American Idol 8 - Did Adam get 'axed'? (part I)

I only really watched two episodes of American Idol Season 8, including the final yesterday. This still got me to start a short series of posts on guitars/guitarists guest starring on the show.

First, like probably everybody else watching yesterday, I was surprised that underdog Kris Allen won over Adam Lambert who seemed untouchable (even Google predicted wrong!).

My first reaction to that was that he should probably not have played with Kiss!!! Sharing a stage with them always seem like a wrong idea -regardless of the show/concert/event/gas station lavatories...

Adam Lambert and Kiss (Credit: Newsday)

Paul Stanley shirtless at 57 is probably the scariest thing Kiss has done on stage in their whole career. That alone must have got all the teenage drama queens and soccer moms to vote twice for Kriss Allen. Oh, Paul: you're not the starchild anymore and this was lame guitar crashing (did your tech unscrew the neck?).

Back to talking guitars, is it possible that Lambert got axed....because of Gene Simmons' Axe bass guitar? I am always surprised by these weird custom instruments and I did some research. This Axe bass in its original form is actually as rare as it is lacking good taste. Interestingly, it was made by Kramer in the 70's with those looked after aluminum necks that were Kramer's trademark.

I found a bit more on this site dedicated to vintage Kramer guitars:

The Gene Simmons Axe came in limited numbers and consisted of a guitar and a bass. The Axe was, well...an old English Executioner styled axe! Both the guitar and bass had a single pickup, 1 vol, and 1 tone. Simmons signed a number of them. (...) It's estimated that there are less than 500 out there. The guitar is actually quite more uncommon than the bass. The Gene Simmons axes only lasted a year and are highly collectible. There are many models out there that claim to be original, but the truth is, if they aren't signed by Gene, then they aren't legit. Additionally, the signature needs to be sealed under the clearcoat in order for to be original.

Funnily, doing my research I also found this VH1's Rock Honors Kiss video of Scott Ian playing such an axe in a supergroup made of Slash, Tommy Lee and Ace Frehley fronted by Rob Zombie. Definitely NOT my cup of tea... but hell, I'm blogging about American Idol, so what the heck!



OR... you can have a look at my selection of really awesome guitars by the Gibson Custom Shop.