Adam Lambert performs on "American Idol" on Tuesday
Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images/ Fox

Adam Lambert is making this look too easy. After revealing on Tuesday night that he has loved playing dress-up since childhood, he called upon his musical-theater experience to slip into yet another persona on a night when the "American Idol" top eight performed songs from the year of their birth.

This time, Lambert channeled a David Bowie-esque sensitive android, sitting center stage on a chair bathed in an eerie blue spotlight, the focus entirely on his piercing falsetto. But what was that song he sang?

The moving ballad "Mad World" was written and originally recorded by English synth-pop duo Tears for Fears in 1982 and was later released on their debut album, The Hurting. While the original is a midtempo synth-pop dance tune with morose lyrics, Lambert — much like last year's winner David Cook — knows the importance of putting a spin on a song people might already know, so he chose to perform the alternate version of the song that appeared in the 2001 cult film "Donnie Darko."

(Read the story behind Kris Allen's take on "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" here.)

That more haunting, slowed-down and melodic version was performed by little-known California singer/songwriter Gary Jules, who recorded the song with his childhood friend and producer Michael Andrews for the "Darko" soundtrack. The tune also appeared on Jules' 2001 indie album Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets. Two years later, the "Mad World" cover started getting played on the radio in England — some say it was Robbie Williams who spun it first during a guest DJ slot; others claim Radiohead's Thom Yorke brought it to light. In December 2003, the song made Jules and Andrews only the sixth American act ever to win the coveted Christmas #1 position on the British charts.

Tears for Fears' Curt Smith has said the song is a depressed teenage voyeur's view of a confusing, cruel world, as evidenced by the powerful lines, "I find it funny, I find it kind of sad/ The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had/ ... Went to school and I was very nervous, no one knew me, no one knew me."

According to IMDb.com, "Darko" director Richard Kelly had originally used U2's "MLK" over the closing scene in the film but couldn't afford the rights, so he had to find different music to help wrap up the tale of a troubled teenager (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is haunted by a huge pink bunny named Frank and escapes death when a jet engine crashes into his bedroom.

A 2004 Boston Globe article about the cover describes how Andrews set up a microphone in the hallway of his Los Angeles apartment and had Jules sing the lyrics to "Mad World" over a melancholy piano and Moog synthesizer arrangement. Andrews thought Kelly would ask for a more polished recording, but the director ended up using it as is in the movie.

The Jules version has continued to be popular, showing up in a 2006 commercial for the video game "Gears of War," which is credited with briefly sending the song to #1 on the iTunes chart that year, and it has been used as mood music on more than a dozen TV dramas, including "Cold Case," "ER," "Line of Fire," "Nip/Tuck" and "Third Watch."

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

• "American Idol" Season 8: Live Performances

• Tears for Fears

Nelly (file)
Photo: Universal

The closest competition Nelly will face on next week's Billboard albums chart comes from the St. Lunatic leader himself. Having simultaneously released two albums last week, the St. Louis MC has a lock on the #1 and #2 spots.

It's Suit that trumps Sweat, by more than 54,000 copies, according to SoundScan. The album featuring the smash single "My Place" (with Jaheim) sold more than 395,000 copies to take the top slot, while its companion moved more than 341,000 copies on the strength of the suggestive single "Flap Your Wings."

Nelly's two-album total barely pushes past the first-week sales of his last album, Nellyville, which in June 2002 also debuted at #1, with 23,000 fewer copies.

Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying will drop a notch to run a distant third, with more than 121,000 copies sold. It'll be followed by Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company, which also takes a step back, to #4. The late soul pioneer's duets album sold more than 113,000 copies.

For the fourth week straight, the immovable object that is Now That's What I Call Music! 16 will remain at #5. The more than 100,000 copies it sold last week brings its eight-week total up to 1.8 million. Ashlee Simpson will also hold on to her old place at #6, as Autobiography tacked on another 75,000 to its total.

Although it sold slightly fewer copies last week than the week prior, Maroon 5's Songs About Jane managed to climb back into the top 10 by sidling up three spots to #8 and moving more than 63,000 copies. Usher, too, will make some forward progress, as Confessions takes a two-step shimmy up to #10, with more than 61,000 copies.

The remainder of next week's top 10 finds last week's top album, Alan Jackson's What I Do, dropping to #7, with more than 71,000 copies sold; and Anita Baker's My Everything moving from #4 to #9 with more than 63,000 copies sold.

Aside from the Nellys, the next new album to make the chart is from heavy-metal vets Megadeth. The band's 10th album will land at #18. Two notches later, Los Angeles' Irish punks Flogging Molly will place at #20 with Within a Mile of Home.

While the single "1985" is keeping Bowling for Soup part of the pop vernacular a year and a half after earning a Grammy nomination for their last album, 2002's Drunk Enough to Dance, it didn't immediately translate into massive album sales for the Wichita Falls, Texas, quartet. Their fourth album, A Hangover You Don't Deserve, will debut at #37.

Other notable debuts on next week's chart include Tears for Fears' reunion album, and first in nine years, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, at #46; the TV series soundtrack Will & Grace: Let the Music Out! at #57; electronica act the Prodigy's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned at #62; Gov't Mule's Deja Voodoo at #88; the Faint's Wet From Birth at #99; and the Thrills' Let's Bottle Bohemia at #153.

• Nelly
• Ashlee Simpson
• Maroon 5
• Bowling For Soup
• Usher

Puddle of Mudd are catching Wonka fever. Like labelmate Obie Trice, Puddle will include five golden tickets in the first pressing of copies of their new album, Life on Display. The lucky winners will be flown to Hawaii to hang with the band for a day and watch their display of life during their next tour. ...

Korn fans will have to wait another week before they can Take a Look in the Mirror. The band's sixth album has been bumped a week to a November 25 release. ... A skateboard deck tagged by Metallica is going for $338, at press time, on an eBay auction to raise money for Amnesty International. An array of decks decorated by Audioslave, Dashboard Confessional, N.E.R.D. and Tony Hawk, among many others, are up for bid through November. More info is available at www.musicforhumanrights.com. ...

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, known collectively as Tears for Fears, will release their first album together in 15 years this spring. The as-yet-untitled effort will follow 1993's Elemental and 1995's Raoul and the Kings of Spain, both of which were recorded without Smith. Tears for Fears scored big hits in the 1980s with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Shout." ... Hyper-driven rocker Andrew W.K. has lined up a handful of East Coast tour dates in support of his second album, The Wolf, which dropped last month. The dates begin October 17 at a radio show in Norfolk, Virginia, and culminate with a CMJ showcase October 24 in Brooklyn, New York. ...

Revolution Smile drummer Jeremy White split with the band last week. Failure's Kelli Scott will temporarily replace him on three California dates of the Cold tour. Revolution Smile's remaining dates to support their debut, Above the Noise, have been canceled while they look for a permanent replacement. ... The Donnas were forced to scrap the remaining dates of their European tour due to drummer Torry's (Donna C)'s tendonitis. The quartet hopes she's well enough to play the Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans on November 1, and Australia and New Zealand's Big Day Out touring festival in January. In the meantime, the group will start writing the follow-up to last year's Spend the Night. ... Other news from Big Day Out finds A Perfect Circle withdrawing from the lineup, which includes Metallica, the Strokes, Dandy Warhols and Flaming Lips. The jaunt runs from January 18 to February 1. ...

J.D. Kimball, the original singer for the '80s power metal band Omen, died on Friday after a three-year fight with cancer. Kimball appeared on four of the band's releases, Battle Cry, Warning of Danger, Nightmares and The Curse. He left the band in 1987. ... Dancehall producers Fat Eyes will release A Dancehall Twofer: Fat Eyes Deelite and Dancehall Attack, a compilation of tracks they produced for Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Elephant Man and others, on October 21. A separate Fat Eyes collection, Dancehall Deelite, featuring Buju Banton, Morgan Heritage, Sizzla and others, will be released the following week. ...

Sarah McLachlan will release a new EP, Acoustic Live EP 2003, exclusively through Apple's iTunes Music Store on October 21. The record includes two songs from her upcoming LP, Afterglow, including the single "Fallen," plus three older tunes. ...

10.06.2003

Jersey City, New Jersey, police think the shots fired outside a Doubletree Hotel on September 10 allegedly targeting 50 Cent could be linked to the rapper's feud with Lil' Kim, according to the New York Daily News. The newspaper reports that police are investigating Damion "World" Hardy, a 28-year-old ex-con who is also reportedly Kim's boyfriend. 50 and Kim have been engaged in a war of words ever since 50 pulled out of Kim's video for "Magic Stick," a hit record he wrote for her. Only hours before the incident, 50 was on New York's Hot 97 unleashing a scathing freestyle dis directed at Kim. ...

Ludacris will be serving up Chicken-N-Beer on Tuesday — literally. Beginning this week, patrons of the Gladys Knight & Ron Winans Chicken & Waffles restaurant in Atlanta can order the "Ludacris Special," which includes two chicken breasts, two legs or two thighs with sides of macaroni and cheese, collard greens and a cold Bud Light. ...

The performance lineup for the American Music Awards has beefed up to include Sheryl Crow, Outkast, Ruben Studdard and nominees Kid Rock (Favorite Male Artist, Favorite Album), Ricky Martin (Favorite Latin Artist) and Clay Aiken (Favorite Male Artist). The 31st annual American Music Awards, which has already slated Ashanti, Hilary Duff, Metallica and Britney Spears to perform, will air November 16 on ABC. ... Though Hell on Earth promised a live suicide as part of their act this weekend, whether or not they actually delivered is a matter of debate. The little-known Florida metal band had planned to let a terminally ill friend commit suicide onstage, but when local authorities filed an injunction against the group, the band decided to host the suicide at a separate, undisclosed location, which would be broadcast over the Internet. But that, too, ran into difficulties, when Hell on Earth's Web site was locked up due to a flood of data, which the operator of the host site characterized as a denial-of-service attack. No video was shown on the Web page, and no suicides were reported in the St. Petersburg area, according to the St. Petersburg Times, though an Internet shock jock for www.radiofreesatan.com claims he has video of what purports to be a man committing suicide, but even he says he doesn't believe it's real. ...

The digital age catches up with Guns N' Roses when three of the band's home videos get reissued on DVD. "Welcome to the Videos," originally released on VHS in 1998, and "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II," both issued in 1992, are slated to come out on DVD on October 28. ... November 4 is the date that feels most right for Bon Jovi to release their reworked greatest-hits set This Left Feels Right. A dozen new versions of hits such as "Wanted Dead or Alive," "Bad Medicine" and "Everyday" are paired with new tunes "Last Man Standing" and "Thief of Hearts." In other Bon Jovi news, singer and namesake Jon and his wife Dorothea are expecting their fourth child this spring, according to www.BonJovi.com. ...

A double album from Led Zeppelin's frontman is on the way. Sixty Six to Timbuktu, due November 4, features all of Robert Plant's solo singles, along with material from Listen and the Band of Joy, groups he was in prior to joining Led Zeppelin in 1968. ... Alleged drunk driver Diana Ross' trial has been postponed from December 9 to January 14. ... Despite the loss of founding member Charlie Colin, Train aren't off the rails of their current U.S. tour. The bassist has been replaced by Johnny Colt, formerly of the Black Crowes. Colin and the band parted on good terms and the possibility of working together in the future has not been ruled out. ...

While a lack of medical benefits has been the bane of many signed artists, that may soon be a problem of the past. As part of a union pact, all five major U.S. record companies have agreed to provide health care for all of their musicians. In the past, artists who didn't earn enough in album royalties weren't eligible for coverage. The pact could take effect before the end of the year. ... If you thought the Rolling Stones' greatest-hits package 40 Licks was a must have, you might also want "Four Flicks," a four-DVD set of live Stones footage, which goes on sale November 11. Three discs feature recent full concerts from Madison Square Garden in New York, Twickenham Stadium in London and the Olympia Theater in Paris. The final disc features two Stones documentaries, "Licks Around the World" and "Tip of the Tongue." ...

• Puddle Of Mudd
• Korn
• Metallica
• Buju Banton
• Tears for Fears

Papa Vegas' new single, "Bombshell," is continuing to impact at alternative radio, and the band is about to begin its opening stint on the Verve Pipe's spring club tour.

• Papa Vegas
• Tears for Fears