make Simon's head explode.

Although somehow I seriously doubt my dream of any A1 contestant doing Cabinessence will ever become a reality :-(

Chris could do great versions of any of these (they are all well within in his vocal range and without the near impossible high notes of Jeff Buckley's Lover You Should Have Come Over)

Mike, "'Til I Die" is my favoritest of all my Brian Wilson favorites, but I second your comments about "Cabinessence," both versions.

Since all the finalists just tackled 1960s fare, I'm thinking now that Chris should pick a more current Pop song from his favorite artists, such as "Starlight" by Muse or "When You Were Young" by the Killers. I think both qualify as Pop and would demonstrate to the AI crew how well he fits in modern radio, which is their primary fixation.

Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
Powerful song and would showcase your vocal range

mr.jones counting crows,soul meets body-death cab for cutie,play the game-queen,something by elton john,triumph,genesis,peter gabriel,u2,zeppelin,blind melon.

"written by Jordan, March 23, 2007

Last Goodbye - Jeff Buckley
Powerful song and would showcase your vocal range"

Great choice, but again: could he do the high notes and do them right? I love Jeff Buckley and I'd certainly one day like to hear somebody tackle him on A1 some day, but his stuff is just to easy to blow too many of the notes on - if one could not do him spot on then it'd be better to not even try because Jeff was the sort of singer where if you screw up those notes it could mean your last week on Idol. And I would REALLY hate to see Chris try and tackle something that could potentially get him voted off.

The main problem with the Beach Boys is finding something unique and great that is not 90% harmonies (as then Simon is bound to pipe in with "Well we really did not get to hear your voice now did we?"). Till I Die, albeit a great song, is unfortunately one of those types of songs. I would have otherwise said Surf's Up myself (as opposed to Sail On Sailor - which is mostly solo voice barring the chorus) except that it's musically probably too complicated for most viewers to "get" plus without the all-harmony Child Is The Father To The Man coda it'd sound incomplete on A1.....

One thing I hope Chris does NOT do is anything by Oasis. I like Oasis just fine but let's face it: almost all their songs are in the same 2 or 3 keys, Liam has a vocal range of about 5 or 6 notes - hence none of their songs would show of ANYBODY's vocal range - and their lyrics are horrid (unless you are a fan of a bunch of non sequiturs strung together).

But that earlier Blur suggestion of Song 2? That kinda has Gina written all over it, not Chris if you really think about it (please dear god don't let Sanjiya get his hands on that one!).

Have any of you downloaded the complete audio version of Chris's songs over at the AI site? You can find them at [url= http://downloads.americanidol.com/genre.aspx?gid=321&page=c] [url]http://downloads.americanidol.com/genre.aspx?gid=321&page=c . His vocal and arrangement of "Endless Love" in the studio sound sooo much better than the version abbreviated for the show.

Oops! My tongue-in-cheek suggestion of "Song 2" was strictly an allusion to the humor potential from all the "woo hoos," the overused slogan of the Soul Patrol. I prob'ly should have added an appropriate emoticon to convey my snarkiness.

Mike, are you one of those Oasis-bashing Blur purists? I like 'em both. Like early Lennon-McCartney and Brian Wilson, Noel Gallagher made some beautiful music with one octave and a few well-chosen chords. I think Chris could do really well on "Acquiesce" or "Wonderwall," although I would discourage him from choosing the Mike Flowers retro bossa nova version.

As his downloadable studio tracks demonstrate, Chris is an excellent singer. He just needs to keep selecting good showcases for his voice like "Typical" and "She's Not There." I think he could have that breakout moment he needs this week by selecting a memorably melodic crossover song like "Brick" by Ben Folds Five or "God Only Knows."

Sorry about that.

Here is the link to Chris's AI download site:

http://downloads.americanidol.com/genre.aspx?gid=321&page=c

"Mike, are you one of those Oasis-bashing Blur purists?"

Not at all. When I first heard Blur around the time of Parklife I actually did not like them all that much. On the other hand when Definately Maybe (whatever the first Oasis was called) came out I liked it quite a lot. Then the store I managed got a used copy of The Charmless Man cd single in and I gave it a listen and through that got into Blue. On an album by album basis I'd say I prefer Oasis, who have made more consistent records (that last Blur album Think Tank was all but unlistenable and boring as hell). However: nothing Oasis has ever done is as great as Blur's best individual tracks or Blur's 13 or self titled albums. And as far as singles go I'll take Blur's Best Of over Oasis' Best Of. Then again I'd take just about any Motorpsycho, anything off of the Slits Cut album or anything on the first 4 or 5 Mothers Of Invention records over about 95% of anything Blur OR Oasis have ever recorded, and it's not exactly like I am holding my breath for Chris (or any other AI contestant) to be pulling Never Let You Out, Love & Romance or Son Of Suzy Creamcheese out of his butt in my lifetime!

That said I really never saw why there was some kind of war between those two bands. Musically speaking it's like the Beatles vs the Stones - they are pretty far apart musically and stylistically so it's really kind of hard for me to compare one to the other. I love grapefruit juice but I also really love sushi.

Read into that whatever you will.