Chris Cornell responds to Idol (non)controversy

David Cook hacks some people off because he is talented and intelligent. It's 50/50 (in my opinion) whether you are pleased for someone when they do well or are upset and envious of them.

With all the stress, demands and distractions the contestants have going on every week, David has simply figured out what the judges were looking for and gone about giving it to them. He does not try to re-invent the wheel, but gives credit for what he uses (if we will pay attention). He has also done his own arrangement (the week after this "controversy"), and is simply a brilliantly gifted and intelligent person. He will be successful whether he wins AI or not, and I'm happy for him.

I'm very confused. Why is there any controversy at all? How much more clear do you get than being introduced... "And here is David Cook performing a Chris Cornell version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean." Not verbatim, but basicly the gist of Seacrest's introduction.

In fact, after Cook finished singing, I hit the net to look up Chris Cornell because I couldn't remember what group he was in when he did that hunger strike song. And believe me, we try to ff through most of what Ryan Seacrest says, but we didn't miss that.

a cover of a cover and everybody worries about attribution. since when have Idols ever claimed that they have personally arranged any song. silly contoversy

it's not so much that they're doing other people's arrangements, but that we're being lead to think that they aren't other people's arrangements. i had no idea about the Chris Cornell thing and everyone i watched with (a lot of people) thought that David Cook had just done the most amazing thing ever by coming up with that arrangement. obviously, we need to start paying attention to Ryan Seacrest.

I didn't catch while watching that it was Chris' version of the song, so I thought David Cook just did a very cool cover of the song. A few weeks back, he did an emo version of another classic 80s song and killed it. Was that also a copy of another artist's version?

"Then, as now, the judge's didn't seem to realize"

I hope that apostrophe is just a typo...

When they were pimping iTunes, David Cook even admitted that he goes there to find different versions of songs. So what. Everyone else copies the original artist, it just happens that David picks the better versions!

I agree with Jason that the judges should know in advance if the contestant is going to be singing a cover of a song. This completely affects their judging of originality which is a key ingredient. They usually tell the contestants that aren't original that they need to make it their own and not just do Karaokee. While I still think that David Cook was amazing and probably deserves to win regardless, he got too much praise for originality.

What annoys me is that people get so upset about David Cook doing other people's arrangements of songs . . . when all contestants are doing that. With the exception of Blake Lewis last year, how many of these contestants EVER do an original arrangement, or if they do, more than once or twice? And I mean a REAL arrangement, not just "I'll play it by myself on guitar, and you guys come in halfway through." I mean really sitting down and changing the piece?

Even if they're singing a cover of the original arrangement it's still somebody else's arrangement. And yet I haven't heard a single person complain about how Chikezie was trying to fool everybosy by doing a Luther Vandross arrangement of a song. But everyone assumes David Cook is trying to trick us all.

Jason- I think you mistyped "I walk the Line" when referring to it later in the post calling it "I Walk Alone".

I think it is reasonable to be annoyed with the judges for not knowing anything about the songs that the AI contestants sing. I realize that it is just a television show and doesn't really fall into the actual world of music, but it can be very distracting and annoying when the judges say they have never heard a song before.

I don't think the judges need to be "music historians" but often times it seems that unless Randy played bass in their band or Paula choreographed for the group, then the judges don't know anything about the original musicians/songs. Maybe they should do a theme week where the contestants are limited to the songs on Simon's Ipod? I smell a product tie-in for that week!

Also- Chris Cornell doesn't need Timbaland's pedigree or help (although I am interested to hear the new album). Just listen to "Seasons" by Cornell and you will understand how amazing he is.