<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"On Monday, only two days after Fox confirmed that longtime &amp;quot;American Idol&amp;quot; producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick are leaving the show, it was announced that Per Blankens, &amp;quot;Swedish Idol&amp;apos;s&amp;quot; producer and show runner for the past five seasons, has been hired to retool and hopefully revive the U.S. version of the flagging franchise.\r\nWill Blankens be the man to turn &amp;quot;American Idol&amp;quot; around? That obviously remains to be seen. But I&amp;apos;m tentatively optimistic. Here&amp;apos;s what I&amp;apos;m hoping, praying, and dreaming might happen under this man&amp;apos;s Swedish rule in Season 13:\r\nThere Will Be More ROCK During Blankens&amp;apos; reign, &amp;quot;Swedish Idol&amp;quot; crowned Jay Smith, a metal man who covered Metallica&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Enter Sandman,&amp;quot; Nirvana&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Heart-Shaped Box,&amp;quot; and Billy Idol&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;White Wedding,&amp;quot; and Erik Gronwall, who auditioned with Skid Row&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;18 &amp;amp; Life&amp;quot; and later rocked out to KISS&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Shout It Out Loud&amp;quot; and, even more awesomely, Iron Maiden&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Run to the Hills.&amp;quot; Iron friggin&amp;apos; Maiden, people! Hard rock is very popular in Scandinavia, and more importantly, it&amp;apos;s pretty damn popular here in America, too. But &amp;quot;American Idol&amp;quot; Season 12 was sadly rock-free, and roll-free, too. Will Blankens make &amp;quot;AI&amp;quot; rock again? Maybe I&amp;apos;ll finally get that Power Ballad Night I always wanted.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThere Will Be More ABBA Covers WHY HAS THERE NEVER BEEN AN ABBA NIGHT ON &amp;quot;AMERICAN IDOL&amp;quot;? Sorry for the caplocks there. But seriously. Think of all the opportunities and possibilities. The costumes. The Muriel&amp;apos;s Wedding-style group numbers. The awesomeness. Is this just a publishing/legal issue or something? Surely Blankens can pull some strings here and get &amp;quot;Waterloo&amp;quot; cleared.\r\nThere Will Be a Max Martin Night One-man Swedish songwriting machine Max Martin has co-penned such pop classics as Robyn&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Show Me Love,&amp;quot; Kelly Clarkson&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Since U Been Gone,&amp;quot; Adam Lambert&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Whataya Want From Me,&amp;quot; Jessie J&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Domino,&amp;quot; Taylor Swift&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,&amp;quot; and a jillion Britney Spears, Pink, Ke$ha, and Katy Perry megahits. Want an &amp;quot;American Idol&amp;quot; season full of relevant, youthful songs instead of the teen-repelling Great American Songbook? Let&amp;apos;s hope Blankens has Max on his speed-dial.\r\nHowlin&amp;apos; Pelle Almqvist Will Be a New &amp;quot;AI&amp;quot; Judge I&amp;apos;ve often wondered why no network has snatched up Pelle, the fabulous frontman for Swedish garage-rock sensations the Hives, to star in his own reality show (which, in a perfect world, would be televised 24 hours a day). A masterful master of ceremonies whose every quip is so brilliant, he could (and should) record a live album consisting entirely of his stage banter, the man is pure entertainment. He&amp;apos;s my personal idol. And he&amp;apos;s from Sweden. This is a no-brainer. Blankens needs to give this Howlin&amp;apos;-ly funny man a job, and in the process make the Your New Favorite Band singer America&amp;apos;s new favorite judge.\r\n\r\nRelated links:\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;American Idol&amp;quot; tour dates canceled\r\nPHOTOS: &amp;quot;Idol&amp;quot; Season 12 performances\r\n\r\nFollow me on Twitter, Instagram, Amazon"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/4-ways-swedish-producer-per-blankens-could-turn-american-idol-around-20130610>