Watch A 15-Year-Old Wow ‘American Idol’ Judges With Her Rendition of Mötley Crüe’s “Live Wire”

Joe Bielawa from MInneapolis, USA, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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While it’s easy to grumble about kids today no longer caring about rock music (damn Tiktok! Damn Cardi B!), it’s becoming more and more apparent that young fans are actually finding themselves interested in rock and metal far more than armchair sociologists believe them to be. Case in point, a 15-year-old girl recently auditioned for American Idol with a bluesy take on Mötley Crüe — and not one of the more mainstream tracks, either, but “Live Wire,” the band’s first big hit from their 1981 album Too Fast For Love.

As you’ll see in the footage below, when Casey Bishop gets on stage to audition for the American Idol judges, she’s a little nervous, and admits that she has no performing experience. More so, when she says she loves rock — citing bands like Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Sublime — she get snickered at by the judges, who then seem tickled that she’d pick Mötley Crüe to audition with. But all that eyebrow raising goes right out the window when Casey launches into a soulful rendition of “Live Wire” that makes everyone realize she’s not fucking around. She then follows that up with a performance of “My Funny Valentine” that floors all three judges.

“I mean, what a great concept: I discovered I could sing center-stage on American Idol,” says Lionel Richie. “We’re gonna enjoy watching you grow.”

“I wrote ‘Top 10 Def’ on the Mötley Crüe song,” says Luke Bryan, “and then…I don’t know what even happened just then…I think she’s the damn winner of American Idol. Period. It’s evident what my opinion is: yes.”

Watch Casey Bishop bring the fuckin’ house down below:

The performance earned her a shout-out from the Crüe themselves on their Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MotleyCrue/status/1363888339347066885

Whether or not Casey will win American Idol remains to be seen. But we will say this: we hope more of America’s young performers take their inspiration from hair metal songs about duffing someone in the face.

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Words by Chris Krovatin