CHRIS CORNELL Sales Soar After Performance By 'American Idol' Contestant

April 1, 2008

According to The Pulse of Radio, Chris Cornell's version of the Michael Jackson smash "Billie Jean" has gotten a huge boost after "American Idol" contestant David Cook did an almost "note-for-note" version of Cornell's recording last week. The track, which appeared on Cornell's 2007 solo album, "Carry On", saw a 300% sales jump in the past week and is currently Number 12 on iTunes' Top Alternative chart.

The former AUDIOSLAVE and SOUNDGARDEN frontman has been getting a lot of attention ever since the performance. He told Billboard, "You can clearly see that the judges are giving this guy credit for it on national television. My fans were like, 'Wait a minute! That's Chris Cornell's moment."

Cornell is happy about it, saying, "Don't get me wrong. He sang it great. But it was literally a note-for-note take on what I came up with. At the end of the day, it's all good. It's a good thing for me. There was a moment when I was sitting there writing this new arrangement thinking, 'Is this a good idea or a bad idea?' Watching the response from the judges was really gratifying. They were signing off on it right there." Cornell says he always gets a great response from the crowd when he plays it live.

Host Ryan Seacrest introduced Cook's performance as "Chris Cornell's version of 'Billie Jean'."

Cornell is working on his next solo album with producer Timbaland, and says "it's going fantastic."

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).