Although he's too humble to admit it, I sincerely believe that David Cook's victory last year on American Idolpaved the way for Idol season 8. While other rock Idols, most notably Chris Daughtry, had achieved success before David, no rocker had ever won on the show, and Idol seemed very much the domain of mostly pop and R&B singers. But David changed all that, opening up the show to a whole new fanbase.Want proof of this? Well, just look at how this past season panned out. The top four was decidedly non-pop this year, featuring two full-on rockers (Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta) and a mellow soft-rocker, Kris Allen, who won the whole competition over more obvious pop/R&B types. I honestly believe David Cook helped make this possible.
Of course, David, probably one of the nicest guys on the planet, is too modest to consider himself any sort of "pioneer." But still, I tried to get him to take a little credit when--a full year after his glass-ceiling-shattering Idol triumph, during an interview I'd been waiting to conduct ever since he had me at "Hello"--I had the privilege to hang with David at L.A.'s Griffith Park golf course. There on the green, during some of his rare downtime, we discussed his opinions on Adam and Kris (and his own similarities to both contestants), life after Idol, and his future career plans.
Check out my very enjoyable and eloquent conversation with the "Word Nerd" (and possible Idol pioneer) below!
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