For American idol fans (or stern watchers), this week brought about a surprise when David Cook, the last to perform for the evening of Tuesday 25 March, covered a song from his year of birth being 1982 (All contestants performed songs from their year of birth). It happened to be MJ's Billie Jean (He's as old as Thriller). Those that know Cook would know that his area of music happens to be rock so you can imagine what he did to such an rnb/pop classic, and turned it into an almost unrecognisable rock power ballad, all to the surprise of the judges (and viewers) who had no choice but to give him rave reviews of the perfromance.

Cook was known to do the same thing when he covered Lionel Richie's 'Hello' exactly two weeks ago and used the same medium and got the same review from the judges - who all went further to add that his originality might as well be the key to his winning this season's American Idol. Personally, like the judges, I feel he was brave to do that to such a song and it wasn't bad at all.

It takes alot for any idol to sing an MJ song and do a great cover but I don't think it has happened since Mario Vazquez did so with 'Whatever Happens' (which he so happened to feature in background vocals) in Season 4 while auditioning. It's either you imitate whwereas you fail or you try and cover and come out with nothing meaningful at all. Kudos to David Cook for that. What do you think (for those that watched it)? Also, many MJ fans will go out of their way to vote him more than kid-wonder, David Archuleta.:wild:

I've moved this out to "Anything for News" since it's MJ-related news. If anyone finds a YT vid, please post it! :wild:

Thanks. Confused on where to put it but thanks again for remedying.

O_o

todays Tuesday the 25th!!

hmm...

Here is the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Ke1zCWgI8

That was amazing! The reason he did it completely different was because he's a ROCKER, and Michael's version of Billie Jean is DEF. not a rock song. David had to change it to fit his style, and it was brilliant! Plus, that way people won't be as tempted to compare it to Michael's version because you know no one could pull of Michael's version of it like Michael :D :wub: Who would have known someone could turn Billie Jean into a ROCK song? David's version was just amazing! :D

Obviously. He outdid himself. thank you mjmusicfan for the video.

He did not turn that song into anything. He simply sang the version of the song already made by Chris Cornell from Audioslave

See Chris Cornell's version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIvbjmQadSM
uIvbjmQadSM

No originality what-so-ever. He just did what the chick did on Beatles night. She sang MJ's version of Come Together on a Beatles night.

Oohhh Okay, I've never heard that version before. I like that David used that version. He couldn't have pulled off MJ's.

cool fanx 4 posting

Here's an article- it actually made the news!

http://www.undercoverhd.com/news/Story.aspx?id=4363

David Cook Does Chris Cornell Doing Michael Jackson

by Paul Cashmere - March 25 2008
photo by Ros O'Gorman


He performing songs from the year they were born, David Cook chose Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' for this week's American Idol but sang the more recent Chris Cornell arrangement of the song.


It is unlikely the judges picked the lift as a Paula, Simon or Randy have probably never been anywhere near anything as musical as Cornell, yet alone Soundgarden.


He also fooled the TV critics. A Baltimore Sun writer said that, "he is definitely making it his own". "It doesn't seem to have much in common with the original," they published. That's because it was the CHRIS CORNELL version you doofus.


Simon was equally fooled. "That was brave. It could have either been insane or amazing," he said in judging. "I have to tell you, it was amazing". Yes Simon, it was amazing because it was the CHRIS CORNELL version you idiot.


American Idol is down to the top 10. Australia's Michael Johns is still in the running.

Here's an article- it actually made the news!

http://www.undercoverhd.com/news/Story.aspx?id=4363

David Cook Does Chris Cornell Doing Michael Jackson

by Paul Cashmere - March 25 2008
photo by Ros O'Gorman


He performing songs from the year they were born, David Cook chose Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' for this week's American Idol but sang the more recent Chris Cornell arrangement of the song.


It is unlikely the judges picked the lift as a Paula, Simon or Randy have probably never been anywhere near anything as musical as Cornell, yet alone Soundgarden.


He also fooled the TV critics. A Baltimore Sun writer said that, "he is definitely making it his own". "It doesn't seem to have much in common with the original," they published. That's because it was the CHRIS CORNELL version you doofus.


Simon was equally fooled. "That was brave. It could have either been insane or amazing," he said in judging. "I have to tell you, it was amazing". Yes Simon, it was amazing because it was the CHRIS CORNELL version you idiot.


American Idol is down to the top 10. Australia's Michael Johns is still in the running.

Love the idiot comments. Because its true. These are supposed to be music gurus judging this show NONE OF THEM have even heard Cornell's version. That deserves more than an idiot tag! haha!

Well at least it didnt turn out like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNatqCzF_Ns

:) :) Gotta love it..

Well at least it didnt turn out like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNatqCzF_Ns

:) :) Gotta love it..

Thanks, now I´m going to have nightmares for weeks....:blink: :huh:

:laughing:

Thanks, now I´m going to have nightmares for weeks....:blink: :huh:

:laughing:

Yeah i know, join the club.. Sorry about that.... :laughing:

Thanks for posting these, I hadn't heard/seen either one. I really liked 'em both, but I gotta say even though it was shorter and I don't follow American Idol I liked David Cook's version a bit more than Chris's, it was really very nice (but yeah, he was TOTALLY doing his verions of Chris's version, so it's not as original as most people thought).

Good call Damien for catching that, I doubt even the American Idol people were aware of it!

Cornell or no Cornell, Cook made a good impression of the song. By the way, who is this Chris Cornell? How come nobody on Idol (probably besides Cook himself) haven't come across it? I'm not a music guru and I haven't come across it either. Was hiss version well known and recognized? If not, we can't blame either the judges or any Idoler for that matter. the performance was good, accept that.

Awesome it will probably be on over here ITV2, next week or the week after :)

It reminds of when a girl from X Factor last year sang Britney's, 'I'm not a girl, not yet a woman', except she murdered it! :lol:

He sure has my vote =] If Michael was watching this,he sure must've been proud =]
xcept the fact that he got the credit for Cornell.

Well at least it didnt turn out like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNatqCzF_Ns

:) :) Gotta love it..

^ :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: That was hilarious!

By the way, who is this Chris Cornell? How come nobody on Idol (probably besides Cook himself) haven't come across it? I'm not a music guru and I haven't come across it

Chris Cornell is the former frontman of Soundgarden (Black Hole Sun)and Audioslave (Cochise), now going Solo, he also did the title theme "You know my name" from 007 Casino Royale :wink:

Fantastic performance, and what an awesome tribute to Michael...I really hope Mike sees this performance.

This is a new article with Chris Cornell defending the performance and talking about Billie Jean.

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/03/chris-cornell-s.html

Chris Cornell defends 'Idol' contender David Cook

David Cook's rousing performance of "Billie Jean" on Tuesday night's American Idol may have brought him to the front of the season 7 pack, so why are Chris Cornell fans furious? Well, it was Cornell's version of the song, included on his 2007 solo album Carry On, that Cook covered, and though Ryan Seacrest identified it as such in his introduction, the judges went on to praise Cook for his originality in rearranging the Michael Jackson classic. But here's the million dollar question: What did Cornell himself think of it? EW.com tracked him down and asked him.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Were you told ahead of time that an Idol contestant was doing your version of "Billie Jean"?
CHRIS CORNELL: No. I had no idea. On my flight back from touring in South Africa, I started receiving messages from my fansite moderator and management [saying] that fans were furious about some American Idol guy who covered my version of "Billie Jean." It appears the judges had no idea that it was my arrangement and were giving David Cook praise about how brilliant he was in performing the song that way. My fans are very protective and felt David should have volunteered the info [at that point]. Even though he did cover it well, and it was brave of him to try and pull it off.

Were you flattered by the performance?
Very much. It was clear to me [that] he was a big fan as he followed my arrangement down to the T, including the most subtle vocal nuances. I think he did a great job at pulling it off.

Can you tell us a bit about how this cover came to be?
It was a complete reinvention of a song that no one thought would work until they saw me play it in Stockholm acoustically. It received such an enormous reaction that it prompted me to do a studio recording. It ended up on my second solo album, Carry On.

In general, do you find anything disingenuous about Idol contestants doing covers of covers?
This song is a special case, but in general, I don't think it should be an issue to cover a cover, as long as it's clear who the creator and/or interpretor of that piece is. I think David's performance was great and I want to thank all my fans for their dedication!

It's a great cover, I'm glad David did Chris's version :D Never heard it before though!

Chris Cornell is the former frontman of Soundgarden (Black Hole Sun)and Audioslave (Cochise), now going Solo, he also did the title theme "You know my name" from 007 Casino Royale

So he's the one? I see, no wonder. Like that.

He did a very good cover of Billie Jean. But aren`t the lyrics and medley copyrighted? (At least the lyrics... written by Michael Jackson and his team...)

The host (Ryan Seacrest) said on the show that David was doing Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean so they didn't try to hide the fact. Anyway it was excellent. If a song has got a good melody and lyric it can be turned into any genre.

The host (Ryan Seacrest) said on the show that David was doing Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean so they didn't try to hide the fact. Anyway it was excellent. If a song has got a good melody and lyric it can be turned into any genre.

:iagree: Tony! :D

If you go to www.kiisfm.com you can actually click on the Chris Cornell interview Ryan Seacrest did with him a couple of days ago, where (as stated in the interview above as well) you can not only hear Chris Cornell defend this version and being flattered by it, but also features Timbaland in the interview as well, because BELIEVE IT OR NOT Timbaland produced Chris Cornell's new album!

BTW, Ryan Seacrest mentions that when he INTRODUCED the performance ON THE SHOW he SAID it was David Cook performing Chris Cornell's verion of Billie Jean on the show itself, so apparently everyone missed that!

I guess I must have missed that outy once Seacrest mentioned it. I imagined it was a different song altogether when a name like that was called.