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Chris Cornell, who you may know as the frontman for Soundgarden, has “defended” American Idol season 7 finalist, David Cook, for covering his version of Michael Jackson’s hit “Billie Jean.” Oh come on… I absolutely loved Soundgarden (my high school yearbook has “Black Hole Sun” listed as my favorite song) but this is getting really silly. We’ve had contestants singing the Mariah Carey version of Phil Collins song “Against All Odds,” people have sung the Michael Bublé version of Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good” and a couple week’s ago David Archuleta sang the Stevie Wonder cover of “We Can Work It Out.”
Mariah, Michael and Stevie haven’t felt compelled to give an interview on their covers being covered on American Idol. This past week, Cornell was credited with the arrangement. I don’t care what cover it is as long as it’s credited and for goodness sake, David deserves to be called brave because the Cornell version is not widely known and doing a grungy, rock version of a VERY popular pop song is taking a risk. Can we please stop with the nitpicking? For the record, Cornell described the performance as being “great” but he said he had no idea until his fans started freaking out. Why?
Anyway, here’s “Black Hole Sun” because I feel like listening to it 
image courtesy of FOX
I had never heard that arrangement before. I thought David did a fantastic job. He’s a hometown boy here, we’re all pulling for him to go all the way!!
Thanks for sharing the Soundgarden video as well.
Great for David – amazing performance… definitely heard Seacrest give proper credit to Cornell prior to Cook’s performance. However, I must say… inside Cornell’s support of David was also a reminder that “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.”
Ummm isn’t this EXACTLY what that band Doxology is talking about… GEEZ! Looks like at least Chris Cornell gets it. Must be something about those Seattle musicians…
But wait, Doxology STILL hasn’t got any props… only BIG NAME artists… so far, that is.
David Cook and AI had no intention of giving anyone credit for these covers until Doxology raised the issue. They always give credit for the cover but they didn’t with Cook the first two weeks. They are now giving the credit but still calling Cook bold and original?!? I don’t get it. But he does perform them well.
“But wait, Doxology STILL hasn’t got any props… only BIG NAME artists… so far, that is.”
And that is why people should STOP bashing David Cook when it is CLEAR it is AI who is screwing up here.
Jeanne – THANK YOU for writing this entry. I really don’t see the issue and I wish people would stop freaking out about this!!! So many other contestants have done covers of covers that have NOT been credited, and no one is freaking out but David Cook’s bashers. *sigh*
For the record, Cornell described the performance as being “great” but he said he had no idea until his fans started freaking out. Why?
B/c he wasn’t watching the show and likely saw it online.
RJ – should have been clearer, sorry. I meant “why?” as in “why were his fans freaking out.
chris is the second artist to actually applaud david cook for his perfromance–second to lionel richie. isn’t that fabulous?? i love david cook.
David is a SMART singer and a brilliant one. My gosh, they have less than a week to learn a new song, let alone rearrange one.
I loved Soundgarden, but actually some people sings covers of covers BETTER than the cover!!!
If you listen to Cornell’s version, as original as it is, it is not vocally on the level of David Cook’s. David hits HUGE, CRAZY notes – both raw and beautifully resonant at the same time, that Cornell can only dream of… and after all, it is a SINGING COMPETITION!!!! And, at the end of the day, David’s own music and writing abilities are gonna stand on their own. He hasn’t had an opportunity to sing his own song yet!!! I’m waiting for The Truth to be revealed…!!!!!!
[...] pic TADA!!!! DAVID COOK has won American Idol. [...]
Chris Cornell never covered Billie Jean. Soundgarden is my favorite band so I would know. By the way, I agree Black Hole Sun is the greatest song of all time.