Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, and Simon Cowell were the original celebrity judges. Back in 2002, the vote-by-phone singing competition American Idol premiered, creating some of pop music’s biggest superstars and spawning some of pop culture’s most memorable memes. Sydnee Washington, Marie Faustin, and Sam Sanders, host of the NPR's It’s Been A Minute are going to Hollywood to revisit the phenomenon of American Idol.

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