'The X Factor' Season 1, Episode 15 Recap - 'The Top 10 Perform'

The groups are all but gone, and now it's "Rock Night" on "The X Factor," the night that perhaps would have really worked for them.

In the preamble, Nicole notes that she thinks her Over 30s will be well-suited for this theme, probably because they're the only ones who were alive when rock was still a thing. What's rock nowadays? Nickelback? *Shudder*

When Steve Jones does his intro, though, he clarifies a bit in a way that seems like he hopes we won't notice: he says that all songs will be rock songs, or songs "performed in a rock style." What the heck does that mean? He tried to sneak that in there like it was the fine print in a Viagra commercial.

I'm assuming that the "in a rock style" caveat is mostly for Astro who, as a rapper, would have a rough time performing a rock song. Of course, it could be really fun to have him sample a rock song, have some backup singers for the hook, and rap his way through the verses. Let's hope that's the plan.

First up is LeRoy Bell, who takes a Bob Seger song. Why hasn't this happened earlier? He hasn't started yet, but I already assume that it's a perfect pairing. His intro gives us some backstory about his tattoo, and reveals that apparently he's a heartthrob. L.A. Reid also has some harsh words, calling LeRoy "boring."

LeRoy's song is "We've Got Tonight," which is indeed a good choice for him as it blends the slow stuff with a bit of belting. But as he performs, it's clear that L.A. has a point: LeRoy's staging involves ambling over to one side, then ambling over to the other. There's no physical reaction to the big moments or the key changes.

As L.A. puts it, "you're not workin' it like a rock star." That's fair. Paula agrees, but puts it in nicer terms. Simon agrees too, but puts it in even harsher terms than L.A. Steve jumps in and asks LeRoy about the judges' "horrible comments," to which Simon tells him to "shut it." I guess now that we only have ten performers, we can let these guys bicker a bit more, which is always the most exciting part of the show. I'm excited. I hope Paula insult's another contestant's personal fashion attempts.

Simon giggles his way through Rachel Crow's intro, and then in her clip package notes how every time he used to talk to her, she used to just giggle. They're made for each other.

Rachel's song is "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones, a pretty wise choice on Simon's part. It's a rock song, but it can be given a bit of a motown/blues twist, as they did. That makes it fit Rachel's style very well, and she rocks it. Very enjoyable. It's good to see her technique matching her charm.

The judges have nothing but good things to say, unlike their comments for LeRoy. Simon seems very confident that Rachel can beat the competition, despite LA's comment from off-camera, "Not my guys!"

Oh right, I forgot about Chris Rene. I imagine that whole "in a rock style" thing applies to him too, since he lives in the pop/rap realm. His song is Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry," mashed up a bit with Chris' own touches. There's very little that's "rock" or even "in a rock style" about it, but it's still one of the better performances we've seen from Chris, I think. Original, energetic, fun.

Nicole notes it was original, but says that it wasn't her favorite performance from him. She was "confused," she says, by the track and everything. Simon agrees, noting that the theme of the week isn't reggae music. Paula and LA note that Bob Marley was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and that the song was listed on Rolling Stone's top rock songs of all time. I don't know that Rolling Stone is necessarily the be-all end-all of music genre divides, but it seems a valid argument. They had to give the guy something, and they'll have to do it again with Astro.

You guys! 956 Tweets per minute! We're really doing it!

Stacey Francis is up next, and the people who puts the clip packages together seem to want us to not like her. When she's not screaming and jumping around, she's crying.

Her performance is of a Meat Loaf. I'll give you three guesses as to which one. Yeah, it's the one that Celine Dion covered and thus easily coverts to a diva singer's style. It's "It's All Coming Back To Me Now." It's kind of a mess... she's a little pitchy at points, and he gets way too fancy.

LA keeps it short and says she sang nicely. Paula says it was her "least favorite song" that Stacey has sung so far, and notes that she was under the pitch. Simon is absolutely brutal, telling her that she's "going backward" and calling the performance "absolutely ridiculous." Stacey's face is priceless. She doesn't strike me as the type to take this kind of stuff easily.

Melanie Amaro is up next, and Simon just can't seem to spit out these introductions tonight. Is he drunk? I hope he's drunk. Anyway, Melanie is taking an R.E.M. song, but despite their catalog of uptempo, fun songs that would be a stretch for Melanie and give her a chance to show her detractors that she can, in fact, do something different, she instead gets "Everybody Hurts."

It's slow and plodding, but of course Melanie is still a great vocalist (possibly the best on the show) so she does some impressive stuff. Still, though, it's silly for Simon to pick on LA for the Bob Marley and then give Melanie the most ballady of all ballads. Both Nicole and Paula ask for her to get a little more "raw" and "let loose" from here on in.

Josh is up next, and he's actually singing a rock song from a current band! Well, a current band that's been around for a decade or two: the Foo Fighters. Fair enough... Josh is probably the best-equipped singer to perform a rock song. During the clip package, Nicole tries to get some attention after Josh's rehearsal performance by yelling "I'M GONNA GET NAKED TOMORROW AND STREAKING!" Annoying, but I wouldn't complain.

Aw, man... he's doing "The Pretender." Of all of the Foo Fighter's songs, this is probably the absolute worst one you could pick. Josh has an incredible voice and a great range, and he's singing a song that has two notes in the chorus. How about a song with some melody to it?

Still, Josh rocks it, as expected. The judges all have pleasant things to say.

Aha, the moment of truth: Astro is up next. What will he and LA do to make this performance "rock?" And will he once again annoy Simon by being awesome?

So it looks like the plan is to go with "Every Breath You Take," which was of course sampled by Puff Daddy or P Diddy or Diddy, so it's easy to Astro to rap over it. I think he's once again rapping about his mom, and it is (sorry Simon) awesome. The judges all agree, and Paula whines "why can't you just suck for once?" That was seriously good. I've said it before, I'll say it again: this kid could actually win. And as much as I hate to say it because of their absurdly prominent sponsorship in all this, he would work great for a Pepsi commercial.

The strategy for Lakoda Rayne, once again, is to try to get us to know them each personally. Once again they are highlighted one by one in the clip package, and once again the screen behind them displays their names as they perform.

Considering they're the last group left and the last two audience votes have left only groups behind, the producers must be dying to have these girls succeed. After all, it would look pretty silly to have one of the biggest defining features of the show (the inclusion of groups) completely crash and burn.

The girls sing "You Can Go Your Own Way," which is about as far as they can go toward rock and still be country. Simon thought it was a mess, and once again gets nasty. He gets so mean that LA even jumps in and says "you're being mean." But Simon does have a point: they were a bit of a mess. But I'll be damned if they aren't nice to look at, which might end up helping them along. Plus, the final vote comes down to the judges, and they might keep them alive just so that they can keep a group in the running a bit longer and not look like a total failure.

Back from break, Steve tries to tell us that Simon is the "most popular judge" because 53% of Tweets about the show mention Simon. My guess is 90% of those 53% are saying things like "Simon is a $&%."

The clip package for Drew has her bemoaning the fact that LA gave her bad feedback last year. The way she tries to explain that it's hard on her is by saying that she got only positive feedback back home, and she got only positive feedback so far on the show, so like, it was really hard to hear somebody say something not positive!

Okay, I love Drew, but that was kinda bratty. Right?

But I'll shut up about it, because now she's singing and I'm reminded that it doesn't matter much what she says, because dammit she's good. She does "With Or Without You" by U2, and she's going to get another earful from LA, because it's the same thing: it's a slowed-down version of an already slow rock song.

Nicole notes that she's waiting for the tempo to pick up, and LA is a little easier on her this week, but Drew stands up for herself by saying that she's trying to stay true to her genre base. That's a smart thing to say. Still, though, an uptempo song might not be a bad thing from her. After all, if she makes an album, it can't be all dirge-like slow ballads, can it? People would slit their wrists.

Marcus will finish things up with a Janis Joplin song, or as LA says in his intro, "Janis Japlin." They try to make a point of contrasting his "church boy" image with the supposedly racy performance we're about to see.

OH MY GOD THE STAGE IS ON FIRE AGAIN. So the song choice is "Piece of My Heart," which alllllmost really works for him. The opening is strong, but he doesn't put the emotion into the chorus that it deserves. Of course, you're comparing to Janis, who sounded like her heart was being ripped out every time she sang it, so it's tough.

I had to laugh, though, as LA's last words in the clip package were about he wasn't going to do anything to "cheapen" Marcus, then he put him in a jacket with studded sleeves and had him shimmy on the floor between a line of girls' legs.

So, not surprisingly, the theme was taken just to the edge of being completely abandoned, just as it was with "Movie Night." But really, these theme nights are kinda bogus to begin with: if you're a genre singer, you can't be expected to sing in someone else's genre. The point here is to find a recording artist, not a singer who can sing everything.

Who won the night? It just might have been Astro (again), who just seems to be able to do everything right. Nobody else really stood out, but there weren't any truly awful performances either. If you're looking to place a wager on who has to sing for survival, I'd bet on Lakoda Rayne and, sadly, LeRoy.