The Idol finale didn't help Donna Summer, Seal or George Michael, they've got no tracks in the iTunes Top 100. As of now, Bryan Adams' "Summer Of '69" is sitting at 97, ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man" is 100 and David Cook's got the number one track.

There's something here, and it's suddenly coming clear.

We live in a rock nation.

They've been telling us for years that we live in a hip-hop nation. If we ever did, if it wasn't a media fabrication akin to the grunge revolution, it's over. And we're back to rock. That's why Bon Jovi can do arenas, people want to hear "Livin' On A Prayer" and "Wanted Dead Or Alive." As the business fractured at the top, with weenies like Clive Davis constructing ever more vapid product sold by two-dimensional items that weren't only airbrushed, but auto-tuned, and the hipsters went for esoterica, championing fringe indie rock artists, the public decided it wanted something straight down the middle, otherwise known as Nickelback.

Wince all you want, but this is a different American Idol season. The predicted champ, the one all the analysts said was going to win, the lowest common denominator, David Archuleta, LOST! It's kind of like the election... A black man couldn't win, Hillary had it sewn up. How could the prognosticators get it so WRONG? The media is out of touch with the public, the only way to figure out what is happening is to do your own survey, feel the vibe. And the vibe is that David Cook is not just a pretty face, he REPRESENTS SOMETHING! Hope. That music can be reclaimed, that we can return to the golden era, when all those classic rock acts were hatched.

Oh, of course I'm a bit on the edge here, if David Cook wrote songs that good, he would have already made it. But people don't want to hear rhythm or pop, they want to hear rock. Maybe rock ballads, but rock. Sure, it might be a karaoke version, but isn't "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" better than ANYTHING on Top Forty radio? There's a hope, an exuberance, an otherworldly, UNCALCULATED MAGIC in the track. It can't even be denied in Cook's take. And people want it. Hell, U2 benefited more than any of the classic acts on the finale, and THEY WEREN'T THERE!

It all comes down to your material... Is IT classic? If it is, then you've got longevity. You're on Rock Band and Guitar Hero. People put their heads into the air and yelp like dogs, your songs inhabit them!

Screw an album, screw the profits. I'd say if Bryan Adams really wants to come back, he should sit down and WRITE A SONG with David Cook, THIS WEEK! Have it out NEXT! How come the Idol songs can be on iTunes the next day, and the live shows of superstars can't? Could it be that Idol is more in touch with the zeitgeist than the major label music business? Could it be that Guy Hands should close down artist development over at EMI and throw in with a television contest?

It's a lonely alienated world we live in. With no center. Indiana Jones sucks. And Madonna does too. There's no center. We're looking for a center.

I can categorize all day long what's wrong with American Idol, but it represents what our hit movies, records and TV shows used to. A RALLYING POINT! Something we can discuss in the agora of life. Being a shoegazer who hates everything mainstream is no longer a calling. Because no one cares what you say, there is no center. Your outside opinions only count if THERE IS A CENTER! The point is, can you be mainstream without selling out? Put another way, is it BAD TO BE MAINSTREAM? To create a song that can be played at the ballpark? Something that puts a smile on your face at the beach?

Not only did David Cook sing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," he did "All Right Now." And "Baba O'Riley." When all the female contestants are imitating Mariah Carey, tarting up their look and vocalizing like frogs on Adderall, this guy sings straight ahead rock and he WINS! David Archuleta goes all sappy, he pulls at the little girls' heartstrings, but he LOSES! Badly! Because the little girls might understand, but they don't rule. People liked where Cook was coming from, they wanted to give him a chance, they wanted a new Daughtry.

Hell, even Simon Cowell didn't get it. He wants someone cute, who he can mold. Get some hack to write a song for. Whereas rock records tend to be written by sleep-deprived drug addicts. With enough personalization and grit for the audience to relate.

It's a crazy, screwed up world where the winner of American Idol is our biggest hope, but that's the truth. Today, the biggest act in America isn't Mariah Carey, he's a scruffy rocker, whose traction is based on renditions of decades-old songs.

You see we want to believe. We're sick of cynicism. We're sick of being told what we think, to buy the shiny new construction by thieving old men.

It benefits us to have a center. It makes us better as a society.

If you want to make it today, don't work with Timbaland, don't strip in Vanity Fair, WRITE SATISFACTION! Hell, even Collective Soul's "The World I Know." Simon Cowell castigated David Cook for this choice, but the audience remembered this magical track from the last century. Cook's rendition of "The World I Know" is number 19 on iTunes. Ahead of Gavin DeGraw, Maroon 5 and the vaunted ESTELLE!

I'm not even sure it's ABOUT David Cook, the individual. I'd tell him to screw the album and continue to put singles in the marketplace. These songs on iTunes are not even AVAILABLE on CD. Get modern, go with the audience. But, I can say I'm interested. I pooh-poohed Idol for years. But Cook winning isn't much different from Obama getting the nomination. Instead of playing it safe, Cook did what he wanted, he didn't repeat a safe rendition of "Imagine" like Archuleta, he took a risk, AND IT PAID OFF!

This is the best thing that could have happened to the Idol franchise. The most legitimate, the most pedigreed person won. But it's also good for music. Just like Carrie Underwood's victory was good for country, Cook's victory is good for rock. It brings focus, definition...

Sure, the great rock acts write their own material. Cook's career hangs in the balance. But I feel like we're suddenly living in the U.K., where one can be EXCITED about what's popular, what's on the chart. Maybe we've found what we're looking for.