I hung out with the boss today at American Idol. As a veteran of the music business for the last two decades and a VP of Media Relations at Warner Bros. Records for 16 years, I’ve booked my fair share of musicians on every show you can think of. I read the tweets and facebook posts (of course) after word leaked out that Zakk would perform. – there was some negative ones for sure. Now that its over, the positive ones came flooding in as i figured. Anyway- i wrote this for the sites and wanted to post it here first:
Heavy Metal is a genre of music most associated with the fringe element of society- and why not? With in your face power chords coupling dark musical overtones, and heck- even darker tee shirts, metal often gets a bad wrap from the mainstream.
But on a cool Wednesday evening on a soundstage in Los Angeles, heavy metal made a u-turn in the court of popular opinion on what is considered the most popular television show in the last decade.
Metal made its turn on American Idol.
Can you believe it!? Well, we can, and we can thank more than a few people for that.
Firstly, James Durbin, the underdog singer on this breakthrough season of American Idol for choosing the classic Sammy Hagar song “Heavy Metal” from the soundtrack of the film from 1982.
Also, Steven Tyler, whose mere presence as a judge on the show this year opened the door for a singer like Durbin in the first place.
But truly the unsung hero of the moment this riveting spring evening was a rock guitar hero of epic proportions: the indefatigable Zakk Wylde.
It was Wylde’s breakthrough performance in shit-kicker boots, a black tee and sleeveless denim jacket that took rock guitar and heavy metal from the background to the front of the consciousness of a country.
It’s now up to us to keep it rocking.
how many millions of people never even heard the name Zakk Wylde before tonight….that’s why you do that…they know who he is NOW !!!!!
Zakk (and James) just change’d the face of American Idol forever….the nay sayer’s should be praise’n them for stick’n Heavy Metal in the face of prime time viewer’s
Now they all know what we already did!!!
I wish I had known
Shock and Awe! It totally blew my mind when Zakk walked out on that stage rippin the shit out of that song. And James Durbin. The boy has got metal in his vains. It was just a kickass moment at my house. Thanx!
Bleed Beyond Forever! SDMF \m/
It was definitely a HUGE push to get rock music back among the mainstream for sure. I am still trying to wrap my mind around this thought – 30 MILLION viewers WORLDWIDE just watched his performance and now know and want to learn more about who Zakk Wylde is. Just think about that number…it’s beyond comprehension for me at the moment as it should be for all of you. simply put – WOW.
I totally agree with you Skully, It was a kick ass performance. Now even more people will know the name Zakk Wylde also Randy Jackson calling Zakk The Best Guitarist was AWESOME!!!!
Great read Jim! What a venue to show millions of people what we already knew, Zakk Wylde is a force to be reckoned with!
Zakk just created a whole new army of kids that probably now want to be rock stars. Awesome as usual for Zakk
Loved It! I am so proud of Zakk, His Hard work is paying off bigtime these days.
I loved his performance, just wished they had acknowledged Black Label Society in some way.
It was a spectacular performance that will become a classic moment for a show that is viewed by millions. I couldnt have been more proud of the Boss’s prime time TV appearance. It was a historic event for metal music!
HELL YEAH!!! LOVE IT! It was good seein Zakk on basic cable.Now I want to see Zakk play the National Anthem at a Super Bowl!!!! That would be awesome!
Truely amazing! Our radio station couldnt stop talking about it this morning. I even called in and gave my thoughts which was played on the air. South Bend couldnt get enough. Today I had 4 Facebook friends ask how and where to join TBLO because of this! WTF’nG Boss! NOW they see!
I loved it…Zakk goes on American Idol and kicks ass like he always does…
Ive watched American Idol every season and Ive wanted to see something like this for a long time, the last rocker I can remember was Bo Bice, but he was more southern rock. James Durbin is killing it this year. And watching Zakk shred was unreal and the reaction from the crowd was awesome.
Even tho I know there are going to people out there who have to talk negative it still drives me up the wall. Zakk Wylde and the rest of Black Label Society are not a secret for a select few to hear, the bigger the TBLO family the better!
It was bad ass !!!, They Killed it………..
SDMF- Johnny K.
This is the first year that I have followed A.I. and its mainly because I was curious about Steven Tyler as a judge. This will be the only single greatest event for me on the show unless he shows up again in the future. Awesome Performance !
Way cool…Was watchin’ hockey (Go BRUINS!!) Checked in2 Facebook saw check out American Idol, 20min left in the show saw some dude cover Bridge Over Troubled Water figured that was it. Ended up watchin because the reference to the movie Heavy Metal..thought it would be The Mob Rules..r,i.p. Ronnie James.
….They call it Heavy Metal Noize & out comes Zakk !!
Nice of A.I. 2 give the boss some solo/tv time.
Road trip comin’ up 2 St.Paul Minn.
SDMF…..Rufus 3:16
The Kantyman
I agree. Let’s hope this kicks the doors wide open. Zakk did it again !
zakk is the man and he made the show rock
mabe next zakk tv…TBLO
BLS24/7/365
Normally, I wouldn’t be caught dead watching Idol, but the Master was on…I made an exception. I even posted it on FB. Yeah, I totally marked out for the awesome Idol performance…wouldnt want it any other way…SDMF…\,,/ \,,/
I was so astounded when Zakk walked out on that stage. Way to go. This was great for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. I’m a little disappointed with Randy. He did say Zakk was one of the Greatest guitarist ever but failed to mention BLS. Shame on you Randy.