First thing: I was looking on Youtube and i noticed that people were saying David ripped of Chris's version, but before he performed it for the first time AND after he did he stated that it was Chris Cornells song, not his. Chris did this song on one of his solo albums but people never seemed to notice.

Secondly: For those of you who have heard both version, which did you like best? I loved David singing it. Im a huge Soundgarden fan and have been for many years and i love Chris's voice, however i think it is slightly harsh for the arrangement that he did of this song. However i think his songwriting ability is AMAZING. Like he mentioned in a interview "i just wanted to show people that a classic song isnt bound to a certain genre" both his version and Jacksons version have the same lyrics yet the can both stand ground when done with the different arrangements.

Opinions anyone?

i prefer david's version to chris cornell's. i remember feeling a chill going up my spine when i first heard david sing it. i also feel that his voice(david's)is much better suited for the song then chris cornell's even though i like him too. that's just my opinion though.

I listened to Chris Cornell's version of the song tonight on YouTube. It's practically unlistenable. That arrangement does not suit Cornell at all: it's very guttural and angsty, and Cook took it and made the song very haunting and melancholy. He probably rescued Cornell's version of the song.

You pretty much said everything that was on my mind.
Im glad im not the only one who thinks this

Obviously, Chris Cornell, did the writing of the arrangement, and did a fabulous job. His voice is so different from DC's though that the whole song sounds different to me. I don't get the riveting thrill when I listen to Chris Cornell's version. With DC's voice, the song is smooth, melodic, and absolutely magnetic, haunting, insanely memorable.

Really DC doing some of these songs on Idol, only brings fresh and positive attention to the songs and the previous artists. The ones who are secure realize it. He is so da_n good that he blows the songs away. I'd rather compare the styles of DC and the previous artists, rather than who is better. DC's voice is so incredible that I'd personally pic his songs to listen to over most of the originals. I bet that all of the original artists are finding that more people are checking out their music, because they are known to millions more people than they were before just from DC doing their songs, and doing such great job on them. DC singing their songs only reflects well on the original artists.

Humm, in a David Cook forum , the opinion is going to be very biased.. but so be it..
So...I love David's interpretations of Billie Jean because of his voice and his passion...that are not there for me in CC's performances.

i really love the way David sings Billy Jean - he version is very saultry, sexy.

I prefer Cooks version anyday compared to Cornells. like some other's mentioned, its kinda like its not even "his" song, it just fit Cook perfectly, and was (and still is) sung best by him

It kinda sux for Cornell though. He had this AMAZING vision for this song. So he record's it and releases, noone pays attention. DC plays a 2 minute long version and the entire world falls in love with him.

I love Cornell though and have done for years. But i must say: this round goes to Cook.

David gives me the chills whenever I hear him sing this song. . .so I prefer David.

DC did mention that he'll be doing chris cornell's billie jean..what's the problem about that??
anyway, i love DC's billie jean!!my classmates are also loving it!!

bladeyoustain07 -David always gives Chris Cornell credit for Billy Jean.

What this discussion was about - how the song is delivered. WE are not taking anything away from how Chris presents the song.

David Cook. hands down.

but, thank you, Chris Cornell for the arrangement

BWAH!

You know how Cookie told us there was some stuff he didn't want to tell us about the album? I would love for Cornell to work with him and think this would be the most incredible secret collaboration ever. Imagine what they could do with a song that wasn't an '80s relic!

Cornell, BTW, was not pissed that Cookie did his song. Back when I frequented the scary boards, I discovered that he actually put a YouTube of David's performance on his website the morning after the performance, and he did an interview with Ryan that made it clear he wasn't mad. Some of his fans were pissed, though, but not Cornell himself.

of course david's is better. he has a better voice. that raspy buzz, i call it. once dc sings a song, the original version is lost in the universe to me **********************(EXCEPTION - OUR LADY PEACE'S INNOCENT)

Actually there is a lot of similarities between OLP - Innocent and the way David sings it. I like both....

david cook, hands down

This is an interesting topic. Thanks Stef C for starting it especially for those of us who weren't on this board during AI itself.

Here's my take on it. Back then, I hadn't thudded yet. I kept up with AI each week, always looking out for DC. I hadn't looked for info online or anything like that so I didn't hear about the "fuss" until after the fact. The thing is, I actually heard Ryan the first time around when he introduced David doing Chris Cornell's version of Billie Jean. I remember Ryan was in the audience amongst fans and that's why people claimed they didn't hear him say that. I do not know Chris Cornell and I am not familiar with any of his songs but I did catch his name.

Anyway, when David started singing, I didn't even recognise it AS Billie Jean. I was literally in awe. And like some of you guys said, it was haunting and gave me chills, that's the perfect way to describe his delivery. I had no idea Billie Jean could sound like that. I am not a big Michael Jackson fan but his songs are pretty iconic that fan or not, I like them. David got me interested to hear Chris Cornell sing it. I wanted to hear the guy who originally changed Billie Jean up so much so I downloaded Chris' version and let me tell you, I was really REALLY surprised, it sounded NOTHING like David's version. I honestly could not even listen to the entire song, no disrespect to Chris at all. I genuinely wanted to hear his version of it. I can honestly say that this isn't coming from a biased Cook's fan point of view but David KILLED it... literally. That's why I don't get the "fuss" made over David not giving credit etc etc, he very much did PLUS he made it DIFFERENT and BETTER. Sidenote: David always gives credit where its due anyway. Look how often he points to the band and acknowledges them after his performances.

I linked my cousin to the youtube clip of David singing Billie Jean. My cousin didn't follow AI at all, but he's very much into music and does his own gigs on the side, more of a fun hobby type of thing. I linked him to David's Billie Jean and his words were "This guy's BRAVE." That came from a total non-fan who hadn't heard David before. That made me proud of David!

I agree 100% with you ^^. When David started singing i was like "what the hell is this song?" it took me till the chorus when he actually said 'billie jean' for me to know the song. Then i heard Cornell did the composition and i got all excited. Ive been listening to him for most of the 17 years of my life, through Soundgarden, Audioslave and his solo stuff, but i couldnt even force myself to listen to half the song. It didnt suit him at all.

And DC does always give credit to the people who deserve it. He clearly stated that Cornell did the arrangment, yet noone seemed to pay attention.

Haha it took me a while to realise what he was singing too..i think he was very brave taking on that song