'American Idol' is Ready to Rock!

Here are my weekly "American Idol" song choices for the contestants. I'm operating under the assumption that the theme is 70s-80s Rock and that the second song will be a duet, so we're working through all possible extrapolations for that. Tell me what you think of my choices below!

The only previous frame of reference we have for this theme is last season's Rock n Roll Hall of Fame week. In that week, we heard "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Proud Mary," "Baba O'Reilly," "A Change is Gonna Come," two complete trainwrecks by Jason Castro and two cop-out schmaltzy ballads by David Archuleta (because that's all he can freaking do). I hope our Top 4 does better with the theme this year.

Now, let's be honest: this is Allison and Adam's week. There is no reason why the two of them shouldn't just KILL their songs. I'm hoping Danny will do another teeny-bopper karaoke song and somehow Kris can sneak into the Top 3, but I am not holding my breath. Also, I apologize for how many songs I chose for each singer. Rock from the 70s and 80s is my very favorite genre of music so it was tough narrowing it down.

Danny Gokey
I have a feeling Danny is going to pick something iconic and cheesy, like "Born to Run" by The Boss "Old Time Rock n Roll" by Bob Seger or "What I Like About You" by the Romantics. I think his Bob Seger instincts are correct, but I hope instead of the Tom-Cruise-Underwear-Anthem, he picks "Turn the Page." I'd also accept "American Woman" by The Guess Who.

Kris Allen
Kris is kind of a wild card every week. I could see him being really cute with his guitar on songs like "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart, "Ramblin' Man" by the Allman Bros, or "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who (what? It worked for Giles). What I'd really like to see him do are some less well-known songs like "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits or "Eli's Comin'" by Three Dog Night, but I think for a nice compromise he could do "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty pretty well. "Rosanna" by Toto would also be okay.

Allison Iraheta
Oh, Allison. I think it's time to bust out either some Janis, Heart, Blondie, or Benatar. I think Allison could just slay "Me and Bobby McGee," "Call Me," "What About Love?," or "Heartbreaker," but what I'm really hoping for is "Magic Man." I don't care that some dumb waif did it last season. Allison can do it 100x better.

Adam Lambert
There are just too many good songs. I can't decide if I want to see him tackle a crazy classic like "Hotel California" by the Eagles, "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Dream On" by Aerosmith or if I want to see something a little different like "Riders on the Storm" by The Doors, "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones, "Radar Love" by Golden Earring, or "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith. If I really had to choose, I think I'd like to see Adam do either "Killer Queen" by Queen or "Sweet Child o' Mine" by GNR themselves.

Duets
This was trickier. Male-female duets are everywhere, so I had my Allison-Partner choices picked out fairly quickly. But male-male duets are harder. I mean, they can't all sing Simon & Garfunkel. But I think I came up with some good ones.

Kris & Allison
This is my least favorite partner for Allison. Not because Kris is a bad singer, but because his voice is so different from hers. I think she is better with either Danny or Adam. Either way, I think these two could do okay on "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac or "Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes

Adam & Danny
If Kris and Allison are paired, we get Adam and Danny. I am not in love with this pairing either. Adam's crazy voice needs to be tempered by smoky Allison or acoustic Kris, not competing with Danny's grizzled shouting. It was hard to choose for them but I guess they could do "Girl from the North Country" by Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan or "Soul Man" by Lou Reed and Sam Moore. Either way I think it's kind of a trainwreck. Let's hope for different pairings than this.

Kris & Adam
If I didn't want to hear Allison and Adam together so badly, I'd really be rooting for this duet. I would love to see them tackle "Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Freddy Mercury or "Black Water" by The
Doobie Brothers. I know "Black Water" isn't technically a duet but can't you just hear them at the end, over each other and then they could switch parts? It would be great.

Kris: I wanna hear some funky dixieland, pretty mama come and take me by the hand. By the hand (hand!), take by the hand (pretty mama!), come and dance with your daddy alllllll night long.
Adam: I wanna honkytonk, honkytonk, honkytonk, with you all night long.

Allison & Danny
If Kris and Adam are together, that leaves Allison with Danny. I like her better with him, to be honest. I think they could do a fun "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf and Ellen Foley, though it's a hard song to cut down. What I'd really like to hear from them is "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. Can you tell I really like Allison for Stevie Nicks stuff?

Kris & Danny
These are the pairings I'm hoping for, but I don't care as much about Kris and Danny. For them, I could see "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" by Marc Almond and Gene Pitney, but my #1 pick is "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel. I think they could do any number of S&G songs, actually: "The Boxer," "Homeward Bound," "Mrs. Robinson." Those could be good for Kris and Danny.

Allison & Adam
I think Allison and Adam HAVE TO, HAVE TO, HAVE TO do "Close My Eyes Forever" by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne. It would be SO GREAT. Allison doing a female singer in the same vein as Nancy Wilson and Pat Benatar and Adam doing the Prince of Darkness. Awesome. If not that, then "Some Velvet Morning" by Lee Greenwood and Nancy Sinatra.