A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

NOW WHEN I WAS A YOUNG BOY AT THE AGE OF FIVE, MY MOTHER SAID I WAS GONNA BE THE GREATEST MAN ALIVE: Tuesday night, Your American Idols will be singing selections from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" list. It is a classic week for "go ahead, define yourself as an artist" selections. Here's some suggestions for what I'd like to hear:

• David Cook: Big Bopper, "Chantilly Lace"; Rolling Stones, "Miss You"; any of the Robert Johnson or Muddy Waters songs listed, but especially "Mannish Boy".
• Syesha Mercado: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, "Tracks of My Tears"; Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Piece of My Heart"; ? and the Mysterians, "96 Tears"; the Replacements, "I Will Dare"; Little Richard, "Long Tall Sally".
• Young David Archuleta: Would love to hear Metallica, "Enter Sandman"; Johnny Cash, "Folsom Prison Blues" or the Ramones, "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"; the Kinks, "Lola"; the Wailers, "I Shot The Sheriff" (seriously, the list of inappropriate songs for YDA is endless); we will see him close his dead, dead eyes and sing Paul McCartney, "Maybe I'm Amazed"; Simon and Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"; Marvin Gaye, "What's Going On" or the Penguins, "Earth Angel".
• Clifford the Crunchy Muppet: The Beach Boys, "God Only Knows"; Madonna, "Like A Virgin" (ala the John Wesley Harding cover of "Like A Prayer"); Del Shannon, "Runaway"; Prince, "Little Red Corvette"; Toots & the Maytals, "Pressure Drop"; Joy Division, "Love Will Tear Us Apart"; Woody Guthrie, "This Land Is Your Land".
  

So: what should they sing, and what will they sing?

e.t.a. Sepinwall on this disappointing season: " The contestants look unhappy, the songs and song choices are poor, and things have gotten so dull that Paula Abdul's meltdowns - last week, she either was reading her notes from dress rehearsal or developed the ability to predict the future - are among the season's few highlights."