These 12 American Idol Auditions Still Send Shivers Down Our Spine

She's the one that started it all. With a powerful performance of Madonna's "Express Yourself," Clarkson made some serious noise at the very start of the strange little TV experiment called American Idol. Almost 17 years later, she's become one of the biggest stars in the music industry and proof that Idol, at its best, could really launch mega-careers.

It takes serious guts to even audition for Idol — and even more so to do it with a pair of already iconic songs. But that's just what Fantasia did, singing the heck out of "Killing Me Softly" and "Proud Mary" to kick off a journey that ultimately ended with her being crowned the season three champion.

Find me a more powerful voice than Hudson's. Go ahead, I'll wait. With her rendition of Aretha Franklin's "Share Your Love With Me," Hudson impressed the judges and had all of America wishing that they'd happened to be on the Disney cruises where she sang prior to Idol.

Ask longtime Underwood fans when they knew she was the real deal, and most of them will point to this moment. In her very first audition, singing "I Can't Make You Love Me," we got our first glimpse of Underwood's genuine personality and the pure, heartfelt voice that would take her from Idol champion to full-fledged music superstar.

When McPhee walked into the room, completely unassuming, no one could have expected that she would go on to become one of Idol's most successful stars. Singing "God Bless The Child," McPhee showed off her incredible vocals and just enough of an indie-bluesy vibe to set her apart. She may not have won her season, but this audition was just the start of a steady career that's spanned television and Broadway as well as the music industry.

A 16-year-old singing Celine Dion sounds like a recipe for disaster — or at least a laughable karaoke moment. But when Sparks launched into "Because You Love Me" en route to her season six win, the entire audience knew that she was something special indeed.

Inspired by watching rocker Chris Daughtry on season five, Cook brought his own rock sensibilities to his audition. His unique take on Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" turned out to be the first of many memorable performances en route to winning the whole season.

Lambert's post-Idol career has seen the glam rocker join Queen on tour as their lead singer. So it seems like foreshadowing that season eight's runner-up auditioned with a pair of Queen songs: "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Rock With You."

Before he was a YouTube fave and a Broadway star, Hall was one of the most creative singers Idol had ever seen. Instead of covering an existing pop or rock song, Hall stood out with an original tune that parodied Disney music and name-dropped Idol vets such as Amber Riley and Adam Lambert.

No one expected a silky country baritone to come out of McCreery's mouth, but that's exactly what happened when the eventual season 10 winner first went in front of the judges. His down-to-earth charm extended all the way to his audition outfit: he famously wore flip-flops to the auditions!

"Broadway" was often used as a criticism on Idol; almost a shorthand for singers who were too performative or not quite pop-oriented. In Taylor's case, though, Broadway was what set him apart: the Katrina survivor belted out The Colour Purple's anthem "I'm Here" with some Tony Award-worthy vocals and got himself sent through to Hollywood.

The season 11 champ kicked off his Idol journey with a memorable mash-up of two iconic songs: "Superstition" and "Thriller." He'd go on to record an iconic song of his own: "Home," the future theme song for the 2016 Olympic gymnastics team. Who knew: maybe auditioning in flip-flops is lucky?