Rocker Rocks

American Idol 2008 Champion: David Cook

I've known about American Idol since it' s very first season yet I've never watched it. I was content to watch the auditions where people did the most outrageous things just to get their few seconds of fame. Once the top 24 have been selected, I stopped watching.

This year was supposed to be no different. I watched the auditions for a few weeks and when the top 24 was selected, I lost interest. So it came to pass that on the first episode, top 12 men, I was in the kitchen washing the dishes while my wife watched. I listened but did not really pay much attention. Then, one contestant started singing a song that sounded vaguely familiar. It wasn't until the refrain that I realized that he was singing "Happy Together" by the Beatles. The guy rocked the song! I immediately rushed to the television to see a weird-looking man sing the remainder of the song. His name: David Cook.

I watched the remainder of the episode and I found myself looking forward to the following week. I really hoped the guy would survive the first round so he could sing again. He definitely caught my attention.

In the weeks that followed, he sang song after song. I didn't like some of the songs but I really liked most of them. After Happy Together, his version of "Hello" by Lionel Richie was my next favorite. He literally reinvented the song! Some people claimed that it was a cover of Incubus, but I didn't care. He blew away the competition that night.

A few weeks later, it was Mariah Carey week. I wondered what song he would pick. He selected "Always be my Baby" and it was awesome! The song was an absolute masterpiece. After the show, my wife played Mariah's version of the song. No comparison. Sorry Mariah, David's version was way better than yours, even if yours was the original.

Andrew Lloyd Webber week. I thought he was in big trouble. The songs were from famous plays like Phantom of the Opera, Evita, Cats, etc. I thought to myself, there was no way he could rock any of the songs. And he didn't. His choice was "Music of the Night". Despite staying true to the original version, he still dished out a huge performance. The highlight of the song was when he hit the high note on "...take you where you long to BEEEEEEE!' Amazing!

I got a copy of his studio performance of "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. He did Chris Cornell's version. I didn't like it much during the live performance, but when I heard it again, I liked it a lot. The guy was a genius.

Finals. I wasn't particularly impressed with his delivery of the songs, and I had to agree that took a huge risk when he sang a little-known song by Collective Soul for his finale. David Archuleta, on the other hand, repeated his performance of "Imagine" although it was a whole lot better than the first time he sang it. I really wanted DC to win, but DA's fan base was huge, the judges practically handed the tropy over to DA, and DA was a lot better in the last three songs.

Coronation. The Davids performed a really nice version of Chad Kroeger's "Hero". Strangely enough, their voices blended well. Soul singer and rocker in one song. Loved it! Too bad it didn't have a studio version. Ryan Seacrest said that a record 97.8 million votes came in, and it was a lopsided 56%-44% for one of the Davids. And finally, the announcement. American Idol season 8 winner, David...Cook! I was practically jumping for joy when I heard the news. He came into the finals the clear underdog but came out the big winner in the end. AI finally had it's first rocker Idol.

Other notable performances of the season:

Band from TV/Teri Hatcher's performance of "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood.
Jason Castro's performances of "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley and "I Don't Wanna Cry" by Mariah Carey.
David Archulet's performances of "In this Moment" by an AI song writing finalist and "Stand by Me" by whatshisface.
Michael John's performance of "Dream On" by Aerosmith".