red states win

Music: Dead Can Dance: The Serpent's Egg (1988)

As the world knows, Kris what-ever-his-name-is was voted the winner of American Idol in what has become, perhaps, the biggest spectacle of cultural politics of the century. Last night the stakes were, as many have said, comfortably cast in terms of red and blue, where blue means queer and red means, well . . . safe.

I am disappointed; I was thinking that Adam was going to win because his talent as a performer was simply in a different league than every other contestant. I confess, too, that Adam is delicious (though Kris is cute, but Adam is just nasty hot), and I wanted the openly queer guy to win (I say queer and not "gay" because Lambert playfully walks the edge of bicuriosity; for example, like here). Lambert is taking cues from the Michael Stipe/Morrissey/Ziggy Stardust playbook; making sexuality "interesting" and "mysterious" does seem to work for rock stars.

I'm also somewhat annoyed with my disappointment: I wanted the queer guy to win, and this is probably also the reason why millions of teen girls voted for the other Other One. I wish, in other words, that Adam's sexuality was not a voting issue---that the best singer would simply get the votes. I wish, in other words, no one really gave a shit about who Adam chooses to sleep with. But people do give a damn. Apparently I do too.

So, I'm disappointed in my disappointment.

Unquestionably, however, Lambert's album will be on an end-cap at Target come October. Kris what's-his-name's will be there too. But I suspect his record will have the same, stellar success that the "soul patrol" Taylor Hicks did. Meh.