This season's American Idol dark horse-turned-frontrunner is quickly shaping up to be David Cook, largely due to his bravely and unexpectly rawkin' versions of traditionally non-rawkin' songs.
His most recent rocktastic rendition was last night's headbanging take on Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," which was the highlight of an otherwise underwhelming episode. Last night David The C gave credit where credit was true, as Ryan Seacrest made note that David's "Billie Jean" performance was actually inspired by Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman's 2007 cover of the Jacko classic. That is, David admitted this was a cover of a cover.
See Chris's version here:
But what's perhaps more disturbing is the revelation that David was not that original when he performed Lionel Richie's "Hello," a performance that drew praise from Lionel himself and instantly catapulted David to the top of the season 7 Idol heap. Just look at this Cookish version of "Hello" performed by Incubus at Lollapalooza FIVE years ago:
Now, don't get me wrong; David Cook is still my favorite contestant this season. But considering how Chris Daughtry once came under fire for failing to cite Live as inspiration for his cover of "Walk The Line," and Blake Lewis got flak when he didn't give proper props to 311 when he performed their reggae-fied version of the Cure's "Love Song," I suggest David be a bit more out-in-the-open about the inspirations behind ALL of his cover songs.
He's still got my vote, though.