If you caught American Idol on Tuesday night, you saw David Cook sing Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean". It was the best performance of the night and he received a great deal of praise for the arrangement and modern spin on the Thriller classic. The praise was well deserved, but it was directed at the wrong guy.
David Cook's cover of "Billie Jean" was actually a cover of Chris Cornell's cover of "Billie Jean". The arrangement and style was identical to Chris Cornell's, found on his recent solo album Carry On. I found it interesting that Cook didn't mention Cornell's version as he received praise from the judges and few seem to be acknowledging the fact Cook wasn't being that creative with the song.
And it's not like Cornell's cover was obscure. It was a hit, receiving plenty of airplay on our local modern rock station and I even put it on SLS17.
Here's David Cook's performance of "Billie Jean". Enjoy it, just make sure you track down Chris Cornell's version, too. Without Cornell's cover, Cook would have sung something else on Tuesday night.
I like Chris Cornell, I've heard his version and I don't think David's is identical - I think it's actually better. If anything, he sounded like Chris Daughtry. Ryan mentioned that it's Chris Cornell's version. And Mike, it's "Billie". ;)