Rock Star: Supernova -- Reality Episode Week 4

Last season's songwriting clinic produced tragic results for the eardrums of Rock Star fans. Mercifully, Supernova contestants wrote songs significantly better than the Ty Taylor debacle, "Stop Go." However, my two-year-old niece also writes songs better than "Stop Go," and she's stealing lines from the Wiggles.

The day after Jenny's elimination, Gilby Clarke informed the contestants about the songwriting clinic. They'd be split into three teams, and each team would come up with lyrics and a melody to accompany a track otherwise written and performed by Supernova.

Dilana, Toby, and Magni, the winners of the first three encores, were named team captains. The captains picked their teams, with Lukas being chosen first overall. Pop princess Dana was left for last.

Dilana's all-star team of Lukas, Ryan, and Storm listened to the track and got right to work, banging out the chorus in a matter of minutes. But their progress was stymied when Lukas lost focus and left the room in a futile search for beer.

Toby, Phil, Patrice, and Zayra were making progress until Patrice accidentally erased their copy of the track. But by then they'd already settled on what they thought was the key to their success -- singing through a megaphone. It worked for J.D. last season.

The only team with a chemistry problem was Magni's crew. Jill started to suggest lyrics immediately, while Magni insisted that they listen to the track a few times first. When she said that wasn't the way she liked to work, Magni responded, "I honestly don't give a rat's ass."

Josh played peacemaker, going after Jill when she left the room. But it was Dana's ideas for the chorus that finally got them working together as a group. Magni correctly guessed that he was the only one who'd actually written with a band before.

The members of Supernova dropped by the house the next day to listen to the teams' songs. Tommy Lee was most impressed by Dilana's team after they performed their rocking melody. Toby's team created a more eclectic sound that the Supernova described as "quirky" (rarely a compliment--Crispin Glover is also "quirky") but "entertaining." And Magni's group produced the best harmonies, and the band appreciated their gospel-like sound.

The clinic was not a true contest, so there were no winners. And the only prize for participating seemed to be a few clues as to what direction the band planned to take. Tommy said the band would be veering away from bluesy sounds. Supernova played some of their other tracks for the contestants, and the music sounded poppier than anything the members had played in previous clips.

At song selection the next day, contestants found a note from Gilby which stated that he'd be playing guitar on "Brown Sugar" by the Rolling Stones. After some deliberation, it was decided that Jill would perform with Gilby.

Whenever Rock Star contestants want to show their tough side, it seems they sing a Nirvana song. This week, Dana fought for the Nirvana song, "About a Girl." The rest of the girls fought for Blondie's "Call Me." Zayra was able to persuade the others that it was her only way to stay out of the bottom 3.

The only rehearsal footage shown was of Jill with Gilby and the House Band. When Jill suggested changing the song's key to something better for her voice, Gilby joked with her, "You singers kill us." Almost inevitably, a key change makes the singer sound better and the guitars sound worse. But, since the show is about singers, Gilby sucked it up and consented to the change.