American Idol Rocker David Cook Tackles Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Night

American Idol's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame night was an odd one. For the first time in many weeks, the contestants had the opportunity to choose from a huge selection of music. There is something for everyone in the Hall of Fame catalog, from 30's roots music to 80's pop. It is this type of night that highlights an American Idol contestant's song-picking ability~ or lack of ability. It should have been a no-brainer night for David Cook, whose rock roots run deep. Instead, he may have taken his first stumble in quite some time. Luckily, the train wreck that Jason Castro is turning into sealed up the bottom spot for the night.

David Cook's first song choice was Hungry Like The Wolf by Duran Duran. A very perplexing song choice compared to the thousands of classic songs available in the collection to put a new spin on. Cook's version of Wolf did not stray far from the original and Cook appeared to be phoning it in. Definitely adequate but not memorable. Not a particularly wise move. All three judges were uniformly lukewarm on the performance and Cook himself admitted that he could have done more with the song. Cook's second choice was The Who's "Baba O'Riley", a pared-down and controlled version that showed the resonance and control of his voice. Simon summed it up by saying, "Welcome back, David Cook". Apart from the strange awkward transition at the end of the song, it was by far the best performance of the night, although with David Archuleta providing two solid songs and Cook one okay and one amazing one, Archuleta may have pulled out the win this week.

This season's American Idol is boiling down to a David versus David showdown and this week's performances continue along that path.