BLOOMINGTON - Luke Menard, member of the Bloomington based a cappella group Chapter 6, was forced to go-go from "American Idol" Thursday night.

His version of the 1980s Wham! tune "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" on Tuesday's show did not win him enough votes from the public to qualify him to stay on the show. The Fox program winnowed out two men and two women Thursday, leaving 12 competitors for next week's sing-off.

Judge Simon Cowell said he liked nothing about Menard's performance Tuesday, but characteristically, host Ryan Seacrest and judge Paula Abdul were kinder.

"This is a guy who's not going back to cleaning carpets," Seacrest said after announcing that Menard was being eliminated. Seacrest was referring to one of the jobs Menard held before performing full time with Chapter 6.

Abdul agreed. "This is only the first day of your career," she told the Crawfordsville, Ind. native, before dancing to his farewell performance of the Wham! song.

Menard, 29, performed Queen's "Killer Queen" and "Everybody's Talkin'" by Harry Nilsson in previous weeks.

Danny Noriega, Kady Malloy and Asia'h Epperson were also eliminated.