By the way, it was striking how much better Tuesday night’s performances were compared to those of previous weeks. Even the clueless judge in the middle could hear that. What was the difference? Hate to be a premature old fogy, but the obvious factor was the theme. The songs picked from the 1960s — including pop, rock, and even some musical theater — were simply better written than, say, the collected works of Diana Ross. Many of those tunes will continue to be sung 20 years from now. Much of the dreck of the 1990s and 2000s won’t be.
Though, now that I think about it, much of said recent dreck was never sung in the first place. It was shouted, grunted, or warbled.