Kris Allen - Ford Day - Man In The Mirror - video

Thanks to hockeychick for the video!

David Cook Remembers Michael Jackson, The Global Icon

Tue. June 30.2009 8:52 PM EDT



'He blew pop music wide open, and made it bigger than just music, you know?' the 'American Idol' alum says.

by James Montgomery


David Cooke (MTV News)

In some roundabout way, it's entirely possible that David Cook might not have won the seventh season of "American Idol" if it weren't for Michael Jackson.

See, it was his edgy take on "Billie Jean" — which was, for accuracy's sake, actually a take on Chris Cornell's version on the song — during the sixth week of the competition that took Cook from underdog to frontrunner, eventually carrying him to the "Idol" crown, a platinum-plus debut album and millions of fans around the world.

So, naturally, when he learned of the death of Jackson, he felt the need to pay respects to the man — and not just for his excellent songbook, either.

"The impact Michael Jackson has had on me as an artist is the same impact he's had on everyone ... he blew pop music wide open, and made it bigger than just music, you know?" Cook told MTV News. "That's viewed [in terms of] the short films he made for music videos, plus look at the cultural gaps: There's people that know no English except for the two words 'Michael' and 'Jackson.' And that's pretty incredible."

And that global reach is what astonishes Cook the most about Jackson. He credits the King of Pop for taking mainstream music to the mega masses ... and paving the way for all pop stars who have followed since. Without Jackson, there would be no Britney, no Beyoncé — no David Cook.

"To think that Michael Jackson as more influence on the world than presidents and world leaders, that's huge," he said. "And the fact that he was able to do that, I think, is what allows people like me to go out and perform music and have it matter in some small sense, I guess."


http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1615069/20090630/jackson_michael.jhtml?rsspartner=rssMozilla

How Michael Jackson Helped Kris Allen Win 'American Idol'

http://www.newsweek.com/id/204729

The champ remembers growing up in Arkansas with Michael's greatest hits.
By Ramin Setoodeh | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jun 30, 2009

American Idolis back! OK, not really. But last night Fox, in memory of the late King of Pop, aired the episode from last spring when the top 13 contestants covered Michael Jackson songs. The show was strangely poignant, especially when Adam Lambert covered "Black and White"—in my opinion, his best performance on the Idol stage—and Kris Allen strummed his guitar to "Remember the Time." As Paula Abdul cooed, "Kris, I truly believe no one knows Michael's catalog better than you." You could even argue if it weren't for Michael Jackson, Kris Allen—who started his Idol career with a performance of "Man in the Mirror"—might not be our American Idol.

But wait a minute. Kris Allen is only 24. He wasn't even born when Michael Jackson released Thriller in 1982. How did Allen, who grew up in Jacksonville, Ark., discover Michael Jackson? We asked him to tell us, and to share how the other Idol contestants reacted to news of Jackson's death. Excerpts:

Do you remember the first time you heard a Michael Jackson song?
I was probably 7 or 8 years old. The Dangerous album came out, and I bought it. It was a tape. It kind of stayed in my tape player forever.

Were either of your parents fans?
I think my dad might have listened to him before.

Did you have a favorite song on the album?
The whole album was good. One of my favorites of his was "Remember the Time," I did that on the show. There are so many good ones on that album. I think that could be said of every one of his albums. Not too long after that, I think his History album came out, with him on the cover as a gold statue. Then I was like, wow he's been around forever and all of his stuff was incredible. I have the Thriller album. I have the Off the Wall album. I have all that stuff now.

What is it about Michael Jackson that appeals to you?
Every time you listen to this music you get this feeling and you always feel good. And as a kid, that's a captivating thing. His music was so easy to get lost into. I remember being 8 years old and dancing in my room to his music. Trying to dance like him, as well. It was ugly, but it was fun.

Did you try to moonwalk?
I think everyone has tried to do the moonwalk, man. And it never works.

What about all the stuff in his personal life: the trial, him showing up to court in pajamas, how he dangled one of his kids from a balcony.
It never turned me off against his music. Because it was always a separate thing to me. There were always things that I saw, that I'd be like: awww Michael, what are you doing?! But when you put his songs on, you completely forget about that. And the nice things was, my parents would see even more of that stuff than I did, obviously they're going to watch the news more than me as a kid, and they never turned me off on him.

Did they worry he was a bad role model?
I don't think so. I don't think they were thinking that I was trying to model my life after him. It was a pure appreciation for his music.

Does your wife listen to Michael Jackson?
Oh, yeah.

Did you ever bond with her over Michael Jackson?
I don't know if we've ever bonded over Michael Jackson. Probably. Maybe in the car, dancing, taking a road trip listening to Michael Jackson.

Where were you when you heard news of his death?
We were at rehearsal for the tour. Actually, Adam was on stage. He was almost done, and I was about to go up. We heard the news and we stopped everything and we canceled the rehearsal.

Why? Out of respect?
I'd like to say that was part of it. More than anything, it was weird. The weird thing was he was in the room next to us probably a couple weeks before that. We all knew people that worked on the tour and everything. It was just weird. No one could really feel right. It was one of those moments in life when you're like what the heck just happened. I remember thinking I hope this isn't real, but if it is, Wow this is a sad day in music.

Did you ever meet him?
We never met him. I haven't heard if he saw our episode or not.

Would you have gone to seen his tour?
If I could've found a way, I would've been there.

The first song you sang live on Idol was "Man in the Mirror." How did you pick that song?
Funny story, I actually picked a song and someone else picked it. So I had to search at the last minute for another song. I was going through, they gave me a list of 1,000 songs, and it was crazy. I couldn't find one song on there that I wanted to sing. Then I took two seconds and thought: if I had to sing one song right now, what would I sing? That popped in my head. I said you: know what, I'm going to run with it. So I did.

Is it true that you mentored the other contestants during Michael Jackson week? I think Kara DioGuardi mentioned something about that.
Probably the person she was referring to was Allison [Iraheta]. Obviously, I'm probably going to know more about Michael Jackson than Allison. Because I'm a little older. He was definitely more my time than her time. I was listening to a bunch of stuff, and I wanted to do "Give In to Me," but I didn't think it would work for me. I said do you know who would really good on this? Allison. I shot it at her. I was like, Allison, just listen to this song and tell me if you want to do it. She went and listened to it and ran back into the room and was like, "Yes! Of course I want to do this."

If you could pick one Michael Jackson song to listen to for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I really, really like "Leave Me Alone." It's always been one of my favorites. But I don't know if you pick just one favorite Michael song.

© 2009

David Cook talks acting, Michael Jackson, and the music scene today

http://www.examiner.com/x-11563-David-Cook-Examiner~y2009m6d29-David-Cook-talks-acting-Michael-Jackson-and-the-music-scene-today

June 29, 2:10 PM


I had the good fortune of pulling some old strings from my Americanidol.com days, and I was able to speak with David Cook on the phone this weekend. I couldn't wait to ask him about his surprising stage presence that I noticed when I caught his recent show in Del Mar, CA. It's not that I was shocked that it was such a great show (as I explained to him), but was more intrigued by how much the seemingly subdued singer really came out of his shell and engaged the audience. As David explained, he has a bit of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde stage persona, and it's something that has evolved further over the last few years. As he so eloquently put it, the "on stage David" is a bit "more of a pain in the ass!" I also had to ask him about the cover song that he did, as it's been bugging me that I couldn't remember, and was holding my one-year-old, which presents some challenges when you're trying to take notes. He said that it was the one-hit-wonder "Shattered Dreams" by a band called Johnny Hates Jazz. David said that has some other covers up his sleeve, but his band hasn't pulled them out yet, like a hard rock version of "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" and Nine Inch Nails' "Every Day Is Exactly The Same".

David explained to me the reasoning behind his recent decision to extend his tour, as he said that there were a lot of places that they felt like they didn't hit, and they also feel that they are not the same band now as they were when they started. He's enjoyed seeing them evolve, as he admits they were fairly green at the onset. As he put it, "The record still has a lot of legs left," so he wants people to have the full experience. He's played in a lot of different venues as well, with the inital part of his tour being mainly in college towns. As far as a dream venue from David, he basically asks "Where do I start?" He loves the big arenas, and would love to play Madison Square Garden, Red Rocks, The Forum, Arrowhead, Stonehenge, Wembley, and many more.

As does tend to occur when someone acquires a lot of fame, such as David, he hits the media circuit. I couldn't help but ask him about his experience(s) with the iconic Larry King, who makes me laugh, whether he's trying to or not. David said he's been on the show three times now, and he has an absolutely blast, as Larry tells him lots of "cool stories" during the commercial breaks. I asked him about his comment during the last interview that he's been surprised by how much people ask him about his love life or what he likes to eat, etc., over his music. He went to say that he's saddened that it used to be "music first, pop culture second," but now it's the other way around.

Because I see David as being a pretty profound guy, I asked him for his take on the music scene today, and he said that he is a bit disheartened by some of it. As he explained, so many artists today just go for the singles, where as his band really wanted to release an actual album, complete with a cohesive sound to it. He "didn't want to make a collection of singles," and he thinks that this "concise idea from start to finish" is the reason they have seen the numbers they have. As he put it, "We pride ourselves on being a rock band, and you don't see as much of that anymore." I asked him if anyone had contacted him about the passing of Michael Jackson due to his memorable rendition of "Billie Jean" on Idol, and he said that they had. David does admit, however, that his success with that performance was a bit of "dumb luck!" As far as Michael Jackson goes, David said that he thinks that Quincy Jones put it best when he said that a great musician comes along once in a lifetime, but an artist like Michael Jackson only comes along once.

I've heard David mention in a few interviews that he wants to pursue acting at some point as well, so I asked him to talk a bit more about what kind of acting he's referring to, and he said that he'd like to do whatever comes his way, and that he even read for something recently that he hopes he gets. He did joke that we're probably not going to see him in High School Musical any time soon, but didn't rule out the possiblity of a role in that either! David got a bit of acting experience in his video for "Come Back To Me," in which his love interest is played by Disturbia's Sarah Roemer. He was up front with Sarah about this kind of thing being new to him, and said that she was great to work with. David also touched on how honored he was to be the only former Idol winner to be featured in a promo for the upcoming season, and he said that the commercial was "shot amazingly." He joked that nothing beats acting when you don't having any lines, and called the whole thing a "cool experience." David also said he doesn't plan on distancing himself from the popular show any time soon, as it's plain and simply biting the hand that feeds you.

David was lucky enough to get a two week break from his hectic tour schedule recently, and during his time off he took his younger brother, Andrew, to a Bryan Adams acoustic show, and was able to hang out with the veteran singer after the show. He said he got a great bit of advice from Bryan, who told him to make sure he records the music he want to make, and not to stop until he wants to stop. David plans on doing just that, and will most likely follow up his debut effort with a sophomore album shortly after his current tour wraps. As David explained, he wants to "take the ideals on this record and expand them." As far as writing a song about the extremely devastating recent passing of his brother, Adam, David said he's not sure about that. Only time will tell.

For more info: Visit David Cook's official web site.

David Cook pays tribute to Michael Jackson during concert - Billy Jean - Aspen, CO, June 27 09 - VIDEO

David Cook pays tribute to Michael Jackson during concert

Declaration Tour 09 - Denver, CO - 6/26/09