Chris Cornell Covers Jackson On Solo Album

Rocker Chris Cornell is set to astound fans with his upcoming sophomore solo album, which contains his cover of Michael Jackson's classic "Billie Jean."

The Audioslave singer, who used to front Soundgarden, admits the cover is a surprise choice, but insists fans will barely recognise the source material.

He says, "There was once a time when Michael Jackson was cool. He was once at the cutting edge of music, even though it was pop.

"There were two things about the song that appealed to me - the song is quite dark and I knew I could make it in to my own, like Johnny Cash did it with Soundgarden's Rusty Cage and Nine Inch Nails' Hurt.

"If I've played it for someone in the studio, it takes them a little while to realise what the song is. I think it's a moving song and covering Michael Jackson is the last thing anyone would expect from me. It's an odd choice for a cover song."

Thanks for the info to PR Inside.

Comments

[rockontilludie]

kick ass, cant wait to hear it.

[MonsterOfRock]

Indeed very unorthodox. Cornell covers Jacko, Wow!!! As much as im surprized, I think its a cool idea though. Rock On CornMan!!!

[nehpets5555]

haha, cool , look forward to hearin it

[Carlson-online]

ive heard it played live, its VERY good!!

[ianl]

what carlson-online said. can't wait for the new album either

[Kid_Thorazine]

thats an awesome song, i hope he does it justice.

[darkiii]

nice

[Eirien]

can't wait to hear that!

[kikoff101]

really really cool. chris cornell rules

[grunsho]

already heard it on sweden... cornell rocks!

[danos1204]

Yeah Cornell can definitely pull it off. One thing is for sure, if he doesn't a lot of people will flame him.

[vincent_mayer]

i've already heard it and it's awesome

[papersun87]

Dude, that will be sweet. Everyone tells me I'm nuts when I insist that Michael Jackson was cool once.

[joshua029]

danos1204 wrote:

Yeah Cornell can definitely pull it off. One thing is for sure, if he doesn't a lot of people will flame him.

he's got talent, that means that everyone is going to flame him anways. thats the only way to know that your truely talented...

[JESUSbaby]

I don't care what anyone says. CHRIS CORNELL IS GOD!!!!

And stop flaming Audioslave, cause whatever Cornell does is holy.

[hard_rock101]

am i the only one who thinks chris cornell has an annoying voice?

["Tele" Steve]

Cool. Can't wait to hear Chris's album.

[f117_nighthawk]

hard_rock101 :
am i the only one who thinks chris cornell has an annoying voice?

ditto

[Night_Lights]

he's got a sexy voice, but the Casino Royale song kinda....sucked so i dont know....

[thegrungyhippie]

thats a good song and i think cornell will sing it good

[MegaRon]

Frickin' sweet.

[no mercy]

does anyone else think that Cornell is losing his voice? Compare the range and quality of his vocals on the first two Audioslave cds and see what I mean. He's a great singer though, and I love his music to death. Keep on rocking Chris!

[jof1029]

this should be interesting, definatly sounds like something thats worth a listen.

[myname86]

I found a live version of Chirs Cornell playing this song. It's just Chris playing his acoustic and singing, no band or anything...but it sounds so great. Much darker as he mentions. A fantastic spin on the song...totally different.

[misirlou]

on one hand i can't imagine that this can be any good. however, i'll reserve judgement until i hear it.

[chilibassist]

Oh god.

[freedom_dude12]

nice...

[zero27]

this is good news

[Freier-Wire]

if you have any concerns about Cornell's voice, find "live in sweeden" it restored the faith i lost in Audioslave after Revelations

[kornflipsk8er]

love the original.chris is an amazing singer so i can't wiat to hear it.

[ZeppelinFan3890]

I have yet to hear "You Know My Name," the Casino Royale theme song, or this song. Any ideas where I can get them?

[Kid_Thorazine]

man i just listened to a live version of this unplugged, im not impressed, and hes voice is going downhill.

[red star]

sounds pretty cool. jackson does have some pretty cool songs.

[Adam_G]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AgDoru9qxdA
Voila

[Bored w/u]

Are you guys serious? What a SELL - OUT! Michael Jackson was cool? How soft can you get? How much is Michael paying you to sing this song Chris? I can't believe he would waste his time with this song! I would never admit that I listened to Soundgarden after this adomination!

[Muggus]

Cornell is quite a good overall musician, and has got a very distintive singing voice. Having said that his voice is starting to lose the edge it had in the days of Soundgarden, but that's not too suprising.
Should be interesting to see how he does Billie Jean!

[guitarfreakktb]

this may possibly be the most interesting cover I will ever have witnessed... um.. witnessed with my ears... meh?...

[FrenchyFungus]

"Chris' voice is getting worse"

Like DUH!

What else could it do?

checked

[Havenspear]

Hahahaha, that's bound to be fun. :]

[flemflames]

=-





Does anybody else think that Chris looks like Scotty from Eurotrip in that photo?





=-

[markdirt]

My friend was good friends with him, and ths guy is a douche.

[Metallicam]

Oh please tell me he did not just compare his cover song to Hurt when Johnny Cash did it... because that would pretty ****ing cocky.

[Metallicam]

Oh please tell me he did not just compare his cover song to Hurt when Johnny Cash did it... because that would pretty ****ing ballsy.

[metal@hart11]

i think its a great cover. cornell is getting old but i don't think he will stop anytime soon. there is a live version on youtube thats pretty good if you ask me, and im sure the record version will be better. check it out. its nice and mellow

[Partyboy2k05]

Bored w/u wrote:

Are you guys serious? What a SELL - OUT! Michael Jackson was cool? How soft can you get? How much is Michael paying you to sing this song Chris? I can't believe he would waste his time with this song! I would never admit that I listened to Soundgarden after this adomination!

Although Michael Jackson has some outside issues that tarnished his reputation, the music and songs are still great. And no one pays someone to do a song that they wrote, goes the other way around for use of copyrighted material. On the topic, I think it would be a tough song to cover, but I love Cornell's voice, it's so unique.

[set.me-free]

donno if its a bad move or not but im sure chris cornell could improve a pretty shit song

[sellout36]

1st solo record cool, audioslave is horse shit. chris is getting older and yes his voice is going. he has had one major surgery. talk to the fag from linkin park in 17 years who can't even get close to chris with distortion in his voice. gone are the godzilla days of falsetto screams at perfect pitch from chris. as a songwriter he is a master of his generation. my 14 year old loves his stuff. as all artist he is never going to do what we want him to. look at robert plant, goo goo dolls or singers get old and the voice can't take it. scott wieland is also losing his voice so you have to get more creative with what you have. chris should stop doing leno though or get some better in ear monitors because he is all over the place and completely off key. all in all we will look back and sound garden will be remembered as zepplin, ac/dc ect as true pioneers of the current rock you all know and love today. almost the entire modern rock world today is a cliche of nirvana, alice n chains and soundgarden. If anyone should be bashing someone start with seether, puddle of mudd, linkin park.

rip chris, write some songs and make some $$$ you did your time blowing everyone out of the universe as the best power rock/pop vocalist of all time.

[sellout36]

if you notice chris uses tons of beatles chords in his songs. chris is much like michael jordon. he is way past his prime but his worst day is our pipe dream of being a vocal hero for 20 years!!!! our kids kids will be wearing soundgarden t-shirts like uber black sabbath and we will all just laugh and ask for our walkers...

[sellout36]

1st solo record cool, audioslave is horse shit. chris is getting older and yes his voice is going. he has had one major surgery. talk to the fag from linkin park in 17 years who can't even get close to chris with distortion in his voice. gone are the godzilla days of falsetto screams at perfect pitch from chris. as a songwriter he is a master of his generation. my 14 year old loves his stuff. as all artist he is never going to do what we want him to. look at robert plant, goo goo dolls or singers get old and the voice can't take it. scott wieland is also losing his voice so you have to get more creative with what you have. chris should stop doing leno though or get some better in ear monitors because he is all over the place and completely off key. all in all we will look back and sound garden will be remembered as zepplin, ac/dc ect as true pioneers of the current rock you all know and love today. almost the entire modern rock world today is a cliche of nirvana, alice n chains and soundgarden. If anyone should be bashing someone start with seether, puddle of mudd, linkin park.

rip chris, write some songs and make some $$$ you did your time blowing everyone out of the universe as the best power rock/pop vocalist of all time.

[Reanna_dh]

Seriously a huge fan but could you spell realize right though?..... not realise..... good job by Chris though very nice!