Reality Rocks

Idol Song Spike: It’s A Mad, Mad World

By | Reality Rocks – Wed, Apr 8, 2009 10:35 AM EDT

Last night's Adam Lambert American Idol performance--for those who actually saw it, of course--was another amazing Idol moment. It even made Simon Cowell get out of his chair and give Adam a standing ovation, and that never happens. Like, EVER.

Well, just as Taylor Hicks' unexpected season 5 cover of Ray Lamontagne's "Trouble" boosted that obscure troubadour's profile, or how in season 7 Jason Castro's "Hallelujah" spiked downloads for that Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley song and David Cook's "Billie Jean" generated attention for Chris Cornell's hard-rock Michael Jackson remake...Adam's chillbump-raising performance of the Tears For Fears goth-pop classic "Mad World" this week has renewed interest not only in the '80s original, but in the 2001 cover version by L.A. singer-songwriter Gary Jules.

Gary's "Mad World" with Michael Andrews, which appeared in the haunting and memorable opening scene of the cult flick Donnie Darko, was seemingly the inspiration for Adam's stunning AmIdol performance last night. For those of you unfamiliar with Gary's TFF remake, here it is:

But of course, as much as I adore Gary's interpretation AND Adam's--the latter of which last night was sort of a clever combo of the doomy TFF original and Gary's acoustic piano cover--there's still nothing like the vintage Tears For Fears recording, along with its oh-so-'80s accompanying video.

Perhaps the only thing that could've made Adam's performance last night any radder would have been if he'd busted out some new-wave dance moves like Roland Orzabal's below!:

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