Scandal!

EDIT #2 - 10:42 PM - Alright, fine. I jumped the gun. After reading something elsewhere, I tracked down a Youtube of the performance and Seacrest actually introduced it as being Chris Cornell's version of the song. Of course, you could barely hear him say that and the judges completely ignored it. Eh... I'm not deleting my post though! It still counts, dammit!



On a bit of a lighter note from yesterday, I just finished watching American Idol. Idol is one of those shows that I thought I would hate from the minute I heard about it. As a self-admitted "music snob," the mere idea of having some kind of a singing contest to produce music's next big superstar was abhorrent to me. I didn't even watch the first season while operating under this same umbrella.

At some point, I heard Kelly Clarkson sing and thought, "Huh. Well, she's not so bad." But I really didn't watch Season 2 either until close to the very end. And in the end, I thought Rubin had a good voice but probably wouldn't be a star because R&B as a genre is in the toilet right now buried under a pile of pop and hip hop. So it goes. I watched Season 3 and thought it had some bright spots but was a little nauseous when Fantasia won.

Season 4 was awesome and I was hooked. Now we watch every season.

For those of you who haven't been watching this season, there's a contestant by the name of David Cook who is quickly becoming the "odds on favorite." He's a "rocker." I use quotes because Idol really doesn't have actual rockers... but they have a kinda generic quasi-rocker. Which isn't to say it's bad... it's just... light rock. If you've heard Chris Daughtry, you know what I'm trying to say.

David Cook is the second coming of Chris Daughtry and it almost feels like Idol is trying to "do it right" this time. Daughtry didn't make it to win his season but promptly outsold those who finished above him. I think Idol would like to finally crown a "rocker" just to get a little street cred back.

The problem with David Cook is not his vocals or his performing or any of that. The problem is the arrangements. And it's not his fault. The arrangements are usually pretty good actually.

The problem is that the arrangements are someone else's.

Which also wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that no one gets credited for them.

You see, when Daughtry was steamrolling his way through his season of Idol, he busted out a version of "I Walk The Line" one week by the immortal Johnny Cash. It had a "hard rock" style arrangement to it that went over very well with the judges and the fans.

It also wasn't Chris' arrangement. He had swiped it from Live's cover of the same tune. Like I said, not a bad thing to do... but at least give them some credit for it. At the time, when people figured out what he'd done, there was quite a bit of controversy around it and the Idol people eventually ended up giving Live credit on air. Good of them but it would be nice for the voters to know they're not voting for an original arrangement before they vote.

But I digress.

This year, David Cook has awed the judges and fans with his arrangements. First, a nifty little version of Lionel Richie's "Hello." There seems to be another one too but it's escaping me at the moment. And tonight? A rocky version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."

The problem? The arrangement of "Hello" was apparently used by Incubus before.

The arrangement of "Billie Jean" I instantly identified as Chris Cornell's horrific cover of it.

So, I give the kid credit for outdoing Chris Cornell tonight... but I can't give him credit for an original arrangement.

The hard part is listening to the judges fawn all over his "originality" and "bravery" while he sits there and smiles and soaks up their praise. If you respect the artist enough to want to use their arrangement, I would think you would respect them enough to want to give them credit on-air for it.

Maybe I'm being too hard on the boy. Maybe the Idol producers told him to shut his mouth and do it.

But a few years ago, it was a scandal not to it. What happened?

Am I just being silly to expect scruples from a reality show?


EDIT: Oh! And I forgot my other point. They were supposed to be singing songs from the year they were born. In David Cook's case, that was 1982. "Billie Jean" was on the Thriller album that is celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year - which means it was released in 1983. January 3, 1983 to be precise.

So, not only did they rip off the arrangement... they fudged the dates! Incredible.