Doxology, the Seattle band that claims David Cook ripped off their arrangement of The Beatles “Eleanor Rigby” without credit has issued yet another press release. Meanwhile, Chris Cornell gives an interview to Billboard about David covering his arrangement of “Billie Jean”.
Both Cornell and Doxology believe David Cook performed note for note copies of their arrangements.
I’m not a musicologist, but note for note? Really?
Entertainment Weekly’s Hollywood Insider covers the Doxology story:
For more, click on the jump
Thanks Cheese, for the links…
In a statement issued to the press on Saturday, lead vocalist Luke McPherson contends, “When given the opportunity to speak up and reveal where the arrangement came from, David Cook did not. His silence on the issue implies that the arrangement is his own. It is not.” The band is careful to note that they are fans of the show and they are not seeking royalties (which they would have earned off of iTunes sales had their name been mentioned on air). Their impetus: “We just want David Cook and American Idol to do the right thing and acknowledge these facts. It’s that simple.” Whether Cook was actually aware of their version is still unclear as representatives for Fox could not be reached for comment over the weekend.
Is Chris Cornell earning royalties from David’s recorded version of the song? I didn’t think he was.
And from Doxology’s press release:
The compensation we are asking for is the easiest and least expensive around – we, at minimum, want David Cook and/or American Idol to admit that the arrangement he performed on March 11th, and then went into the studio and recorded for immediate sale, was not only inspired by, but almost completely carbon copied from our arrangement.
They want David Cook to admit that he ripped off their song note for note. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I also don’t think TPTB are going to allot Idol airtime to the discussion of an obscure band. Blake Lewis has said in interviews that David Cook told him that his acknowledgement to the band was cut out of his package.
David himself has not spoken on the issue. We’ll see what happens.
In the meantime, Doxology’s continued pressing of the subject is keeping it out in the news cycle. They’ve gotten Doxology’s name out there and are keeping it out there. Good strategy. Even if Idol never addresses the issue, it’s still a win for the band.
Chris Cornell, whose arrangement of “Billie Jean” inspired David Cook’s performance (and who also gave David his blessing) recently spoke to Billboard:
Interest has since spiked in the Cornell cover, a drastically stripped-down take on the song that appeared on his 2007 solo album “Carry On.” There was a 300% jump in blog chatter about the Cornell’s connection to the performance the following day, according to data from Nielsen BuzzMetrics. The track is also currently No. 12 on iTunes’ Top Alternative chart.
“This is something where they know I came up with this arrangement and reinvented the song,” he says. “I stuck my neck out being a guy that comes from the indie rock world doing a Michael Jackson song. 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.’”
“Don’t get me wrong. He sang it great,” he continues. “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. It was something that worked. It was an idea that went over huge. When I play it live on tour, it brings the house down every time.”
Cornell is extremely pleased with the attention and publicity, but obviously has mixed feelings about David as an artist. He clearly feels there was zero originality in David’s interpretation, and that the judges were giving David credit that really belonged to Cornell. Hm.
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J.S.G., you are my hero. I know there is something fishy going on.
@J.S.G. - You may be on to something there.
You belong in the grassy knoll blog. LOL! I doubt that, J.S.G., since his son has done a few uncredited covers or covers himself.
Well, if true then David A’s dad is even more warped than I thought.
That right there cracked me up.
Oh - and JSG’s stage dad theory is pretty damn funny too.
Famewhores. Asshats. Been said. That is all.
LMAO JSG. Of course!! That’s it! DCook won’t take Creepy Stage Dad’s shit on the set, so CSD resorts to a smear campaign. ;)
*smacks myself on the forehead….*
J.S.G. You nailed it. It has been there right in front of all of us all this time. I bow to you my friend. :)
I’ve listened to Doxology’s ER, and I still don’t like it. And, somehow that “defense” from Chris Cornell’s is still sounding like a backhanded compliment. He says that David copied the arrangement note-for-note, but I don’t think so. David still sounds better. This is getting fishy, and I wonder if TPTB will address it and/or allow him to address it, or if they continue to allow DC to reap the “benefits” of negative press.
I know a lot of indie bands and I relate with their frustration. They put a lot of work into that and then they didn’t even get their name mentioned. That, however, is not in any way David Cook’s fault. The producers of the show have control over what is and is not said, and they decide what to edit out of pre-performance interviews, etc.
But guess what? It was a blessing in disguise. Doxology says they don’t care about the royalties. Well, now everyone knows where the arrangement came from, so they need to suck it up because this little mishap just happened to make them famous.
Dukester, I’m going to go ahead and call him original every day that I visit here. Just so you can laugh in my face. It’s the least I can do to give you a happy day.
CJ’s right. Cook did a fantastic job and anytime you’re good people will say, hey that sounds just like me, that’s my arrangement etc. I don’t see anyone rushing to claim Kristy’s version of ‘8 Days a Week’ as their own.
At this point I’d be willing to credit Doxology with every song that’s ever been written if they’d just shut up. Sheesh.
I wonder why I am here I give up..The butler did it w/ help from the maid.
Geeze are these guys for real. Next thing you know they’ll be typing up a press release saying Paul McCartney needs to give them credit for their mediocre “arrangement” Uh… you know, Paul McCartney, the guy who actually wrote the song.
lol, amen Garnetstar.
No. No. No. No. It’s WAY more complex than that. Clearly, this reeks of the evil hand of Nigel…puppet-master extraordinaire!!!!!111!!!ELEVENTY-ONE!!!!
First, there was Carlyplant. Nigel had PAs by the hundreds sifting through Irish Pubs throughout the nation until he found the fabled chanteuse. What could be better than an artist who had become the poster-girl for record label excess? A teenager who had burned through more cash than most of us even dream of winning in the lotto? A woman who is not even an American!!!!! Then, throw in a big ass tattoo of Amy Winehouse and a husband that looked like he escaped from the circus and …VIOLA…that thing that Nigel craves…that thing that brings the press…that thing that ramps the water cooler chatter up to 11….SCANDAL!!!!!!
But wait. People did not care. There was no ground swell of anger to get her booted from the show. The ladies of The View were not morally outraged. No mob with torches and pitchforks descended on the studio. In fact, people felt sorry for the poor desperate girl….STRIKE ONE.
But Nigel is wiley. He has more than one trick up his sleave.
He had pretty-boys by the half-dozens. None of them could sing worth a damn. Luke! Garrett! Colton! Robbie! (okay, that last guy is not that cute). Surely one of those vocally challenged dudes would find a fan base of eager young tweeners and assorted other voters who would VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! their cutey into the next Sanjaya scandal. Surely, VFTW would see how bad they were and pick them for their posterboy.
But wait! The pretty boys all went the way of the dodo. People had suddenly stopped giving a face a break. They were all gone as soon as they should be. The press did not bemoan their presence. Nobody said “Sanjaya Part Deux”. Nada….STRIKE TWO.
But, like the subject of so many children’s stories…Nigel would just try, try again.
A one-two punch. Danny, with his questionable Christmas greeting that was unlikely to get him a job at Hallmark and David H, the gay male stripper. Surely, that would get the heartland in a stir. Surely, somebody somewhere would burn a big old pile of iPods to protest. Maybe that guy with the weirdo church who protests at soldiers funerals could be enticed to be in the studio audience. Surely, these two could get some traction.
But, no. What is this? How can this be? The country has grown compassionate. Danny is just a boy who needs some attention and “it was a good thing they didn’t have youtube when I was a kid”. And David, why poor David just did what many have done before when they needed a few bucks to survive.
Nigel was stunned. But he was not out.
David A has a stage Dad from Hell!!!! But Evil CBS would not play along and people just felt sorry for the kid.
Michael Johns stole songs from his former band!!!! Yawn.
Kristy is the new Haley!!! She’ll be gone in time and seems kind of sweet.
David Cooks is the new Chris-D-Arranging-Stealing-Scumbag! HOME RUN!!! Wooo!!!! Bribe Blake with letting him sing on the show if he’ll claim some nobody band in Seattle had come up with that ER arrangement. Get Randy and Paula to quote from the “You are So Original” script. Get Ryan to interview the ripped off bands. And there you go…instant water cooler chatter.
Nigel is smoking a cigarette right now.
LOL. No tinfoil hats were harmed during the writing of this post.
LOL Kirsten.
You are a master storyteller.
Hey dukester,
can u introduce David C to me since you know him and how he thinks so well. I would like to meet him.
If he bombed those songs, no one would care. He, however, made them sound better than the original “stealer” so it now is an issue. The three judges should have a sheet in front of them with every song the contestant is doing and all the pertinent info about the song. That would solve all this extra curricular crap.
Wonder what would happen if one of the contestents took a piece of a song by the beatles, used a little riff from Bob Dylan, put a little diddy by Mellencamp, added some Aretha rhythm, and added some Gladys without the Pips,and followed up with some falsetto a la the Bee Gees all in one song. Now, credit all that!
Oh - this is a FUN thread to read!!! Idol is FUN this year - we are invested again and I can’t wait for tomorrow night!!!!! I can’t wait to hear what song David C will pick and I hope that Jason ups his game and that KLC sucks!
I heart Kirsten!
Whenever I see a post of yours, you ALWAYS make me LOL!
Ha ha! Good ‘un, Kirsten.
But surely Nigel owns a cigar factory, if not all of Cuba, after all those commercial breaks?
I like David Cook and I dont care whose cover he sings..he does it well imo! Loving me some Jason Castro too..its a good year for Idol. :)
When I saw David’s performance, I thought that HE came up with the arrangement.
Just found out some sad news on an Elliot Yamin fansite (via Rickey blog):
http://etrainstation.com/index.php?showtopic=16105
please say a prayer…
Claudette was a keeper. I always loved when they showed her in the audience or in E’s clips. What a loving, sweet lady. May you rest in peace Claudette.
Dammit, I wish I hadn’t come here to see this. Claudette was a doll. Wow, she has the same name as my Mommy. RIP.
Peeps are talking about Claudette in the headlines thread…lets keep this thread focused on David Cook. Thank you.
i like to imagine that doxology’s, what, 37th press release on this matter is an april fool’s joke.
because, you know, HAHAHA, bitches.
I think Doxology gets exactly what they want. They keep sending out press releases because they keep getting picked up by blogs and news blogs. People are checking out their myspace page and tunes and they are happy. I think their hope is to get picked up by Entertainment Tonight or one of those so they can get on the show, maybe play their version etc. I don’t think they will go away as long as they are generating interest, any interest. Look at the number of comments on this thread.
Kirsten is da bomb.
We’ve obviously all heard of this because we pay attention but am not so sure the general audience has a clue about this so called controversy.
I wanted to listen to Doxology’s version but instead found this video that takes the covers that David was supposed to have used and plays bits of them back to back. The only thing about the Doxology cover that gave me pause was that the AI band seemed to copy their sound. I still don’t think this is a big deal unless it’s made to be one and doubt it’s going to hurt him at all.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=W1ZJBGeLpLg
OK, I’m SICK of this topic.
David Archuleta’s version of Be The Voice? Is just in a different key from the originial, AND is basically NOTE FOR NOTE identical to the recent remake.
Michael John’s version of We Will Rock You/ We Are The Champions? ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME as the arrangement from the Queen musical that was produced a few years ago.
This happens EVERY WEEK FOLKS. Every week. It only becomes a problem for people when someone knocks it out of the park.
Doxowhorelogy: Look at meeeeeeeeeee. Pay attention to meeeeeeeeeeee.
I’ll bet their version of Eleanor Rigby comes up high on search after all the ruckus.
And I wonder if these guys heard Godhead’s version.
Who cares. I never heard about Doxology before. They should be glad people are finally talking about them.
GwendolynD – You’re right. It WASN’T note for note, though it was close.
Pauler did mention that it was the Lorrie Morgan version.
http://undercoverblackman.vox.com/library/audio/6a00cd970f81104cd500e398e51a640004.html
Kirsten –
Wasn’t someone complaining there wasn’t enough controversy this year? This spices it up a little anyway.
See, now, I couldn’t hear any similarity that wasn’t derived from the Beatles.
jenk – You are so right. NOBODY ever gives Michael Johns any flack for singing karaoke.
Hey! When do we get tonight’s spoilers anyway?
WE WANT SPOILERS!! WE WANT SPOILERS!! WE WANT SPOILERS!!
The Beatles version of Eleanor Rigby had violins and not guitars, Sciencefan. Not a big deal but different.
Hey, newbie here. I mentioned this on another messageboard.
Regarding the David Cook “controversy”, I might have a theory on why he’s getting all the negative response while others like Syesha and David A are immune. It could have to do with his choice of genre. Think about it, the same thing happen to Chris with the Live version of Walk The Line in season 5, but not to Elliot when he sang the Donnie Hathaway version of I Believe In My Soul. My feeling is that it sums up to the fact that David C. is a rocker on Idol, that’s a strike one to the rock community’s eyes. They feel that a rocker should be an individual with their own stylr and sound as well as create their own arrangement, play instruments, write their own music. Anything that’s against their ideal, like AI, is considered blasphemous and not authentic. In their own minds, David C. is not a “real” rocker, or a poseur for a better term. For R&B fans, it doesn’t matter where they get the arrangement, as long as they perform well. For Pop, it’s about the image. To Rock fans, Idol, like Pop lacks substance and legitimacy. Any “so-called” rocker that enters Idol is considered a phoney. In their opinion, thy see it as “Now he’s trying to be a rocker by ’stealing’ real musicians arrangements and get the credit, how dare he!!” That also comes from music elitism and snobbery. They are soo adamant about a musician having “rock cred” that anyone that doesn’t fit the requirements, like being on Idol is not the real deal.
Me on the other hand, love every kinds of music. If I tell you my playlist, you would think I was musically schizo. So for me, it doesn’t matter whether you were discovered at a local bar or auditioned on Idol. As long as they make great music and I love it, I’m a fan for life. It does matter if they have “street or rock cred”. If you suck, you suck.
I think people are pissed because he’s talented and is doing such a good job. Success results in negativity from some. Probably quite a few are fans of another contestant.
I don’t think Cook is doing anything that the other finalists aren’t doing. He’s just doing it better.
Is it Dick’s - ology?
David’s banging out these “different” rock arrangements week after week, and I agree Natasha, he’s just doing it better. Good for him!
Now, honestly, I can’t beleive he’s really arranging these things by himself - isn’t it a group effort with the band?
AI6 Nicole Tranquillo with Dice Raw, and the Roots at Carneige Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA April 17th, 7pm