We joke about all the singing and talent shows on TV these days, but truth be told, there is a LOT of talent on them. And the judges are usually pretty serious about looking for the "IT" factor when they watch these auditions.

This past week, a Flint singer on American Idol proved he has "IT," even soliciting a "best rocker we've had" comment from Lionel Richie. But his audition was completely overshadowed by the BONKERS behavior of the judges.

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Nate Peck, a 21-year-old man from Flint went on the show this past week to audition by singing Dokken's "Lightning Strikes Again." Almost immediately, Katy Perry starts mocking metal vocalist noises and making faces throughout his entire audition.

Looking past the cringey reaction from the judges, Peck CRUSHES the audition. But that's when it really gets weird. Luke Bryan inconceivably decides he wants to make requests and sing Whitesnake's "Here I go Again" with Peck... on the spot.

Of course, Peck Nails it, but Luke's delivery of the odd moment is... rough.

"I feel as if I underperformed that"

Yes.. yes you did Luke. You can see it in the face of Peck (and the guitarist accompanying him) how odd the moment felt.

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Despite that, Peck took on the challenge and nailed it... EVEN while Katy Perry decided to crawl up on the grand piano in the room, and do... whatever this is...

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... he managed to impress and is on to the next round in Hollywood. And he should, too. He's massively talented, and part of an 80s Rock Cover band in Flint called "Wanted," who are genuinely amazing and exciting to see live.

My personal opinion on the matter: Rock artists on these shows are already up against the mainstream monster that is pop and country music. Then, to highlight the difficulty of that moment, with distractions like Katy Perry doing the worm on a grand piano, and Luke Bryan's sub-par Whitesnake singing... it takes away from the sincerity and seriousness that people have to put into performing rock music.

The judges' reaction to any rock audition (see the Rach Karma audition from last week performing "Dio") is to poke fun at it, rather than take the artist seriously, and it sucks.

I hope in his next performance, these professional artists judging him actually take it seriously.

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